Originally published at: Ba-de-ya, why Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" nonsense lyric stayed in the song | Boing Boing
…
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Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings
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I am so excited to see what he’s going to do this year!!
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“I learned my greatest lesson ever in songwriting from him, which was never let the lyric get in the way of the groove.”
Groove it or move it, as my grade school music teacher was fond of saying.
Dang, 1978 I was in College, way back machine…
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Oh wow, I forgot it was that time!
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I have to admit, I always thought he was singing, “On and on”, but based on this story (and now knowing the lyrics), I now prefer “ba-de-ya”. It’s great!
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Huh, I guess Allee Willis wasn’t a fan of “Runnin’,” either: 
Lyrics like that were that group’s signature.
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Well, I’ll be…
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Exactly the same here. Also, the first time one of these articles came around, I had no idea of the significance of the 21st of September. Yeah, I’d heard the song, but I never paid that much attention to the words.
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And I always thought it was “par-ty on”.
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I went crazy trying to figure out what he was singing, not being in on the joke, and eventually concluded he was saying “Borneo,” which really made the song confusing.
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This is one of McClintock’s absolute masterpieces. Two great tastes, tasting great together.
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I think we’re all talking about the same tune. It’s paired on different releases. 
Do you remember?
Yes, we do! 
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I seem to remember there was something between the track before or the track afterwards a sort of hidden egg…
Maurice White has a point about lyrics. The fact that I have zero idea what any of “Serpentine Fire” means doesn’t stop it from improving my day 100%.
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A great one, but why so quiet?
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Recycling bytes:
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Close but Runnin’ is a bit of a different arrangement than BR.
