Chicago’s main songwriter, Robert Lamm, wrote this song. Lamm and Peter Cetera sang lead on the track. Robert Lamm based the melody of this song on “You Won’t See Me” by The Beatles, something he openly admitted.
The piano riff, in the beginning, hooks you right away. The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in Canada in 1972.
Robert Lamm: 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
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.
In the 2000 Adam Sandler film Little Nicky, this song was used for comedic effect when it was played backwards to show that it contains satanic messages.
Other movies to use the song include The Spirit of ’76 (1990) and My Girl (1991). TV series to feature the song include The Sopranos (2002), My Name Is Earl (2005) and Fringe (2011).
Chicago and Robin Thicke performed part of this song at the 2014 Grammy Awards in a medley of Chicago’s hits leading into Thicke’s song “Blurred Lines.” The occasion: Chicago’s first album entering the Grammy Hall of Fame.
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
My nephew was born on the Fourth of July and he has fireworks every year on his birthday.
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My wedding anniversery is on that day…so I wouldn’t forget.
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Excellent song – it was one of my favorites when I was a little kid and still love it. to me,Chicago made very few missteps in their singles from the ’70s… after that, well, rather uneven let’s say.
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I loved Chicago when I was in high school, and the day “Chicago V” was released, I remember riding my bicycle to a Montgomery Ward’s (about five miles away on a road that was not friendly to bicycles) so I’d be there when it opened, thinking there were going to be throngs of people outside the store waiting to get in. Needless to say, the throngs weren’t there and the store was well-stocked. I rode back home (even more treacherous because I was steering with one hand, the album under my arm, and most of the ride was uphill), put the album on, and just played it over and over. This wasn’t my favorite song from the album (that would be the odd-metered “A Hit By Varese”) but it was the song I heard the most of, and it still brings a smile to my face…
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John you earned that album!
I like them a lot…I love the Terry Kath period the best but I do like select songs from later on also. They had a second wind in the 80s but this stuff I really like. The combination they had then was great…
Thanks for sharing the memory…those were the days.
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Great song, great band. Both are classics.
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I wonder what made Lamm back away and make the Chicago sound Cetera-centered. I like Cetera’s voice but, he’s a bit squishy. Chicago has *oomph*…probably why he never went back.
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Yes when done right that whole combination sounded really good…but yes Cetera can go a bit soft.
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I see it was used in “My Name is Earl.” I love that show! Chicago in the good times was the best. The kind of music that sounds best outside, sitting in a lawn chair in the summertime in front of the band shell with them playing live.
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That is a perfect way of describing it!
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🙂
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I’d like to learn this on piano sometime – it’s pretty cool.
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