September (Lied)
"September" is a song by Earth, Wind & Fire which was 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 U.S. R&B chart, number eight on the Billboard Hot 100,[1] and number three on the UK singles chart.[2]
Reception
The song was one of their top three most famous in the UK, next to "Boogie Wonderland" and "Let's Groove". "September" sold over a million copies and it has been certified gold as up 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]
Covers and samples
Kirk Franklin does a gospel version of "September" on the Earth, Wind and Fire tribute album Interpretations: Celebrating The Music Of Earth, Wind & Fire. Australian R&B group Past To Present briefly charted with a cover of the song in October 1996. In 1999 the song was remixed by Phats & Small and was titled "September 99" becoming a dance hit. The song was covered by Sisqo and Vitamin C during the credit roll of the movie Get Over It. The song was covered by musical duo, Pomplamoose, on September 30 as a birthday present to Nataly's father.
Samples of the song are also found in Filipino singer Regine Velasquez's 1997 dance single "Fly" as part of the mashup album Feed the Animals by Girl Talk. Gordon Goodwin arranged the song for his 18-piece big band "Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band" on his album Act Your Age. In the Netherlands, X-Factor's second finalist Richy sung this in one of the broadcasts. The song has been performed twice on American Idol, by Anwar Robinson and Danny Gokey. House singer Crystal Waters sampled "September" in her 1997 single "Say... If You Feel Alright."
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 and Night at the Museum. The song's remix, "September 1999," is played in the Japanese nightclub in the film Babel.
The song also appears on television shows such as the American Dad episode "Finances with Wolves" and 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. September has also been used in video games like the European release of Donkey Konga and in the Xbox 360 game Dance Dance Revolution Universe a remix called "September 1999" is playable. 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 also appears in the video game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore.
Earth, Wind & Fire sang a special TV-related version of the song with the Black Eyed Peas at the 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
The song served as Al Gore's campaign theme during his 2000 US Presidential campaign.
Ruff Ruffman parodied the song for Season 3 of FETCH! as "The 29th of September".
It was used as the theme song for the 2000 Japanese drama Heisei Meotodochawan: Dokechi no Hanamichi.
Earth, Wind, and 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.
Japanese comedic performer, Smelly, parodied the song with his promotional video "Suki Suki Smelly".[5]
Chart positions
| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 3 |
| Chart ("September 1999") | Peak position |
| UK Singles Chart | 25 |
Accolades
The information regarding accolades attributed to September ' is adapted from AcclaimedMusic.net.[6]
| 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
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- ↑ Joel Whitburn: Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research, 2004, S. 179.
- ↑ Maury Dean: Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora, 2003, ISBN 0-87586-207-1, S. 289.
- ↑ RIAA Certification for September
- ↑ Rock Music, etc., Terms. spider.georgetowncollege.edu, abgerufen am 23. März 2009.
- ↑ SMELLY. (PHP) Kugelblitz
- ↑ Acclaimed Music - Shining Star