Posted on 03/12/2019 10:54:17 AM PDT by simpson96
Chicago - If You Leave Me Now (1976)
"If You Leave Me Now" is the title of a hit ballad by the American rock group Chicago, from their album Chicago X. It was written and sung by bass guitar player Peter Cetera and released as a single on July 31, 1976.
The single topped the US charts on October 23, 1976, and stayed there for two weeks, making it the first number one hit for the group as well as hitting number one on the Easy Listening charts. "If You Leave Me Now" was also Chicago's biggest hit internationally, topping the charts in other countries such as the UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, and Netherlands. In the UK it maintained the number one position for three weeks. It was one of only five "non-disco" songs to make it to number one in the US in a nine-month period of 1976. According to writer Zachary Houle of PopMatters, "The song was so pervasive on radio upon its release that, reportedly, those tuning in in New York could hear the song playing on four different stations, each with varying formats, simultaneously."
The song won Grammy Awards for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) (strings) for arranger Jimmie Haskell and producer James William Guercio and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus, the first Grammy Award won by the group. It also received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
music *ping*
The song that ruined Chicago.
Chicago had some great tunes, but this one stunk to high heaven.
I’m not saying it’s a bad song, per se. The problem is Peter Cetera finally writes his big hit song, and he thinks as a result, he could take over the band and mold it into his image.
Now I will say, he’s a damn good bassist and vocalist, and he played his role perfectly up to that point.
If anyone’s interested, Amazon Prime video has a documentary on the band, Chicago that is very good.
Thanks, I think I’ll check that out.
I would say of all the rock documentaries I've seen, it might be the best one. Life in that band was not pretty.
My sister loved this song and played it to death, which only made me hate it more. I responded with Eagles, Frampton, Skynyrd, and RUSH.
I thought this was going to be a plea by Chicago tax collectors to all the multitudes planning to move.
LOL!
Hard to believe it was the same band that a few years earlier did this one....
A Hit By Varese
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GszAAmVEKa4
Just about right for high school, which is what the market was geared for, and my ears fit the profile of, at the time.
Let me just add: Search “Classic album”. They have a ton of one hour documentaries on individual album creation from various bands. The cool thing is they interview band members and dissect every song on the album using ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES with the multi-track intact. They turn down instruments to solo other instruments and then bring in the rest of the band - all to highlight why a song was great, etc.
Really good stuff.
Terry Kath wanted no part of this song, that’s Cetera on acoustic guitar.
So my routine was to get up at 5 in the morning and wait for my papers to drop on my front porch so I could take them inside to fold them. Before leaving the house, I'd always read one of them. So on the morning after the election, I learned for the first time that Jimmy Carter was going to be our next president as I went to bed before the results were known.
Being just a naive 14-year-old, I was pretty happy that the peanut farmer from Georgia pulled it out over that old fart Jerry Ford. I did have high hopes for a Jimmy Carter presidency at the time.
Well I delivered my papers with a transistor radio in my sack and so "If You Leave Me Now" was one of the songs I remember playing that morning. So ever since, for better or worse, hearing that song reminds me of Jimmy Carter.
I thought that was the eggplant? /Norman Greenbaum
Boy they had to divide the money among a lot of guys.
Well, I’ve got to run. I have a meeting at 25 or 6 to 4.
They asked one of the members why they still tour after all these years?
Ex-Wives!
What a horrible piece of yacht rock dreck. My wife actually sings it in occasion as punishment if she’s mad at me. It’s the musical equivalent of nursing home food.
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