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Summer Green, Autumn Gold (m. Maurice Jarre, w. Paul Francis Webster) — The song was adapted from the theme music, composed by Maurice Jarre, for the 1973 film Ash Wednesday, starring Elizabeth Taylor. This theme plays during the title sequence, and is heard again at critical points throughout the film.
The song was copyrighted on 12 November 1973, just 11 days after the film was released. The page on the song at the Database of Popular Music bears the note “Lyric added for exploitation only.” I’m not sure what to make of that statement, but the following facts may be relevant:
- A recording of “Summer Green, Autumn Gold” by Robert Goulet, released on a single in (presumably late) 1973 by Paramount Records, is the only vocal recording of the song that I’ve found.
- That the Goulet single was released on a label owned during the period 1969-1974 by Paramount Pictures, the company that distributed the film, suggests that Paramount Pictures may have commissioned the writing of the lyric, and the Goulet recording, for promotional purposes.
Ash Wednesday (1973) title sequence — The soundtrack recording is simply named “Main Title” in the 2010 4-CD box set compilation album Le cinéma de Maurice Jarre, EmArcy 275 336 4.
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Robert Goulet — issued in 1973 on the 45 rpm single Paramount Records PAA-0271, b/w “Pages of Life”
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Roger Webb — from his 1974 LP Film Music, on the EMI label
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Other instrumental recordings:
- Harold Smart – 1974
- Michel Clement et Son Orchestre (pseudonym for a Japanese session orchestra) – 1975
Songbook 