Song Lyric Sunday: Chicago, “Questions 67 and 68”

Song Lyric Sunday, Song of the Day 2 Minutes

Greg’s Blog is once again the source of our SLS prompt. This week, Jim gives us this:

Better with Age: Failed or Overlooked Songs that Eventually Became Fan Favorites

We go back to Chicago’s first album, 1968’s The Chicago Transit Authority, and pick up the band’s first single: “Questions 67 and 68,” written by Robert Lamm and sung by bassist Peter Cetera and Lamm. This was the first single from the album, released in July 1969 and getting very little attention. I looked at the surveys from both WLS and WCFL in Chicago, and it didn’t make either one. If you can’t get the radio stations in your hometown to play your record… it did, miraculously, reach #71 on the Hot 100 and #82 on the Cash Box Top 100. After later singles met with more success, it was shortened and released again in September 1971 and reached #24 on the Hot 100 and #13 on Cash Box. Dave Swanson at Ultimate Classic Rock, writing in 2015, makes the song #9 on his “Top 10 Chicago Songs,” saying

Released in the summer of 1969, “Questions 67 And 68” was Chicago’s debut single. Coming just a few months after the LP’s release, it was met with silence at radio and retail. Yet composer and keyboardist Robert Lamm, who shares the vocal duties with bassist Peter Cetera, provides a clear early example of the signature Chicago sound.

Can this feeling that we have together
Ooh, suddenly exist between?
Did this meeting of our minds together
Ooh, happen just today, somewhere?

I’d like to know
Can you tell me? Please don’t tell me
It really doesn’t matter anyhow
It’s just that the thought of us so happy
Appears in my mind, as a beautifully mysterious thing
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Was your image in my mind so deeply?
Ooh, other faces fade away
Blocking memories of unhappy hours
Ooh, leavin’ just a burnin’ love

I’d like to know
Can you tell me? Please don’t tell me
It really doesn’t matter anyhow
It’s just that the thought of us so happy
Appears in my mind, as a beautifully mysterious thing
Got to know now, baby

Can this lovin’ we have found within us
Ooh, suddenly exist between?
Did we somehow try to make it happen
Ooh, was it just a natural thing?

I’d like to know
Can you tell me? Please don’t tell me
It really doesn’t matter anyhow
It’s just that the thought of us so happy
Appears in my mind, as a beautifully mysterious thing
Yes, it does now, baby

Questions 67 and 68

Lyrics: AZLyrics

And that’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for August 28, 2022.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

22 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Chicago, “Questions 67 and 68””

  1. Pingback: The Labor Day Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

    1. Things were never the same when he was gone. You read articles where the members say that he was the heart and soul of the band as well as a monster of a guitarist and singer.

      There are rumors that he was going to leave after Chicago XI to form a power trio called Cook County. I would have loved to hear that group…

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I would have loved to hear that also. John have you seen the youtube documentary of his daughter looking for his guitars?
        He was more experimental and pushed them.

        Like

    1. It’s been one of my favorites for years as well. Record 1, side 2 of that album is one of the best album sides ever, I think. The songs fit together so well, and there’s that 5-minute jam between Terry Kath, Peter Cetera, and Dan Seraphine at the beginning of “Poem 58” that just blows me away every time I hear it. I almost think of it as a separate song.

      Liked by 1 person

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