♫ 25 Or 6 To 4 ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

A couple of nights ago I played another Chicago song, Hard to Say I’m Sorry, and at least three people commented that their favourite song by Chicago is 25 Or 6 To 4.  Well … when you guys speak, what else could I do but play it for you?  So, back by popular demand …

This song has a strange title, and an equally strange history, but I love, love, love the horns in it.  Released in 1970, this song was written by Robert Lamm, who is a keyboard player and singer for Chicago.  It’s about trying to write a song, with the title referring to the time of day: either 3:35 a.m. (25 to 4) or 3:34 a.m. (26 to 4).  Confused yet?  According to Lamm …

“I was living with a bunch of hippies up above Sunset Strip. One of the advantages of this particular house was that it was in the Hollywood Hills and I could look out over the city late at night. I wanted to try to describe the process of writing the song that I was writing. So, ‘waiting for the break of day, searching for something to say, flashing lights against the sky’ – there was a neon sign across the city. That song came from the fact that it was 25 or 6 to 4 a.m. in the morning when I looked at my watch – I was looking for a line to finish the chorus.

Most songs that were written, especially in the early days, whenever I got them to the band and we started rehearsing them, that’s when the songs took shape – once these guys got hold of them. There was definitely a lot of raw material, I thought it was a song when I wrote the words down, I wrote the changes down and I brought the charts to rehearsal, but it wasn’t really a song until they all played it.”

Chicago was previously known as Chicago Transit Authority, which was the name of their first album. They shortened their name after the actual Chicago transit authority objected, and began releasing albums with their name followed by a roman numeral (Chicago II, Chicago III, Chicago IV, etc.).

Peter Cetera is the lead singer on this version.  After he left the  band in 1985, Chicago recorded an updated version for their album Chicago 18 with Jason Scheff singing lead, but I much prefer the original.

Interestingly, the song was banned in Singapore in 1970 due to “alleged allusions to drugs”; the ban extended to entire albums including the song, such as Chicago 18. In 1993, the ban on this song was lifted, along with long-time bans on songs by other artists such as the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

25 or 6 to 4
Chicago

Waiting for the break of day
Searching for something to say
Dancing lights againnst the sky
Giving up I close my eyes
Sitting cross-legged on the floor
25 or 6 to 4

Staring blindly into space
Getting up to splash my face
Wanting just to stay awake
Wondering how much I can take
Should have tried to do some more
25 or 6 to 4

Feeling like I ought to sleep
Spinning room is sinking deep
Searching for something to say
Waiting for the break of day
25 or 6 to 4
25 or 6 to 4

Songwriters: Robert Lamm
25 or 6 to 4 lyrics © Spirit Music Group, BMG Rights Management

Discover more from Filosofa's Word

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

35 thoughts on “♫ 25 Or 6 To 4 ♫ (Redux)”

  5. Anything with horns is usually a turnoff for me and this track is no exception. I don’t recall hearing this one before and apparently it didn’t make it into the NZ charts.

    As to why I find horns so jarring, I have no idea, but then most people find fingernails scraping across a chalkboard jarring and I have no idea why.

    Liked by 2 people

    • 😊 I like horns but prefer woodwinds and strings, but fingernail scraping on a blackboard does not bother me, either. I can even do it myself, if allowed. 🖖

      Liked by 1 person

      • Lazy use of terms on my part. It’s actually brass, and particularly trumpet that I dislike. French horns have a somewhat warmer, mellow sound.

        Once I discovered how much other people dislike fingernails scraping, I took to “accidentally on purpose” doing it at school whenever I felt someone had wronged me.

        Fortunately, whiteboards hadn’t made it to the classroom by the time I left school 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Jill, one of my favorite Chicago songs. When we saw them in concert, this one got the crowd to its feet. I remember a group of us trying to figure out the title when it first came out when I was in high school. Keith

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Jill, one of my favorite Chicago songs. When we saw them in concert, this one got the crowd to its feet. I remember a group of us trying to figure out the title when it first came out when I was in high school. Keith

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Vibrant sound, some much energy. I heard several versions of where the title came from; this one makes the most sense ( I suspect a few were second or third-hand stories picked up by ‘journalists’ in music papers.
    ‘If you leave me now’ hit number 1 in the uk

    Liked by 2 people

  12. Pingback: ♫ 25 Or 6 To 4 ♫ (Redux) | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

Comments are closed.