50+ Lifestyles

The Songs of September

By Eloise Graham

“See You in September” was written by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards in June of 1959.

About 11:00 a.m. on a Friday in June, Sid asked Sherman, “What do you want to write today, a hit or a standard?” Sherman replied, “I’d like to write a song called See You in September.” They bounced lines and words off of each other and by about 2:00 they had a song. But it needed to be polished. By 4:30 that afternoon, they had simplified it to appeal to the teenage demographic. They made the rounds to various publishers to pitch the song. After a rejection, they were met with an enthusiastic reception from Jack Gold owner of the local Paris label. By 8:00 p.m. that night Jack had telephoned the Tempos, a singing group out of Pittsburgh. The group was flown to New York City the next day (Saturday), and by Monday the record was cut. The song took off like wildfire. It hit the national charts in July, but it began to dwindle by the end of August. It only made it to #23 on the charts.

In the spring of 1966 there was a remake of the song by the Happenings. Bob Miranda of the group recalls that they liked the song, the lyrics of the original version but felt it was too slow, and too much of a cha-cha. Herb Bernstein did the new arrangement.
The Happenings release made it to #3 by the third week of August and remained at #3 for over a month.

Earth, Wind and Fire released a song called “September” in 1978. This is in the musical genre of Disco and R&B/Soul. In 2007 Kirk Franklin rereleased the song. Then in 2013 Marcela Mangabeira released the song with a calypso, island sound to it.

Neil Diamond recorded and released “September Morn” in 1997. He and Gilbert Bécaud wrote this pop song that was a hit in 1980. It made it to #2 on the Adult Contemporary charts in the U. S. and for two weeks was #1 in Canada.

“September Song” (It’s a long, long time from May to December) was released in 1938 by Walter Hudson. The many remakes of this classic include: a jazz version by Ella Fitzgerald in 1960, Frank Sinatra a pop version in 1965, country music by Willie Nelson in 1978.