Here's how the lyrics of “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” were put together

Earth, Wind & Fire's September released back in 1978 and since then, it has become the most recognisable song as per a Fox News report. The song is a fun, catchy track which speaks of ‘nostalgia’ and ‘memories’ through its lyrics as per the same report. Earth, Wind & Fire's September is one of the few songs which has found its way into millennial pop culture as well. Apart from being the background score of many films, the disco, R&B track is Earth, Wind & Fire’s greatest hit.

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Story behind, 'Do you remember the 21st night of September?'  

The popular lyrics and the opening statement, “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” has an inception story, which was revealed by the co-lyricist of the song, Allee Willis. In an interview with Songfacts in 2008, the co-lyricist of the song said that she first found out about the project with Earth, Wind & Fire after their mutuals Patti Labelle and Herbie Hancock introduced her to the bassist of Earth, Wind & Fire, that is Verdine White. She had just finished up a project with the duo. After mutual interactions, Maurice White contacted Allee to work with them. 

Alle recalled through the interview that it was a simple conversation where Maurice asked her to write the next album for them. Without any doubt, Alle was all aboard as she was a fan of the band herself. When Allee was about to meet the band, she entered the practice halls, where the group was already jamming to a session. She heard specific guitar strums on her first day which she wished was the base for her work. She recalled in the interview that the music was ‘obviously a hit’.

What happened later was a combination of Allee’s lyrical signatures and Earth, Wind & Fire's innuendos. Maurice was keen on the popular lyrics ‘ba-dee-ya’ which Willis desired to change the ‘ba-dee-ya’ but remained like that until the end. The words do you remember, ba-dee-ya, dancing in September was all in the head of Maurice and it was given shape by Willis.

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Maurice was keen on the groove of the song, whereas Willis wished for lyrics. However, she later learnt through the whole interaction that, ‘never let the lyric get in the way of the groove!’ Later she spoke about the date selection for the song in an interview with NPR. She said that Maurice and Willis sat together and matched all the dates one by one, for example, the second, the third, the fourth and so on. The date 21st was selected as it matched best with the lyrics.

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