For the last day of the month: what may arguably be Barry Manilow’s best song (or, at least, my own personal favorite), set to a gorgeous lyric by the legendary Johnny Mercer.

The Wikipedia entry on this song says:

In his last year, as he was dying from brain cancer, Mercer became extremely fond of Manilow, in part because Manilow’s first hit record was of a song titled “Mandy,” which was also the name of Mercer’s daughter. After Mercer’s death, his widow, Ginger Mehan Mercer, arranged to give some unfinished lyrics he had written to Manilow to possibly develop into complete songs. Among these was “When October Goes.” Manilow applied his own melody to the lyric and issued it as a single in 1984.

Manilow tells more of the story in the clip below. Enjoy.