Chicago

Song Lyric Sunday — Beginnings

Fandango14 Comments

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adam’s has given us the theme words, “begin,” “end,” “finish,” and “start.” The first thing that popped into my head was the song “Only the Beginning” from Chicago.

“Only the Beginning” (sometimes referred to just as “Beginnings”) was written by Robert Lamm for the band Chicago and was recorded for its debut album Chicago Transit Authority, which was released in 1969. The song was the band’s second single (after “Questions 67 and 68”), but failed to chart on its initial release. It was re-released in June 1971, backed with “Colour My World.” Both sides became U.S. radio hits, and the combined single climbed to number seven on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Lamm said “Beginnings” was inspired by a performance by Richie Havens that he attended at the Ash Grove music club in Los Angeles when the group moved to that area.

The song is about when a new relationship begins. It oozes promise and possibilities and that feeling one gets just being with that person…that’s all that matters. The feelings are so intense that the singer is having a hard time putting them into words, and thus, remains mostly silent.

Here are the lyrics to “Only the Beginning.”

When I’m with you
It doesn’t matter where we are
Or what we’re doing
I’m with you, that’s all that matters

Time passes much too quickly
When we’re together laughing
I wish I could sing it to you, whoa oh
I wish I could sing it to you

Oh oh oh oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh
Mostly I’m silent, hmm
Silent

When I kiss you
I feel a thousand different feelings
A cover of chills
All over my body
And when I feel them
I quickly try to decide which one
I should try to put into words, whoa oh
Try to put into words

Oh oh oh oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh

Only the beginning
Only just the start
Oh oh oh oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh

Fandango’s Friday Flashback — October 2

Fandango26 Comments

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 2nd) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on my old blog on October 2, 2013.

What time is it?

ClocksIn addition to my watch, there are ten timekeeping devices (aka, clocks) in my house. TEN! And except for one, they’re all digital time displays. Where are these timekeeping devices?

  1. Bedroom alarm
  2. Coffee maker
  3. Oven
  4. Microwave
  5. Cable box
  6. iPhone
  7. iPad
  8. Laptop
  9. Printer
  10. Desk clock (analog face)

I’m not obsessed with knowing precisely what time it is. However, I do participate in a lot of conference calls and online meetings for my job, and I like being prompt for those calls/meetings, since others could be affected by my tardiness.

So this morning, when I looked at the clock that sits on my desk and saw that it was three minutes past the hour, I thought to myself, “Shit, I’m late for the call.” Then I looked at my watch, which told me it was just on the hour. I picked up my iPhone, which read one-minute past the hour, as did my iPad and laptop.

Now I’m not saying that I’m easily distracted, but instead of placing the call that I may or may not have already been late for, I decided that I needed to check out all of the other clocks in my place. I ran to the bedroom and checked my alarm clock. I went to the kitchen and looked at the times displayed on the coffee maker, the oven, and the microwave. I checked the time on my cable box and on my printer.

In my kitchen alone, the coffee maker, oven, and microwave displayed three different times, each different from the others by a minute. Three different times displayed on three clocks within 10 feet of one another, for crissake!

The time displayed on my cable box showed one minute later than any of the three clocks in the kitchen. In all, the variation among all of the 11 timepieces — the ten clocks and my watch — was four minutes from slowest to fastest. Fascinating, right?

By the time I finished this truly pointless and somewhat irrational exercise, I was ten minutes late for my call…or maybe only six minutes late. I can’t be certain. But even after I got on the call and apologized to the others for my tardiness, I couldn’t really concentrate on whatever it was that the call concerned.

The only thing that was going through my mind, to the exclusion of everything else, was that old song by the band Chicago: “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”

And then it struck me. Does anybody really care?

Photo credit: Jon Tyson at unsplash.

Song Lyric Sunday — Baby Please Don’t Go

Fandango20 Comments

Jim Adams has given us the words “come,” “go,” “leave,” and “stay” for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme. My choice for this week is “If You Leave Me Now” from the group Chicago.

“If You Leave Me Now” was written and sung by Chicago bass player Peter Cetera. It was released as a single on July 31, 1976 from Chicago’s album Chicago X. It topped the U.S. charts on October 23, 1976, and stayed there for two weeks, making it the first number one hit for the group.

Lyrically, this is a surprisingly simple song, where the singer is making his case for why his girl shouldn’t leave him. Cetera specialized in ballads, adding variety to the band’s sound, which typically featured many more rock-oriented songs. The popularity of this song, along with other romantic ballads from Cetera, enabled the group to find a new audience, and it became much more successful.

But the band got tagged as a soft rock group, which took the focus away from the grittier, horn-heavy songs that had been its early calling card. This musical and stylistic shift became a point of contention for Chicago’s famed horn section, leading to constant battles to get the horns higher in the mix. This rift ultimately led to Cetera leave the group in 1985, when he embarked on a solo career.

Here are the lyrics to “If You Leave Me Now.”

If you leave me now, you’ll take away the biggest part of me
Ooohh no
Baby please don’t go
And if you leave me now, you’ll take away the very heart of me
Ooohh no
Baby please don’t go
Ooohh girl
I just want you to stay

A love like ours is love that’s hard to find
How could we let it slip away
We’ve come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way
When tomorrow comes and we’ll both regret
The things we said today

A love like ours is love that’s hard to find
How could we let it slip away
We’ve come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way
When tomorrow comes and we’ll both regret
The things we said today

If you leave me now, you’ll take away the biggest part of me
Ooohh no
Baby please don’t go
Ooohh girl
I just got to have you by my side
Ooohh no
Baby please don’t go
Ooohh mama
I just got to have your loving here

Song Lyric Sunday — Summer Holiday

Fandango21 Comments

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has given us the words of Christmas, Holiday, and Snowman for a “Christmassy” theme. Personally, I’ve already heard enough Christmas songs over the past four or five weeks to last me for the rest of the year. And I live in a part of the country where it doesn’t snow, so forget about a song about a snowman. Thus, I’m going to focus on the word “holiday” for my song choice, and a summer holiday at that — the Fourth of July!

“Saturday in the Park” was written by Robert Lamm, a member of the group Chicago. It was recorded for the group’s 1972 album Chicago V. The song was released as a single and reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was the band’s highest-charting single at the time, helping lift the album to number 1.

Lamm wrote the song after spending the Fourth of July in New York’s Central Park, where there were steel drum players, singers, dancers, and jugglers. Lamm and Peter Cetera sang lead on the track. Lamm admitted that he based the song’s melody on “You Won’t See Me” by The Beatles.

According to the Songfacts site, after Lamm sang the line, “Singing Italian songs,” he allegedly sang some made up words, “Eh cumpari, ci vo sunari,” that he thought sounded Italian. But it turned out that the line is actually the first line of the song “Eh Cumpari” sung by Julius La Rosa in 1953. The line translates loosely to “Hey friend, let’s make some music.”

Here are the song’s lyrics.

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
Eh cumpari, ci vo sunari
Can you dig it (yes, I can)
And I’ve been waiting such a long time
For Saturday

Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
People talking, really smiling
A man playing guitar (play a song, play a song, play on)
Singing for us all (singing for us)
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 colors 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

Forty days in the park
And every day’s the Fourth of July
Forty days in the park
Every day’s the Fourth of July
People reaching, people touching
A real celebration
Waiting for us all (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
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Three Line Tales — Back in the Day

Fandango11 Comments

762E0DCC-93E1-49B5-9EE6-43E2020D9A6FI remember back in the day when I used to have to venture out into the frigid, snow covered streets of Chicago to do my Christmas shopping.

But then I moved to the Sunshine State and now I never again have to deal with such miserable weather in order to get my holiday shopping done.

Of course, these days, because I do all of my shopping online and have my packages delivered right to my door, I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore what the weather is where I live.

Written for this week’s Three Line Tales prompt from Sonya. Photo credit: Josh Hild via Unsplash.