This Sunday, Jim is looking for songs with one-word titles and this came to mind instantly. "Introduction" is from The Chicago Transit Authority’s eponymous 1968 debut, before they changed their name to the much more familiar Chicago. It was written by the late, great Terry Kath, who also sings it and plays some very nasty guitar on it. It’s said that Jimi Hendrix was an admirer of Terry’s guitar playing, which would have been nice to know when I was in high school, when conversations about music usually limited themselves to "great" or "sucks." The general opinion was "Jimi Hendrix is great, Terry Kath sucks."
The lyrics, from Genius.com:
Hey there everybody
Please don’t romp or roam
We’re a little nervous
‘Cause we’re so far from home
So this is what we do
Sit back and let us groove
And let us work on you, yeah
We’ve all spent years preparing
Before this group was born
With heaven’s help it blended
And we do thank the Lord
So if you’ve nothing to do
Sit back and let us through
And let us play for you
[Instrumental Solos]
Now we put you through the changes
And turned around the mood
We hope it’s struck you different
And hope you feel moved
So forget about your troubles
As we search for something new
And we play for you
Please don’t romp or roam
We’re a little nervous
‘Cause we’re so far from home
So this is what we do
Sit back and let us groove
And let us work on you, yeah
We’ve all spent years preparing
Before this group was born
With heaven’s help it blended
And we do thank the Lord
So if you’ve nothing to do
Sit back and let us through
And let us play for you
[Instrumental Solos]
Now we put you through the changes
And turned around the mood
We hope it’s struck you different
And hope you feel moved
So forget about your troubles
As we search for something new
And we play for you
And that’s Song Lyric Sunday, and Song of the Day, for April 11, 2021.
I love any form of Chicago! I am more into their horn section, but the guitar part was awesome too!
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Terry Kath was an awesome guitarist.
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This is really great John. loved it! ☺️
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Thanks!
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Great song and this is when actual instruments were used…how novel!
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Music from the pre-electronic era, although you had people like Brian Eno starting to work with synthesizers.
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Not sure how I missed this one but maybe it was a little too early for it to have had any play in rural Ohio. Great selection.
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They never released it as a single, so unless you had the album you wouldn’t have heard it. Until now, anyway…
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I do not think I had that album, although I was very aware of the CTA.
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Yep, when I didn’t know any better, I was involved in many of those great, or sucks conversations. Nice choice John.
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It was fun being a teenager, wasn’t it?
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