Chicago the group has a great song that was written in the "70s that fits today...check it

[greenbriar]

Part i

Are you optimistic 'bout the way things are going?
No, i never ever think of it at all

Don't you ever worry
When you see what's going down?

No, i try to mind my business, that is, no business at all

When it's time to function as a feeling human being
Will your bachelor of arts help you get by?

I hope to study further, a few more years or so
I also hope to keep a steady high

Will you try to change things
Use the power that you have, the power of a million new ideas?

What is this power you speak of and this need for things to change?
I always thought that everything was fine

Don't you feel repression just closing in around?
No, the campus here is very, very free

"Don't it make you angry the way war is dragging on?
Well, i hope the president knows what he's into, i don't know"

Don't you ever see the starvation in the city where you live
All the needless hunger all the needless pain?

I haven't been there lately, the country is so fine
But my neighbors don't seem hungry 'cause they haven't got the time

Thank you for the talk, you know you really eased my mind
I was troubled by the shapes of things to come

Well, if you had my outlook your feelings would be numb
You'd always think that everything was fine

Part ii

We can make it happen
We can change the world now
We can save the children
We can make it better
We can make it happen
We can save the children
We can make it happen

[Jcrowley]

1. That really is a great song

And is truly and sadly timeless and timely.

[greenbriar]

2. I love that group and that song is number one on my IPOD

it is awesome

[Atman]

3. Chicago Transit Authority (their first album) is a protest classic!

Incredible album, with long free-form guitar jams, and even a long, long cut called "Liberation" which features samples of the infamous Chicago Democratic National Convention. They were an incredible band before they sold out to pop radio schmaltz love songs.

I STRONGLY recommend CTA to anyone. It'll blow your fucking mind, man!

:hippie:

.

[Systematic Chaos]

5. See my post below as to *why* they "sold out"

Record companies kind of rule the bands' lives. It didn't thrill them that it ended up like that.

[Systematic Chaos]

4. They had a ton of good ones until about Chicago VI or VII

Once Columbia records figured out that it was the ballads that sold the most records, all of the protest music and deep stuff was cast by the wayside.

They tried a bit of a return to their roots in the early 90's with the "Stone of Sisyphus" album, and the record company refused to release it telling them to "go back in the studio and write more of those love songs", or words to that effect. It has been around on file sharing and torrent sites for years and is worth finding and giving a listen to, if just to reflect on what might have been.

They're still a great band either way.

[greenbriar]

6. I love every song they have put out and have every album and now am getting

every CD


saw them in a special concert last April for a benefit. Only them and they played over 3 hours AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Atman]

8. I actually forged a concert ticket to see them in the 70s

I dug 'em so much (and was trying to nail a hottie who looooved their ballads). Only time I ever did anything like that, and you young kids today don't know how easy you have it, what with your fancy computers and scanners and Photoshop and all! I could only afford one ticket...so I went to the public library and paid a quarter to copy it on a b&w copier (no color copiers back then), then literally re-drew the entire freakin' ticket with colored pencils and markers. No shit. It got my girl in, no one caught on. I almost even wound up marrying her a few years later! Whew. That was close.

(edit:) I just remembered -- I still have the stencils I cut to make air-brushed shirts of Chicago #IV (I think...the one with the cardinal on the jacket). I used to airbrush a lot of shirts. I have Greatful Dead's Terrapin Station, too. Probably took me a week, and I only got like $25 for the shirt. Enough for a bag o' weed back then!

.

[KoKo]

18. Saw them here in NC last Summer...and they played their hearts out...incredible!

Their opening act was Huey Lewis and the News... :eyes: and I thought he'd be really bad so we got there a little late. I was so sorry. Had no idea how good Lewis and his band were or what a talented and nice guy he is (at least he was to his audience). He later sung with Chicago when they came on so it was an incredible show with both groups working together.

[Jcrowley]

7. Here's another

Chicago It Better End Soon 1st Movement Lyrics
Can't stand it no more
The people dying
Crying for help for so many years
But nobody hears
Better end soon my friend
It better end soon my friend

Can't take it no more
The people hating
Hurting their brothers
They don't understand
They can't understand
Better end soon my friend
It better end soon

Hey, everybody
Won't you just look around
Can't anybody see?
Just what's going down
Can't you take the time?
Just to feel
Just to feel what is real
If you do
Then you'll see that we got a raw deal
They're killing everybody
I wish it weren't true
They say we got to make war
Or the economy will fall
But if we don't stop
We won't be around no more
They're ruining this world
For you and me
The big heads of state
Won't let us be free
They made the rules once
But it didn't work out
Now we must try again
Before they kill us off
No more dying!
No more killing
No more dying
No more fighting
We don't want to die
No, we don't want to die
Please let's change it all
Please let's make it all
Good for the present
And better for the future
Let's just love one another
Let's show peace for each other
We can make it happen
Let's just make it happen
We can change this world
Please let's change this world
Please let's make it happen for our children
For our women
Change the world
Please make it happen
Come on
Come on
Please
Come on
It's up to me
It's up to you
So let's do it now
Yeah
Do it now

Can't stand it no more
The people cheating
Burning each other
They know it ain't right
How can it be right
Better end soon my friend
It better end soon my friend

[City Lights]

9. Excellent song!

IMHO, Chicago was never the same after Kath's death. :-(

[Horse with no Name]

10. 100% in agreement

In fact, was going to post that and then I saw yours.:(

[SalmonChantedEvening]

11. Attention greenbriar! Report to the Greatest page at once!!

That is all

:hi:

[roguevalley]

12. I also remember a song they did where the lyric was "The whole world

is watching". Or maybe, "Its only the beginning." I think. :) Its been a while.

[Elwood P Dowd]

14. "Beginnings" was the song.

Does anybody's computer really know what time it is? DST starts soon.

[City Lights]

17. You're probably thinking of "Prolouge, August 29, 1968,"

which included actual recordings from the demonstrations at the DNC in Chicago that year.

[Spirochete]

13. I went to a Chicago concert

back in 1972. Lamm had a McGovern sticker on his piano, and went into an anti-Nixon minirant in between songs at one point.

[greenbriar]

15. they are playing at the Kansas State Fair in September

It will be my 8th time to see them

[jgraz]

16. I honestly thought you were going to say "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"

In honor of our new and improved Daylight Savings Time.

[Ilsa]

19. I was singing this song alot in March 2003. It made me

cry for how little things have changed in 30 years.