Do you recall what you were doing on the evening of September 21st?
This is the question that is posed by Earth, Wind & Fire in their 1978 number one single, “September.” “September” is an enticing and catchy song that, even after four decades, continues to be enjoyed by generations of fans who are hooked on the tune’s groovy baseline and upbeat chorus.
The song has been responsible for turning September 21 into an unofficial holiday, which has been aptly called “Earth, Wind & Fire” day. The song was first released as a single on the band’s first greatest hits LP. If one were to check social media at any point during the day, they would almost certainly find the song’s lyrics posted somewhere, along with associated memes, polls, and, of course, the official “September” music video.
But as it turns out, listeners who were seeking for significance in the “Sept. 21” date needn’t delve too much farther into it than they already have.
Allee Willis, a composer who won a Grammy and worked on the song alongside Earth Wind & Fire founder Maurice White and guitarist Al McKay, disclosed before her passing in 2019 that the “21st night of September” does not have any special meaning. White was the group’s previous lead vocalist, while McKay was the group’s guitarist.
“We went through all the dates,” she recounted to NPR in 2004 of the writing process, which had taken almost four months to complete. “‘Do you remember the first, the second, the third, the fourth…?’ and the one that just felt the best was the 21st,” she recalled being asked.
That implies that it has nothing to do with savoring the fleeting last moments of summer, as is often assumed, despite the fact that the first day of autumn, September 22, also marks the beginning of the school year. In addition, it is not a covert reference to any significant historical event or a treasured personal experience.
“I am often approached by individuals, and when I explain the importance of what happened, their faces light up with excitement. Willis said that there was no importance to the fact that it just sung better than any of the previous occasions. “Oh, I’m so sorry!”
However, it is not the only line in “September” that causes admirers to scratch their heads.
Its chorus is comprised of a reiteration of the syllables “Ba-dee-ya,” which are, without a question, three of the most misquoted lyrics in the annals of music history. (If you go onto the dance floor at any wedding, you are almost certain to hear a variety of songs, ranging from “Ariel” to “Barbie Doll” to “Bloody Hell.”)
According to Willis, White, who passed away in 2016, is to responsible for the lines. It turns out that he employed the incomprehensible noises while the three of them were writing the lyrics to the song.
“The, kind of, go-to phrase that Maurice used in every song he wrote was ‘ba-dee-ya,'” she told NPR at one point. “ba-dee-ya” Therefore, from the very start he started singing, “Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember/ Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September.”
Willis could hardly have foreseen that the words would remain. “I said, ‘We are going to change ‘ba-dee-ya’ to real words, right?'” she recalled, recounting how she persuaded him to jettison the line up to the penultimate hour, when she ultimately gave up trying to convince him to do so during their last vocal session. “I said, ‘We are going to change ‘ba-dee-ya’ to real words, right?'” she said.
Willis, feeling defeated and concerned that the song had a too basic vibe to it, went to White for one more point of clarification. She explained what happened next by saying, “Finally, when it was so obvious that he was not going to do it, I just said, ‘What the f– does ‘ba-dee-ya’ mean?'”
His response taught her opened her eyes to the many possibilities that music may provide. She made a joke by saying, “He essentially said, ‘Who the f— cares?'”
“I learned my greatest lesson ever in songwriting from him, which was to never let the lyric get in the way of the groove,” said Willis, who went on to create songs including “Neutron Dance” for the Pointer Sisters and “I’ll Be There For You” (the theme song for Friends) for the Rembrandts.
“If the melody, beat, and spirit are there, then everyone will know — emotionally, they will know — what you’re saying,” she said in an interview with American Songwriter. “Sometimes lyrics can be awkward because someone is trying to make too much sense or because they are trying to fit a four-syllable word into a space where a two-syllable word would work better,”
In the case of “September,” the song’s ultimate goal is to convey a message of joy to its audience, which is something the song’s “Ba-dee-ya” lyrics do an excellent job of conveying to them.
Willis was quoted as saying to the newspaper, “I think the song is just eternally uplifting.” When you listen to it, it’s difficult to feel down and melancholy.
