Chicago - Saturday 1972

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Saturday in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July Saturday in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July People dancing, people laughing, A man selling ice cream Singing Italian songs: (ad lib italian words) Can you dig it (yes, I can) And I've been waiting such a long time For Saturday Saturday in the park You'd think it was the Fourth of July Saturday in the park You'd think it was the Fourth of July People talking, really smiling A man playing guitar Singing for us all Will you help him change the world Can you dig it (yes, I can) And I've been waiting such a long time For today Slow motion riders fly the colours of the day A bronze man still can tell stories his own way Listen children all is not lost, all is not lost, oh no, no, Funny days in the park, Every day's the Fourth of July Funny days in the park, Every day's the Fourth of July People reaching, people touching, A real celebration Waiting for us all, If we want it, really want it Can you dig it (yes, I can), And I've been waiting such a long time For the day

Brief biography courtesy of Wikipedia
Chicago is a pop-rock-blues-jazz-fusion band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The band began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental rock band and later moved to a softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had a steady stream of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Second only to the Beach Boys, Chicago, in terms of singles and albums, is one of the longest running and most successful U.S. pop/rock and roll groups. According to Billboard, Chicago was the leading U.S. singles charting group during the 1970s. The band was formed when a group of DePaul University music students began playing a series of late-night jams at clubs on and off campus. They added more members, eventually growing to seven players, and went professional as a cover band called The Big Thing. The band featured an unusual and unusually versatile line-up of instrumentalists, including saxophonist Walter Parazaider, trombonist James Pankow, and trumpet player Lee Loughnane, along with more traditional rock instruments Ñ guitarist Terry Kath, keyboardist Robert Lamm, drummer Danny Seraphine, and bassist Peter Cetera (who was the last to join the original group). While gaining some success as a cover band, the group worked on original songs and, in 1968, moved to Los Angeles, California under the guidance of their friend and manager James William Guercio, and signed with Columbia Records. Upon release of their first record in early 1969, the band took a new name, Chicago Transit Authority. The band's first album, the eponymous The Chicago Transit Authority, was an audacious debut: a sprawling double album (unheard of for a rookie band) that included jazzy instrumentals, extended jams featuring Latin percussion, and experimental, feedback-laden guitar abstraction. The album began to receive heavy airplay on the newly popular FM radio band; it included a number of pop-rock gems Ñ "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", "Beginnings", and "Questions 67 and 68" Ñ which would later be edited to a radio-friendly length, released as singles, and eventually become rock radio staples. Soon after the album's release, the band's name was shortened to simply Chicago, when the actual Chicago Transit Authority threatened legal action. The band's popularity exploded with the release of their second album, another double-LP set, which included several top-40 hits. This second album, titled Chicago (also known as Chicago II), was the group's breakthrough album. The centerpiece track was a thirteen-minute suite composed by James Pankow called "Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon" (the structure of this suite was inspired by Pankow's love for classical music). The suite yielded two top ten hits, the crescendo-filled "Make Me Smile" and prom-ready ballad "Colour My World", both sung soulfully by Terry Kath. Among the other popular tracks on the album: Robert Lamm's dynamic but cryptic wah-wah-buttressed "25 or 6 to 4" (sung by Peter Cetera), and the lengthy war protest song "It Better End Soon." With that, the pattern had been set: the band, ever prolific, recorded and released music at a rate of more than two LP discs per year from their third album in 1971 through the 1970s. During this period, the group's album titles invariably consisted of the band's name followed by a Roman numeral indicating the the album's sequence in the group's canon, a naming pattern that lent an encyclopedic aura to the band's work. (The two exceptions to this scheme were the band's fourth album, a live boxed set entitled Chicago at Carnegie Hall and their twelfth album Hot Streets. While the live album, itself, did not bear a number, each of the four discs within the set was numbered Volumes I through IV.) In 1971, Chicago released the ambitious quadruple-album live set, Chicago at Carnegie Hall Volumes I, II, III, and IV, consisting of live performances, mostly of music from their first three albums, from a week-long run at the famous venue (along with the James Gang in 1969, one of the few rock bands to play the historic concert hall since the Beatles performed there on February 12, 1964). The performances and sound quality were judged sub-par; in fact, one group member went on record to say that "the horn section sounded like kazoos." The packaging of the album also contained some rather strident political messaging about how "We [youth] can change The System," including massive wall posters and voter registration information. Nevertheless, Chicago at Carnegie Hall went on to become the best-selling box set by a rock act, and held that distinction for 15 years. The group bounced back in 1972 with their first single-disc release, Chicago V, a diverse set that reached number one on both the Billboard pop and jazz albums charts and yielded the Robert Lamm-composed-and-sung radio hit and perennial fan favorite "Saturday in the Park", which mixed everyday life and political yearning in a more subtle way. Chicago would long open their concerts with the hit song. In 1973 the group's manager, Guercio, produced and directed Electra Glide in Blue, a movie about an Arizona motorcycle policeman. The movie starred Robert Blake, and featured Cetera, Kath, Loughnane, and Parazaider in supporting roles. The group also appeared prominently on the movie's soundtrack. Other successful albums and singles followed in each of the succeeding years. 1973's Chicago VI topped the charts buoyed by hits "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" and "Just You 'N' Me"; it was also the first of several albums to include Brazilian jazz percussionist Laudir DeOliveira. Chicago VII, the band's double-disc 1974 release, featured the Cetera-composed "Wishing You Were Here", sung by Terry Kath with background vocals by Cetera and The Beach Boys and some fusion jazz. Chicago VII also provided one of the group's enduring signature tunes, the anthemic "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long," which started with as a soft ballad and culminated in a hard-rock conclusion featuring Terry Kath's electric guitar soloing against the Chicago horn section. "Happy Man," another song from Chicago VII, was also a popular favorite on FM radio. Their 1975 release, Chicago VIII, featured the political allegory "Harry Truman" and the nostalgic Pankow-composed "Old Days". That summer also saw a very successful joint tour across America with The Beach Boys, with each act performing some of the other's material. The concert at the time was considered one of the highest grossing of all time. Chicago gave a concert in M�xico City in 1975 at the Auditorio Nacional highly appreciated by the attendants in spite of the fact that the Mexican press later reviewed it not as one of the bandÕs best concerts ever presumably for not being 'in good shape'. The tickets for the concert sold so fast that thousands of people were not able to get in, so Terry Kath asked those inside to applaud for those standing outside. Carmen Romano de L˜pez Portillo, the wife of M�xico's then-President Jos� L˜pez Portillo, is said to have been among the attendants, on the first row. But for all their effort, none of their singles went to number one until Chicago X in 1976, when Cetera's slow, exquisite ballad "If You Leave Me Now" climbed to the top of the charts. The song also won Chicago their only Grammy award, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group in 1977. Ironically, the tune almost did not make the cut for the album; "If You Leave Me Now" was recorded at the very last minute. The huge success of the song would foreshadow a later reliance on ballads that would typecast the group on radio, despite the presence of ballads on all the previous albums. The group's 1977 release, Chicago XI, was another big success for the band; it included Cetera's hit ballad "Baby, What A Big Surprise" which became one of the group's last big hits of the decade. 1978 was a tragic and transitional year for Chicago. The year began with an acrimonious split with long-time manager James William Guercio. Then, in late January, guitarist/singer/songwriter/group co-founder Terry Kath died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound (reportedly incurred while cleaning his gun), delivering a devastating blow to the band. Another version describes Kath's drunken last words to the band: "Don't worry, guys. It isn't even loaded. See?" Kath was the group's leader onstage, and for many longtime fans, its musical soul. Terry Kath's stunning death could have meant the end for Chicago, but encouraged by friends and admirers such as Doc Severinsen, the group held fast and soldiered on. After auditioning over 30 potential replacements for Terry Kath, Chicago added guitarist/singer/songwriter Donnie Dacus, who joined the band in the summer of 1978, just in time for the Hot Streets album and its lead-off single "Alive Again". The group was briefly re-energized by Dacus, whose long blond hair and rock star stage presence seemingly overshadowed his musical abilities. The kinetic Dacus may have been out of character for the normally laid-back Chicago, but he could sing and play, and the band responded by delivering some of their tightest live performances ever. Hot Streets was Chicago's first album with an actual title rather than a number, a move that was seen by many as a way to indicate the band had changed following Kath's death. To a degree, the band returned to the old naming scheme on its subsquent releases, although titles would now bear Arabic numerals rather than Roman numerals. The release of Hot Streets also marked a move somewhat away from the jazz-rock direction favored by Kath and towards more pop songs and ballads. Unfortunately, Dacus didn't last long, staying with the band through the 1979 album Chicago 13. (Dacus is also featured in a promotional video on the DVD included in the Rhino Records Chicago box set from 2004.) The second major phase of the band's career took off in 1981 with a new producer (David Foster), a new label (Warner Brothers), and the addition of keyboardist/guitarist/singer Bill Champlin and guitarist Chris Pinnick; percussionist Laudir DeOliveira also departed at this time. Foster brought in top studio musicians for some of the tracks on Chicago 16 (including the core members of Toto), and Chicago once again topped the charts with the single "Hard to Say I'm Sorry"/"Get Away". This was followed up by a song that barely missed the top 20, "Love Me Tomorrow." The following album, Chicago 17, became the biggest selling album of the band's history, producing two more Top Ten singles ("You're the Inspiration" and "Hard Habit to Break") and two other singles ("Stay The Night" and "Along Comes a Woman") which charted in the top 20. But a conflict arose as to which direction the band was taking due to Cetera's increasing focus on slow ballads. That, plus the pressure of launching a solo career while supporting the band's concert schedule, caused Cetera to leave the band in 1985. Although other band members (including Lamm and Champlin) have released solo material, Cetera has proved the most successful, topping the pop charts with The Karate Kid, Part II theme song "Glory of Love," and also with a duet with Amy Grant, "The Next Time I Fall." Cetera was replaced by bassist/singer Jason Scheff, who joined the band for the final Foster-produced album Chicago 18. This album was not as commercially successful as the previous two, but still produced the #3 single "Will You Still Love Me?", a Top 5 Adult Contemporary song ("If She Would Have Been Faithful..."), and also a high-tech and highly programmed version of "25 Or 6 To 4" with a concept video that got a lot of airplay on MTV. Soon after the album was recorded, the band hired the talented Dawayne Bailey from Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band. Bailey and Scheff had previously played in bands together, so Scheff introduced Bailey to the band in time for the Chicago 18 tour (Scheff and Bailey's first concert with Chicago took place on Friday Oct 17, 1986 in Rockford, Illinois). In 1988, the band replaced producer Foster with Ron Nevison and Chas Sanford, and they topped the charts again with the Diane Warren-composed single, "Look Away" from the album Chicago 19. The album also yielded three more Top 10 hits. Chicago 19 was followed in short order by Greatest Hits 1982-1989, which included the hit "What Kind Of Man Would I Be?," a slightly remixed tune originally included on 19. During 1989, Chicago did a reprise joint concert tour with The Beach Boys. The band continued in the decade of the 1990s, even though their popularity began to decline. There was also another personnel change: founding member Danny Seraphine was fired by the band in 1990 and was replaced by ace session drummer Tris Imboden, who first appeared on the 1991 album Twenty 1. Imboden was well-known in the industry as the longtime drummer for Kenny Loggins. On a happier note, Chicago was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 23, 1992. In 1992 and 1993, Chicago wrote and recorded their 22nd album, Stone of Sisyphus. Their record company at the time, Reprise [Warner Music Group], was unhappy with the finished result, and thus the album was never released officially, although in succeeding years bootleg recordings of the album have surfaced worldwide, including over the Internet. It is also rumored that the label would not release the album as a result of being unable to reach a licensing agreement with band management over the back catalog. Selected tracks from the unreleased album have since been officially released on four international compilation greatest hits CDs and the Rhino Records box set, and four were re-recorded for band members' solo albums. One track, "The Pull", was performed live during their 1992 appearance at the Greek Theatre (taped for PBS, and released on video in 1993). Starting on their 1994 tour, Chicago attempted to merge their unique sound with Big Band music for the 1995 album Night & Day Big Band, which consisted of covers of songs originally recorded by Sarah Vaughan, Glenn Miller, and Duke Ellington (from whom the album mainly got its inspiration). Keith Howland joined the band as guitarist in 1995 to replace the departed Dawayne Bailey. During a Los Angeles concert in 1997, Chicago teamed up with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra to perform a James Pankow/Dwight Mikelson orchestral arrangement of Pankow's rock epic "Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon". Also during this year, the group released The Heart of Chicago 1967-1997, a compilation album which went gold and yielded the #1 Adult Contemporary hit "Here in My Heart." In 1998, Chicago released Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album, which mixed traditional holiday favorites with original compositions. It went gold in the US. (The album was re-released with additional tracks in 2003, under the title What's It Gonna Be, Santa?) The band released a live album in 1999, Chicago XXVI, which included only two of the many songs Cetera helped to write while in the group. In 2000, the group (minus Cetera) had the opportunity to tell their story in an episode of VH1's Behind The Music. This included gems such as Pankow relating this story from the early 1980s: "One record company said 'Man, if you get rid of the horn section, we'll sign ya... That's like tellin' Elton John to get rid of the piano." The show, however, was not without its difficulties. The episode put more emphasis on the tragic death of Terry Kath than their entire career combined. Cetera completely disowned the special and went so far as to not allow VH1 to use any of the songs he composed for the band, even declining to be interviewed (although stock news footage of a Cetera interview does appear). Despite the personnel changes over the years, the group still keeps active four decades after its founding. They are one of the few major rock groups that has never broken up or even taken an extended hiatus, although with original frontmen Kath and Cetera long gone, the group sometimes seems like an ensemble calling itself Chicago (this problem is encountered by many aging rock groups and is not unique to Chicago). Nevertheless, four of the six founding members (major songwriters Lamm and Pankow, plus Loughnane and Parazaider) remain to this day providing continuity, while Bill Champlin has put in over 25 years with the band, Jason Scheff over 20, Tris Imboden with 15 and Keith Howland having 11. As a new century turned, the band licensed their entire recorded output to Rhino Records (after years with Columbia Records and Warner Brothers as well as their own short-lived label). In 2002 Rhino released a two-disc compilation, The Very Best of Chicago: Only The Beginning, which spans the band's entire career. Rhino has also begun releasing new versions of most of the band's albums, each including several bonus tracks; and in 2005 they released a compilation entitled Love Songs. Chicago continues to appear in big and small venues world-wide. In 2004-2005 they toured jointly with the band Earth, Wind & Fire; a DVD recorded during that tour, Chicago/Earth, Wind & Fire - Live at the Greek Theatre, was certified platinum just two months after its release. In 2006 the group released their first all-new studio album since Twenty 1, entitled Chicago XXX, on March 21, 2006. Two songs from this album, "Feel" and "Caroline" were performed live during Chicago's Fall 2005 tour; the studio recording of "Feel" debuted on WPLJ radio in New York in November, 2005. "Feel" was the first single released from the new album. "Love Will Come Back" was the second single released from XXX. The album was produced by Rascal Flatts bassist Jay Demarcus, who is a friend of Chicago bassist Jason Scheff. Seven of the 12 tracks on XXX were co-written by Scheff. Fans of the band were critical of the slick-as-glass production approach, where many Nashville-based session players performed the music tracks, sidelining the band's own players. While Chicago XXX did manage to debut at No. 41 on the US album chart besting some other weaker entries including Chicago XIV (July 1980) which hit US #71 and Twenty 1 (January 1991) which went to US #66, it only remained in the top 200 for two weeks and is considered a commercial failure. During March 2006 Chicago made a multi-week appearance at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, which was repeated in May of the same year. In July 2006 the band made a series of US appearances with Huey Lewis & the News. Highlights of that tour included Chicago's Bill Champlin performing with Huey Lewis & the News on a couple of songs, members of Huey Lewis & the News contributing to Chicago's percussion-laden song, "I'm A Man," and Huey Lewis singing the lead vocal on Chicago's "Colour My World." At the end of 2006, the band played at CD USA's New Year's Eve party on Fremont Street in Las Vegas. Chicago is co-headlining the summer of 2007 with the band America. The hits CDs continue as October 2 will see yet another compilation release, "The Best of Chicago 40th Anniversary." From time to time, other artists have contributed to Chicago recordings. Al Green teamed up with Chicago on a live-in-studio version of his early-70's hit "Tired Of Being Alone", a performance which was originally recorded for the band's 1973 ABC-TV special "Chicago In The Rockies" and which later appeared as a bonus track on Rhino's remastered Chicago VI CD release. In 1974, The Pointer Sisters sang backup vocals on "Skinny Boy", the title track from Robert Lamm's first solo album, which also appeared later that same year (with horns added) on Chicago VII. In 1977, Chaka Khan sang backup vocals on "Take Me Back To Chicago" a Danny Seraphine composition from that year's Chicago XI album. In 1978, The Bee Gees added backing vocals to "Little Miss Lovin'", a Peter Cetera-penned rocker from Chicago's Hot Streets album. In 1979, trumpet great Maynard Ferguson performed the trumpet solo on "Street Player", another Danny Seraphine song, from Chicago 13. The Chicago horn section performed on the 1969 Three Dog Night album Suitable for Framing on two tracks -- "Feeling Alright" and "Celebrate"; the album cover sends out "Special thanks ... Horns -- Walter, James, and Lee -- Chicago (C.T.A.)". As payback for the Brothers Gibb having appeared on Hot Streets, the horn section also made an appearance on the Bee Gees' 1979 album Spirits Having Flown, and also played on producer David Foster's solo album from 1985. Peter Cetera and Donnie Dacus contributed backing vocals to Billy Joel's 1978 single "My Life", produced by Phil Ramone (who produced Hot Streets and Chicago 13). Peter Cetera appeared on one of Paul Anka's songs, "Hold Me 'Til The Mornin' Comes", in 1983. Over the years, Chicago has contributed songs to numerous movie soundtracks; examples include: 1982 - Summer Lovers, the David Foster/Peter Cetera-written #1 hit "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" 1983 - Two Of A Kind, Peter Cetera's "Prima Donna" 1990 - Days of Thunder, Bill Champlin's "Hearts In Trouble" 1991 - My Girl, "Saturday in the Park" 1999 - Three Kings, "If You Leave Me Now" 2000 - Little Nicky, "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" (supposedly having subliminal messaging when played backwards) 2004 - Starsky & Hutch, James Pankow's 'Old Days" A cover version of the Chicago song "You're the Inspiration" is featured in the Nintendo DS game Elite Beat Agents. The level follows a young girl dealing with the death of her father. In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Bart Oates", Carl sold Chicago shirts in the parking lot of one of Chicago's shows to make money - but due to "them dumbass immigrants I had workin' for me" the shirts read "Chicano" instead. Carl gave the band all the rest of the "Chicano" shirts and $43 in change as reparations.

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