The Autumn Wind

{{Short description|Sports-themed poem used by the Las Vegas Raiders football team}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

"The Autumn Wind" is a combination of musical score by Sam Spence and a sports-themed poem adapted for the 1974 Oakland Raiders season coverage by NFL Films President and co-founder Steve Sabol (1942–2012, son of founder Ed Sabol, 1916–2015).

The original 1941{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.167411/page/n11/mode/2up|title = Bridled with Rainbows Poems About Many Things of Earth and Sky|year = 1949}} poem "Pirate Wind"{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.167411/page/n135|title = Bridled with Rainbows Poems About Many Things of Earth and Sky|year = 1949}} by Mary Jane Carr (1895–1988) is nearly identical, yet mentions colors like yellow and red that don't fit into the silver-and-black Raiders style. Describing the atmosphere of autumn weather, as it relates to pro football season, as well as the eye-patched outlaw traits of the team nickname and mascot, the poem is synonymous with the National Football League (NFL)'s Oakland/Los Angeles/Las Vegas Raiders franchise.{{Citation |title=Warnock to sell luxury suites at stadium |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=1797330 |publisher=ESPN |date=2004-05-07 |access-date=2008-01-27}}{{Citation |title=The Recap |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900909.html |newspaper=Washington Post |date=2006-10-30 |access-date=2008-01-27}} Narrated by John Facenda,{{Citation |last=Peterseim |first=Peter |title=Cool Hand Luke, Wilt the Stilt, and the good/nine-headed monster |url=http://espn.go.com/abcsports/mnf/s/annotatedmiller/1106.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030222074505/http://espn.go.com/abcsports/mnf/s/annotatedmiller/1106.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 22, 2003 |publisher=ESPN |date=2001-12-29 |access-date=2008-01-27}} this 1974 production has been dubbed "The Battle Hymn of the Raider Nation"{{Citation |last=Lynch |first=Kevin |title=Foreboding song blows through practice |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/01/SP153120.DTL |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |date=2002-11-01 |access-date=2008-01-27}} as music and poem are often heard blaring out of the speakers at Raiders games.{{Citation |last=Steele |first=David |title=Coliseum Turns Into Wind Tunnel for a Day |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/10/23/SP81987.DTL |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |date=2000-10-23 |access-date=2008-01-27}}{{Citation |last=Carr |first=Bob |title=What do the Tennessee Titans and the San Diego Chargers have in Common? |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/author?blogid=11&auth=34&o=10 |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |date=2005-11-01 |access-date=2008-01-27}}

The poem was first used for the team's official team yearbook film in 1974, of the same title, and also for NFL Films' hour-long recap of the 1974 season. Legend has it that when Raider owner and managing general partner Al Davis heard "The Autumn Wind" song for the first time, he remained silent for a second before telling then NFL Films President Ed Sabol that he loved it, and that "it epitomized everything that the Raiders stood for".

It has been used on numerous official NFL Films audio album soundtracks, most notably The Power & The Glory LP, featuring Facenda narrating over it, as well as numerous other tracks composed and conducted by Sam Spence and played by the NFL Films Orchestra. Rapper, actor and Raider fan Ice Cube uses the first and last quartets to introduce his song "Raider Nation", the theme for Straight Outta L.A., his ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about how the Raiders' time in Los Angeles coincided with, among other things, the rise of N.W.A and hip hop in Los Angeles.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIVlYOx49sE Raider Nation – Ice Cube] YouTube