About The Song
“September Morn” also put the capper on Diamond’s most restless, and arguably most interesting, decade. Indeed, his 70s began with the release of Tap Root Manuscript, an album that took the unheard-of step of fusing his brand of pop with traditional African music, a good 15 years before Paul Simon got a similar idea. At the time, Diamond was very much part of the singer-songwriter movement, though he still had a bit of the rock ‘n roll rebel in him.
The next round of changes began when he switched labels from MCA to Columbia: He’d now be aiming for a more grown-up audience, phasing the rock elements out of his sound, and occasionally making a creative leap – like his first album for the label, a symphonic soundtrack based on the pop-philosophy phenomenon Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The first Columbia hit, “Longfellow Serenade,” served as a bridge between his thoughtful acoustic style and the lusher ballads to come. There was, however, a major sidetrip before he committed to balladry: In 1976, Diamond shocked everybody by hooking up with one of his more unlikely fans, Robbie Robertson of The Band, who produced the autobiographical concept album Beautiful Noise. Diamond went on to appear with The Band on The Last Waltz, and didn’t change his style a bit. This earned him plenty of derision from the hipsters, but Diamond had the last laugh via the Robertson-produced hit single “Don’t Think….Feel,” one of his sprightlier and more delightful tunes.
It was another producer, however, who helped Diamond really find his direction in the mid-’70s. This was Bob Gaudio, who knew a few things about making hit records – having written and produced dozens of them for his former group, the Four Seasons.
“September Morn” was the third in a streak of ballad hits, following “Flowers” and “Forever in Blue Jeans.” Most of these records were made by the same core crew, with Gaudio producing and Diamond’s regular road band playing backup.
For “September Morn,” Diamond put a new lyric to Becaud’s tune, taking off from the music’s autumnal feel. The contrast between the two songs is telling: Becaud’s tune, “C’est en septembre,” is not about a relationship but a general reflection on the changes that the month brings. The translated lyrics read in part, “The olive trees lower their arms, the grapes get red noses, and the sand has become cold in the white sun. Serious bathers and seasonal workers return to their real jobs, and the manger figurines will be sculpted before Christmas.” It’s poetic for sure, but not quite the stuff that US chart smashes are made of.
Compare that to Diamond’s lyric, which addresses the permanence of love in terms that are haunting, universal, and just a bit tragic. The singer’s ex-love appears before him – whether in the flesh or in a dream is never made clear – and prompts a reverie about what they had together and what’s left: “Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play, September morning still can make me feel that way.” There’s also a subtle reference to a previous Diamond hit when he tells her, “Look at what you’ve done – why, you’ve become a grown-up girl.” Of course, he once told another girl that she’d be a woman soon.
“September Morn” claimed a permanent place in his fans’ hearts, and in his own heart as well. When asked to perform on short notice in 1985 at The White House for a dinner honoring Prince Charles and Princess Diana, “September Morn” was one of his two songs. Diamond also included the song when he came out of retirement to perform at a benefit show in his honor at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in March 2020. It was one of only seven songs that he performed that night.
Video
Lyrics
Stay for just a while
Stay and let me look at you
It’s been so long, I hardly knew you
Standing in the door
Stay with me a while
I only wanna talk to you
We’ve traveled halfway ’round the world
To find ourselves again
September morn
We danced until the night
Became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way
Look at what you’ve done
Why, you’ve become a grown-up girl
I still can hear you crying
In a corner of your room
And look how far we’ve come
So far from where we used to be
But not so far that we’ve forgotten
How it was before
September morn
Do you remember
How we danced that night away
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way
September morn
We danced until the night
Became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way
September morn
We danced until the night
Became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way
September morning
Still can make me feel that way