{"id":478241,"date":"2026-06-15T10:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/478241\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T10:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:55:09","slug":"it-means-whatever-you-want-it-to-be-the-hidden-meaning-of-earth-wind-and-fires-ba-dee-ya-september-chorus-is-revealed-in-new-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/478241\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt means whatever you want it to be\u201d: The hidden meaning of Earth Wind And Fire\u2019s \u2018ba-dee-ya\u2019 September chorus is revealed in new documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

To casual observers Earth, Wind And Fire are a name synonymous with the disco era and hits like Boogie Wonderland, September and Let\u2019s Groove. But they were so much more than that. <\/p>\n

They blended jazz, funk, soul, psychedelia, Latin, rock with a whole lot of spiritualism, black positivity and some incredible musicianship. Afro-futurism? Maurice White\u2019s crew embodied the term in the 1970s (along with George Clinton, of course).<\/p>\n

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Now the group are finally getting the documentary that their status has long merited. Behind the camera is Questlove, who aside from playing drums in The Roots, now has a proven track record as an excellent music doc maker \u2013 he’s responsible for two acclaimed classics of the genre: Summer Of Soul and Sly Lives!<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Questlove has coaxed some genuinely A-listers to talk about the group \u2013 Barack and Michelle Obama, Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie, as well as group members and the family of the late White (who died of Parkinson\u2019s in 2016).<\/p>\n

Earth, Wind & Fire – September (Official HD Video) – YouTube
\n\"Earth,<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

The film – titled Earth, Wind And Fire (To Be Celestial vs The Weight Of The World) – premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this month and is now streaming on HBO. It\u2019s a must see for fans, who will be fascinated by some titbits we find out about the group.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

For example: the origin of the opening line of September, \u201cDo you remember\/the 21st night of September?\u201d Why the 21st? Well, according to Maurice\u2019s partner Marilyn White that\u2019s the date the couple were expecting their son Kabhran. In the end the youngster arrived prematurely in August, but his due date has gone down in disco history.<\/p>\n

And whilst we\u2019re on the subject, what about that song\u2019s chorus: \u2018ba-dee-ya-dee-ya-dee-ya\u2019. Is there a meaning behind it? Nope, says the band\u2019s percussionist Ralph Johnson: \u201cIt means whatever you want it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

However, according to singer Philip Bailey: \u201cBa-dee-ya is really a Brazilian scat that me and Maurice used to always listen to with (S\u00e9rgio Mendes\u2019 band) Brasil \u201866. So if we didn\u2019t have lyrics for certain things, we\u2019d \u2018ba-dee-ya\u2019 it. Certain songs, like (EWF\u2019s) \u2018Brazilian Rhyme\u2019 just sounded good doing that alone. It just became one of those signature things that we do in melodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bassist Verdine White says: \u201cIt\u2019s the gift that keeps on giving. It\u2019s upbeat. It\u2019s happy,\u201d and adds that when they play it live \u201ceverybody just smiles.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To casual observers Earth, Wind And Fire are a name synonymous with the disco era and hits like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-478241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}