I also am not that familiar with "The Night Chicago Died" - have probably heard it no more than 5 times in the intervening 44 years. For someone like myself who is a big Chicago (musical group) fan (at least in the '70s), this is an ironic song title. I know they have nothing to do with each other.
...Now that we have reached TNCD, I am re-posting this, which I put up too early before. , post: 18882492, member: 75635"].Jumping back to " The Night Chicago Died ": -1- It certainly serves as another example of the fascination of so many 70s UK songwriter with Americana! From a distance. -2- As far as that goes, I recall reading one of the songwriters of TNCD saying people said to him, " there is no easy side of Chicago " - to which he said " Rubbish. every town has an east side " or similar - Meaning, of course, in the sense of an " East Side Of Chicago " that people make S thing about as they do over the South Side - or the Lower East Side of Manhattan, say. Chi-Towners here: Do people make much of a deal about the East Side Of Chicago? -3- My indelible 14-year-old memory of TNCD - being on a school bus, on a school trip, and this kinda thuggish - Well, by comparison to me - Puerto Rican kid was stomping up and down the school bus aisle singing along to the song! -4- However, speaking of Chicago's sides - I recall an episode of " Kolchak: The Night Stalker ", on TV at just this time! - where Darren McGavin's narration sets up a killing talking about blocks in the South Side if Chicago where, contrary to the SS's image, Caucasian rednecks just up from the South gather, not black ones, in these " exception " blocks. The redneck is then killed by that week's monster, but anyway - Are, or were, their " Caucasian Haven " blocks in the South Side, breaking from its general demograpnhic?[/QUOTE]
"Desperado" was a Top 5 hit ... on the country charts, for Johnny Rodriguez. (Clint Black's version charted in '94 but didn't break Top 50)
As with "Billy", my inner 10-year-old rules the roost when it comes to "The Night Chicago Died". I still gleefully and unabashedly sing along to every word. It must be because these were the songs that year that taught me that music was the greatest thing ever invented, and if you think I'm crazy now, just wait til we get to December '74. That slidey guitar part that punctuates the verses is probably the first time in my life I thought guitars were awesome.
Air That I Breathe is a song I play regularily to this day from the album it’s from. Superbly recorded, outstanding production. As much as I love it, however, I’m not sure it’s really a number one song. Top five, yes! But it would have been nice.
Definitely! But, the Eagles weren’t quite a mainstream group yet for most people. I realize now I wasn’t quite into them yet. Once Lyin’ Eyes, One Of These Nights and Take It To The Limit came out, I was sure in at that point! Just realized...aren’t those ALL from the One Of These Nights album? Pretty incredible, eh? And I think that was really the turning point....they just barely slid into the more commercial slick realm and that’s all it took, without really taking much from their previous sound. Peaceful, Easy Feeling and Tequila Sunrise have a slight country tinge to them, and I think they were just a tiny bit too far to the left of commercial to be top five songs. I didn’t really discover those other songs until after the three aforementioned hits, but I pretty much became a fan of everything after that. Pretty amazing group, really.
I was going to respond, but you pretty much wrote it for me. I don’t get the hate really; even if you hate the lyrics it’s well produced imo and a fun song. And I agree with you all the way, so that isn’t the point of this question, but why in fact did Billy get lumped in with Chicago?? I really don’t see it. I understand why Billy gets trashed, even though I really like the song, but I don’t understand why Chicago is treated the same or mentioned in the same sentence. But it was then, and clearly still is now. I bought both 45’s on the same day and my brother and his friend really razzed me over it. Man, it’s amazing what you can remember when memories are tied to songs, eh?
I love "Witchy Woman" from 1972. I loved hearing it on the radio back then. But, it was "Already Gone" that made me sit up and take notice of the band. When Already Gone" hit the top 10 in the spring of '74, I was an instant fan. It should also be noted that it in the middle or recording "On The Border" album that they fired Glyn Johns as producer and replaced him with Bill Szymczyk. They wanted that rock/top 40 sound. It's not that they didn't like country-rock, they just didn't like Glyn John's brand of it, or his production style. Once they got Szymczyk, their hit single fortunes improved, so they made the right call. Of course, that didn't sit well with a lot of their long-time fans who leaned more towards that country-rock style. Banjo and fiddle player Bernie Leadon didn't like it either and left after one more album. That said, one of my all-time favorite Eagles songs is coming up next year, and it's country all the way! You and Slug man must not have listened to much top 40 radio in 1974. I remember the song being played like every hour on the hour.
I prefer the one by the “pop” (actually rock, IMO) group, although I heard Flack’s hit a lot more back then.
Linda Ronstadt released a cover of Desperado from her Don’t Cry Now album but it didn’t chart, AFAIK. Which seems odd b/c I remember hearing it a lot in the radio.
I forgot about Witchy Woman. What a creepy, awesome mood song that is. I had no idea it was that old. Great song, and yes, so is Already Gone. No wonder the first Greatest Hits album continues to sell. It’s right up there with Elton’s first hits album.
That should be required reading for everyone following this. What a great, fun book. I also own that huge Billboard Chart coffee table book. It basically copied all the charts from day one into the 90’s if I’m not mistaken. Did he do that too and/or was that the book you were referring to?
Oh, I have them, and I reference them when I make my yearly comps, but I get lazy and, you know, when a song was played in heavy rotation on your local station, you tend to think it was huge everywhere. If you take someone like @tommy-thewho who probably didn't follow top 40 during this period, he is consistently surprised things got as high as they did. So, everyone in this thread has an interesting take on all of these songs, and that reflects the unique way in which we all grew up or experienced them. Right now, I think it would be fun to go back to the 60s part of the thread to see who has dropped out of the discussion and who has joined. A few people who said they'd join when we got to this era haven't. But, I also haven't seen them on the forum at all lately.
Well, I stand corrected. I’ve seen her handle name before but don’t recollect any posts. Well, at least she’s got a real reason now to be peeved at me!
People took issue with "The Night Chicago Died" over the massive historical inaccuracies in relation to the Capone era, which fell in the time of Prohibition. Plus other issues involving the city itself that for obvious reasons I won't be getting into. Chicagoans themselves seemed torn over it, Mayor Daley certainly hated it. (The lumping in with "Billy..." had to do with both being written by the same songwriting duo of Mitch Murray and Peter Callander. They also penned a 1968 Georgie Fame hit, "The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde," which was likewise historically challenged - what's a "dulap" bag, anyway?) But there is no arguing that the record was well produced and arranged, that's for sure . . .
Another thing about "TNCD" I noticed: In the segments of the verses, f'rinstance, such as "When a man named Al Capone / Tried to make that town his own . . . " and "There was shouting in the street / And the sound of running feet . . . ," has anyone noticed the melody and chord structure seemed derivative of the portions of "Seasons In The Sun" verses like "Learned of love and A.B.C.'s / Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees" and "Too much wine and too much song / Wondered how we got along."
That is correct. I did not start listening to Top 40 radio regularly until 1977. I'll be saying the same things you are saying then. As I've mentioned many times, there was a "MOR" station that my parents listened to that I also listened to (had no choice in that). This is the station that would play Roberta Flack but not Bad Company.
