Inside Tracks #40: Chicago, "Saturday in the Park" (Robert Lamm), 1972 w/Covers by Panda Transport, Marco De Farco ft. Rosetta Bove, Leonid & Friends, Hans Annéllsson
Like Sly's "Hot Fun in the Summertime," Chicago's 1972 paean to kites and sunny days practically ushers in the season, itself. Add a sing-along melody & punchy horns for summer in the city, any city!☀
The Chicago-original-recording portion of this “Inside Tracks” debuted (and still appears) on
’s Best Music of All Time Substack, August 2, 2024:
Song Genesis: The Lamm Lies Down Near Broadway
Robert Lamm, now 79, from the June 8, 2017 Billboard: “‘Saturday in the Park’ (written and sung by Lamm in 1972, included on the Chicago V album, produced by James William Guercio) is a prime example of how I take from what I experience in the world. It was written as I was looking at footage from a film I shot in [New York City’s] Central Park, over a couple of years, back in the early ‘70s.
“I shot this film and somewhere down the line I edited it into some kind of a narrative, and as I watched the film, I jotted down some ideas based on what I was seeing and had experienced.
“It was really kind of that peace and love thing that happened in Central Park and in many parks all over the world, perhaps on a Saturday, where people just relax and enjoy each other’s presence, and the activities we observe and the feelings we get from feeling a part of a day like that.”
Lamm expanded a bit to the ClarionLedger in 2017: “It was two days of filming there [with a Super 8 camera], a year apart. And as I say in the song, I think it was the Fourth of July. But, I edited the film, and I’m not a great cameraman, so there were a lot of blurry shots and shots of my feet. But once I put it together, I basically created the lyrics describing what I saw.
“I already had this music grid, the riff that opens the song. I’m pretty sure I had most of the piano stuff ready for lyrics. I wanted to describe a lovely experience in the park in an era of people yearning for peace and love.”
The single was successful out-of-the-box, reaching # 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it became the band’s highest-charting single at the time, helping lift the album to # 1. Billboard ranked it as the #76 song for 1972. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA, selling over 1,000,000 units in the U.S. alone.
According to the song’s Wiki page, “the line ‘singing Italian songs’ is followed by ‘Eh Cumpari’ (the title of a song made famous by Julius La Rosa, shown above, in 1953). Apparently, there’s been some debate about what follows next in the song, but, in a video of Chicago performing ‘Saturday in the Park’ at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago in 1972 (below), Lamm clearly sings, ‘Eh Cumpari, ci vo sunari,’ the first line of ‘Eh, Cumpari!’”: Just as that line can be heard in the hit Chicago recording!
And, that’s about where we came in!
of Listening Sessions shared the link, recently, to the newly-released first live performance of Chicago playing “Saturday in the Park” (at the Kennedy Center on September 16, 1971) which was anywhere from hours to just days after they recorded their hit studio version!The Covers! Vote for your favorite below!
Sweden’s Hans Annéllsson, 2006
You may miss the horn figures, but methinks you’ll appreciate the smooth arrangement, as well as the fine vocals from Hans (who produced) and company:
Marco de Farco feat. Rosetta Bove, 2008
Panda Transport, 2016
Leonid & Friends, 2017
Leonid and Friends, according to the mighty Wiki machine, is a Chicago tribute band based in Moscow. They began as a YouTube band, and now occasionally tour as well. Leonid Vorobyev (b. 1957 in Moscow, Russia), is the founder and leader of the band. Vorobyev is a multi-instrumentalist, a recording studio sound engineer and choir conductor by training, at the East Siberian Institute of Culture. Vorobyev made his first Chicago video recording of the song “Brand New Love Affair” in 2014.
In their “Saturday In the Park” cover, I think you’ll appreciate the multi-camera format in which they filmed. They’re not Chicago, certainly, but to be able to see close-ups of the performers gives a rare look at a band who clearly know their musical “quarry,” as well as their respective chops.
And, it all begins with that familiar, stirring, and pounding piano-chord into:
Julius La Rosa was the subject of one of the more bizarre events of 1950s TV. In 1954, he was singing on Arthur Godfrey's television program when Godfrey abruptly fired him on the air after a performance! ("And, that, ladies and gentlemen, was Julie's swan song...").
I loved this “remixed” version of the article! Such a great song. Each cover offers something different. While the Panda (Operation Panda? I’m terrible with names… the American gal+French gent duo) version offers an interesting take on the arrangement, I’ll have to vote for the Russian chaps. Their energy is contagious, and their technical brilliance is impressive. Hans (whom I knew about courtesy of the original article) would be a close second for me. How about YOU, Brad? Who do you pick?