"September" by Earth, Wind & Fire

Submission 48,369

About

"September" is a classic 1978 funk / R&B song released by the band Earth, Wind and Fire which later became popularly used in video remixes online in the 2010s. The lyrics of the song, "Do you remember the 21st of September" came to be used to commemorate the date, which also marks the start of the yearly September equinox. A recorder cover of the song by YouTuber ShittyFlute became a popular TikTok meme sound after 2018, featuring a shrill flute playing over the song's chorus. In subsequent years, the song "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" by The Temptations also came to be used in internet memes, with a focus on the lyrics "It was the 3rd of September."

Origin

On November 18th, 1978, Earth, Wind & Fire released "September" as part of their compilation album The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1.^[1] The song was also released as a single in November of that year. The song did well with listeners and critics, getting certified Gold in the US.

The song is arguably best known for its chorus, which notably contains the nonsensical lyric "ba-dee-ya." On January 11th, 2013, the video for the song was posted to YouTube by the Earth, Wind and Fire account. It has gained over 700 million views in the decade since.

Spread

On January 24th, 2014, YouTuber^[2] Closet Pankin posted a video called "Kenny's Hat" which used the song "September," gaining over 64,000 views (shown below, top left). This is one of the earliest known uses of the song in a comedic video.

On October 18th, 2014, YouTuber^[3] Woll Smoth uploaded a video titled, "VideoGameDunkey – Do you remember," featuring a parody of the song that gathered over 100,000 views in nine years.

On September 29th, 2014, YouTuber Herr posted a video of an animated skeleton dancing to the song, gaining over 40,000 views. The video was deleted, with a reupload by Tumblr^[4] user institutionalized-gaming gathering over 800,000 notes in ten years.

Remixes of the song continued growing popular into 2018. On May 11th, 2018, YouTuber^[5] kmlkmljkl posted a clip of "This Is America" by Childish Gambino with "September" edited over it, gathering over 5 million views in five years.

September Recorder/Flute Cover

On September 21st, 2016, YouTuber^[11] ShittyFlute posted a recorder cover of the song, gathering over 2.7 million views in eight years. The cover subsequently became a popular meme audio on TikTok.

For example, a June 28th, 2020 post by TikToker^[12] @yoyo_sab featuring the cover gathered over 1 million views and 300,000 likes in four years.

21st Night of September Charity

On September 21st, 2016, comedian Demi Adejuyigbe posted a YouTube^[6] video in which he danced to a remix of "September" of his own creation (shown below).

The following year, he recreated the gag with a more elaborate setup, gaining over 485,000 views on YouTube^[7] (shown below, left). On September 21st, 2018, he made another elaborate video^[8] featuring a children's choir. The video gained over 649,000 views (shown below, right)

Additionally, with the third video, Adejuyigbe created a charity that one can donate to and receive a version of the shirt the comedian wears in each video, and all proceeds will go to RAINN, RAICES, and the National Center for Trans Equality. The charity runs until October 5th, 2018.^[9]^[10] As of October 4th, the charity has gained over $17,000.

September 3rd

In subsequent years, the song "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" by The Temptations^[13] also came to be used in memes due to it's long opening intro and the lyrics, "It was the third of September / That day I'll always remember."

TikToker @soulja_stank posted a video^[14] about the song on September 3rd, 2024, gathering over 600,000 plays and 80,000 likes in two days.