What does September 7 mean? The story behind Mecano’s song

Every Sept. 7, a Mecano song returns to social media posts, memories and playlists. The date was not chosen simply because it fit the lyrics. It marks the beginning of a relationship that started in 1981 and kept its own anniversary even after the romance ended.

Written by Nacho Cano and performed by Ana Torroja, “September 7” follows two people who are no longer a couple but continue meeting once a year to remember what they shared. The woman behind the song is writer Coloma Fernández Armero, who was in a relationship with Cano for about eight years.

The song is less about trying to reunite with an ex-partner than about a bond that no longer exists as it once did, yet has not completely disappeared. The former couple returns to the same table and faces an awkward question: should they greet each other as friends, or is there still enough intimacy to meet as the couple they once were?

The lyrics imagine them growing older and continuing to search each other’s eyes for signs that some feeling remains. The relationship is over, but affection has not necessarily vanished with it. Their story began on Sept. 7, 1981, at Madrid’s Golden Village, where the 19-year-old Fernández Armero had gone with a friend. Cano approached her, and the meeting became a relationship that unfolded alongside Mecano’s rise.

Their romance had already appeared in another Mecano song, “The Force of Destiny,” from the album “Sunday Rest.” That track recalled their first encounters, including dates at places as different as Burger King and a Ramones concert, before they formally began their relationship.