September (Earth, Wind & Fire song)

"September"
Single by Earth, Wind & Fire
from the album The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1
B-side	"Love's Holiday", "Can't Hide Love"
Released	November 18, 1978 (U.S.) (UK) April 1981 (U.S.)
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	September 1978
Genre	R&B, funk, disco-rock
Length	3:35
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Maurice White, Al McKay, Allee Willis
Producer(s)	Maurice White
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Earth, Wind & Fire singles chronology
"Got to Get You into My Life" (1978) "September" (1978) "Boogie Wonderland" (1979)

"September" is a song by Earth, Wind & Fire written by Maurice White, Al McKay, and Allee Willis. It was recorded during the I Am sessions and released as a single in 1978. Featured on the band's album The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, "September" reached number one on the US R&B chart, number eight on the Billboard Hot 100,^[1] and number three on the UK singles chart.^[2]

Reception

The song was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry and certified gold in the U.S. (Until the RIAA lowered the sales levels for certified singles in 1989, a Gold single equaled 1 million units sold.) "September" was later certified Gold for digital sales by the RIAA.^[3][4][5] The song was also later released as "December", chord changes & melody remained identical, with lyrics re-written for the "...Twenty-fifth of December...", performed by Earth Wind & Fire, as well, on a later album.

Remixes

• In 1998, Italian DJ X-Treme recorded a remix of the song, which appeared on his album X-Treme^[6] and another remix titled "September (Rap Mix)", which appeared on the 1999 compilation album Dancemania X1.^[7]
• In 1999, the song was remixed by Phats & Small titled "September 99" and was a dance hit.
• In 2015, electronic music producer Throttle, gave his own spin on the song, and released it as a single on Ultra Music on November 13, 2015. It is one of the first remixes of the song for 14 years to be officially released.^[8]

Covers

• In October 1996, Australian R&B group Past To Present briefly charted with a cover of the song.
• In 1998, jazz bassist Brian Bromberg performs a mostly instrumental version of the song on the album You Know That Feeling.
• In 2000, Ukrainian child star Assol sings "V Sentjabre" on her first album Alye Parusa.
• In 2001, the song was covered by Sisqó and Vitamin C as a duet for the movie Get Over It. It played during the credits.
• In 2004, Japanese singer Asako Toki covered the song on her album Standards.
• In 2006, instrumental math rock band Don Caballero referenced the guitar riff throughout their song "Palm Trees in The Fecking Bahamas" for their album World Class Listening Problem.
• In 2007, Kirk Franklin does a gospel rendition of the song on the Earth, Wind & Fire tribute album Interpretations: Celebrating The Music Of Earth, Wind & Fire.
• In 2007, French singer Christophe Willem Recorded the song for the movie Disco.
• In 2008, Gordon Goodwin arranged the song for his 18-piece big band "Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band" on his album Act Your Age.
• In 2009, the song was covered by musical duo Pomplamoose as a birthday present to the lead singer's father. It was uploaded on YouTube on September 30. Their version of the song appears on the 2010 album Tribute to Famous People.
• In July 2013, the song was covered by OMG Girlz in their song "Do You Remember".
• In the Netherlands, X-Factor's second finalist Richy sung this in one of the broadcasts.
• The song has been performed three times on American Idol, by Anwar Robinson, Danny Gokey, and Colton Dixon. All were eliminated after except for Gokey.
• The song has been performed by Boogie and the Yoyoz, a popular Midwest Cover Band, winners of the 2016 WAMI award for Cover Band.

Samples

• In 1996, Filipino singer Regine Velasquez sampled the song for the single "Fly" as part of her album Retro.
• In 1997, house singer Crystal Waters sampled the song for her single "Say... If You Feel Alright".
• In 2002, Kylie Minogue sampled the song for the live version of "Spinning Around" at the Fever Tour.
• In June 2008, Girl Talk sampled the song for his mashup "In Step" and was released on the album Feed the Animals.
• The song was sampled by Polish musician Norbi in his hit single "Kobiety są gorące" ("Women are hot").
• The song was sampled in the OMG Girlz song, "Do You Remember".
• The ba-de-ya chorus of the song was sampled in Enrique Iglesias' song "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" from his 2010 album Euphoria.
• A slightly sped-up version of the chorus appears during the ad-lib that concludes Big Sean's 2015 song "I Don't Fuck With You".

Appearances in other media

• The song has been featured in movies such as The Ringer, Soul Food, Dan in Real Life, Lost & Found, Get Over It, Night at the Museum and Last Vegas.
• The 2011 French movie Intouchables features the song during the opening sequence.
• The song's remix, "September 99", is played in the Japanese nightclub in the film Babel.
• It was used as the theme song for the 2002 Japanese drama Zoku-Heisei Meotojawan.
• The song was featured in Family Guy on the Season 11 premiere episode "Into Fat Air", showcasing Stewie in a casino scene.
• The song was featured in The Cleveland Show on the Season 1 finale episode "You're the Best Man, Cleveland Brown".
• The song was featured in American Dad! on the Season 1 eighteenth episode "Finances with Wolves".
• This song has been featured on NBC's TV series Chuck
• The song also appears on the promo of ABC for their hit shows premiering in the Fall 2008.
• On December 14, 2007, the song was covered during Fox Television's reality-competition The Next Great American Band by Nashville big-band group Denver and the Mile High Orchestra.
• Ruff Ruffman parodied the song for Season 3 of FETCH! as "The 29th of September".
• Japanese comedic performer, Smelly, parodied the song with his promotional video "Suki Suki Smelly".^[9]
• The song has been used in video games such as the European release of Donkey Konga, in the Xbox 360 game Dance Dance Revolution Universe which a remix titled "September 99" is featured and the video game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore.
• A cover version of the song also appears in the Nintendo DS video game Elite Beat Agents and the Wii game Wii Music.
• The song is in GuitarFreaks V4 and DrumMania V4.
• The song was used in a point-and-click game called Isis.
• The song was used as the entry theme for boxing champion Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns in the late 1970s. Hearns said in an interview he liked the song's reference to September 21, which was the date of one of his early victories as an up-and-coming fighter in the Detroit area and also the birthday of Alexis "Eastland" Cherniak, one of his early mentors.
• The song served as Al Gore's campaign theme during his 2000 US Presidential campaign.
• It is also featured on a stereo test disc that came with some 2003 models of the Toyota Avalon.
• The song was featured in a commercial announcing the Subway anniversary in 2012.
• In Apple Stores, the iPad, iPhone, and iPod store samples have a default preloaded music library, which includes this song.
• Earth, Wind & Fire performed this song (as well as Pure Gold) with the Japanese idol group SMAP in a 2006 episode of the group's variety program, SMAP×SMAP.
• Earth, Wind & Fire sang a special TV-related version of the song with The Black Eyed Peas at the 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
• Earth, Wind & Fire performed the song in the Closing Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
• The song was used in the wedding ceremony and reception of characters Patrick Jane and Teresa Lisbon, in the finale of the CBS TV series The Mentalist broadcast on February 18, 2015.
• The song was used in the end scene of the CBS TV series Scorpion - Season 1, Episode 17 "Going South" (23 Feb 2015) - with Sylvester dancing with Megan and then scene transitions to Walter in the warehouse
• The song was used in the end scene of the ABC TV series Black-ish - Season 1, Episode 16, "Parental Guidance" (4 March 2015), in the wedding celebration montage. With recent uses on The Mentalist and Scorpion, this was the third use of this song during the last five minutes of an episode of a broadcast network series in the space of 15 days.
• The song was featured in 2014- 2015 Brazilian soap opera Boogie Oogie
• Jeremy Vine and Karen Clifton danced the Cha-cha-cha to the song in the 13th series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Charts

Chart (1978-1979)	Peak position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[10]	19
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	10
Germany (Official German Charts)[11]	20
Ireland (IRMA)[12]	8
Italy (FIMI)[13]	43
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[14]	18
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[15]	12
Norway (VG-lista)[16]	6
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[17]	13
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[18]	3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	8
U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles	1
Chart ("September 1999")	Peak position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[10]	32
France (SNEP)[19]	64
Germany (Official German Charts)[11]	40
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[14]	12
Norway (VG-lista)[16]	15
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[17]	48
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[20]	33
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[18]	25
Chart (2011)	Peak position
France (SNEP)[19]	29

Sales and certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Italy (FIMI)[21] Digital download	Gold	15,000
Mexico (AMPROFON)[22] Digital download	Gold	30,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[23] Physical release	Silver	250,000
United States (RIAA)[24] Physical release	Gold	1,000,000
United States (RIAA)[24] Digital download	Gold	100,000
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone ^xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Accolades

The information regarding accolades attributed to September ' is adapted from AcclaimedMusic.net.^[25]

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Bruce Pollock	U.S.	The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944–2000	2005	*
Gary Mulholland	U.K.	This Is Uncool: The 500 Best Singles Since Punk Rock	2002	*

(*) designates lists that are unordered.

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 179.
2. Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 289. ISBN 0-87586-207-1.
3. RIAA Certification for September
4. "Rock Music, etc., Terms". spider.georgetowncollege.edu. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
5. British Phonographic Industry certification for September
6. Discogs, X-Treme (album, 1998)
7. Discogs, X-Treme
8. https://soundcloud.com/throttle/throttle-x-earth-wind-fire-september
9. "SMELLY" (PHP). Kugelblitz. 2005–2006. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
10. "Ultratop.be – Earth, Wind & Fire – September" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
11. "Musicline.de – Earth, Wind & Fire Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
12. "Irish Singles Chart – Search for song". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
13. "Hit Parade Italia – Indice per Interprete: E". Hit Parade Italia. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
14. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Earth, Wind & Fire search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
15. "Charts.org.nz – Earth, Wind & Fire – September". Top 40 Singles.
16. "Norwegiancharts.com – Earth, Wind & Fire – September". VG-lista.
17. "Swedishcharts.com – Earth, Wind & Fire – September". Singles Top 100.
18. "Earth, Wind & Fire: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company.
19. "Lescharts.com – Earth, Wind & Fire – September 99 (Phats & Small Remix)" (in French). Les classement single.
20. "Swisscharts.com – Earth, Wind & Fire – September 99 (Phats & Small Remix)". Swiss Singles Chart.
21. "Italian single certifications – Earth, Wind & Fire – September" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 3 October 2014. Select Online in the field Sezione. Enter Earth, Wind & Fire in the field Filtra. Select 2014 in the field Anno. The certification will load automatically
22. "Certificaciones – Earth, Wind & Fire" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
23. "British single certifications – Earth, Wind & Fire – September". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 3 October 2014. Enter September in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
24. "American single certifications – Earth, Wind & Fire – September". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 3 October 2014. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
25. Acclaimed Music – Shining Star

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
• The Song That Never Ends: Why Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September' Sustains NPR Morning Edition from September 19th, 2014. at npr.org