Chicago – Saturday in the Park

I’ve always liked early Chicago when Terry Kath was part of the band. Love the intro to this song and it takes me back to when I first heard the song. Saturday in the Park peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in Canada. Robert Lamm who wrote the song openly admits he based the melody on The Beatles “You Won’t See Me.”

Robert Lamm on Saturday in the Park

“Saturday in the Park is a prime example of how I take from what I experience in the world. It was written as I was looking at footage from a film I shot in Central Park, over a couple of years, back in the early ‘70s. I shot this film and somewhere down the line I edited it into some kind of a narrative, and as I watched the film I jotted down some ideas based on what I was seeing and had experienced. And it was really kind of that peace and love thing that happened in Central Park and in many parks all over the world, perhaps on a Saturday, where people just relax and enjoy each other’s presence, and the activities we observe and the feelings we get from feeling a part of a day like that.”

From Songfacts.

Chicago’s main songwriter, Robert Lamm, wrote this after a particularly exhilarating 4th of July spent 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.

like most Chicago singles, this didn’t chart in the UK. In America, however, it was their biggest chart hit to that point and also their first gold single, which at the time meant selling more than a million copies (“25 Or 6 To 4” somehow was never certified gold).

This song contains some of the most famous nonsense singing in rock: after Robert Lamm sings the line, “Singing Italian songs,” he sings some made up words approximating the Italian language.

 

Saturday In the Park

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
Everybody is another
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
And 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 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

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, yeah yeah

Hoo hoo oh
Hmm hmmm
Hmm hmmm