IT’S FRIDAY folks, TGIF or “Thank God It’s Friday” for most of the salaried workers slaving five days a week on some boring uninspiring job just to feed, clothe and provide shelter for their families.
The anticipation of the weekend going to the mall with the family or eating out at Villa Beach probably makes the drudgery of the work week worth the sacrifice.
That was the prevalent mode BC (Before COVID). Now, most people are on survival mode and going to the mall is no longer a leisure trip but a necessary trip to buy food – a short quick trip then go home to get away from potential exposure to the virus.
It’s sad, really. Now, hanging out in what used to be your favorite coffee shop doesn’t seem that much fun anymore. You’d much rather take your coffee home and watch the latest on Netflix.
A few days ago I posted on social media, Facebook particularly, that perhaps jazz and the blues are the two greatest contributions America gave the world. And we’re talking particularly about a fusion of jazz and rock, hence this revisit.
Most if not all of these so-called millennials, “wokes” and trendy social climbers have probably never heard of the band Chicago, let alone this particular song we are talking about. Really, I don’t blame them for being “culturally and artistically challenged”. Just dare to listen to the garbage they think is music and you’ll get my drift.
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? is a song by the rock band Chicago. It was included in their 1969 debut album Chicago Transit Authority and released as a single in 1970. The song was written and sung by Robert Lamm.
The original uncut album version opens with a brief “free form” piano solo performed by Lamm. A spoken verse by Lamm is mixed into the song’s final verse of the album version.
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois and not to be confused with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. The self-described “rock and roll band with horns” began as a politically-charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, generating several hit ballads.
Chicago is basically what you can call a “jazz/rock fusion band” incorporating a horn section i.e. saxophone, trumpet which are musical instruments associated with jazz and the basic electric guitar a staple of the rock genre.
During its heydays in the ‘70s Chicago was one of the pioneers in the fusion genre, with their eclectic mix of jazz and rock plus “spoken verse”. Coming to the late ‘80s till the ‘90s Chicago” reinvented itself with soft ballads, mostly jazz-influenced.
So what does our featured song really mean?
“This is an anti-war song. It was written in the time of the Vietnam War when teenagers were getting drafted and dying in large numbers. It was also a time when you couldn’t just come out with an anti-war song if you wanted to make it as musicians considering this was the band’s first single – which explains why the references are veiled.
So the time of the day seems rather trivial when your buddies are dying in Vietnam and you are worried about being drafted. “We’ve all got time enough to cry/die” seems pretty obvious.
Meanwhile, all of the older crowd (the ones old enough to not be drafted) are running around worried about their jobs. Remember, there was also a large disparity in that the poor kids were often drafted while rich kids often found ways to avoid it.
Here are the opening lines of our feature song:
And I was walking down the street one day
A pretty lady looked at me and said her diamond watch had stopped cold dead
And I said
Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?
If so I can’t imagine why
We’ve all got time enough to cry…
On a personal note, this song sort of calms you down whenever you’re in a hurry; this song is to me a reminder not to worry about time but to focus on relationships.
But hey, that’s just me. Check it out on YouTube and find out for yourself what the music is all about.
