Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)

CHICAGO – 25 or 6 to 4  b/w Where Do We Go From Here (CBS, 1970)

Chicago are an American band from …er…Chicago whose unimaginative name also stretches to album titles which are just numbers – so far they are up to Chicago XXXIV (that’s 34 to you non-Romans).

I acquired this single from my elder brother and confess to being keen on the A-side – it certainly has a decent riff and significantly more energy than most of their bland MOR output. It’s a prime example of their trademark ‘Rock’n’Rock with horns’ sound (although curiously the B-side is entirely horn free).

Some have speculated that 25 or 6 to 4 is a coded drug reference which unfortunately is probably not the case. Lyrically, they favour bombastic banalities and “searching for something to say” seems to be a continual issue for them.

The first verse goes like this (make of it what you will):
“Waiting for the break of day
Searching for something to say
Dancing lights against the sky
Giving up I close my eyes
Sitting cross-legged on the floor
25 or 6 to 4″

Where Do We Go From Here isn’t any deeper. In the song we are reminded that “People gotta come together”  which may be well intended but is ultimately meaningless.

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