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25 or 6 to 4
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"25 or 6 to 4"
Single by Chicago
from the album Chicago
B-side
"Where Do We Go from Here"
Released
June 1970
Format
7"
Recorded
August 1969
Genre
Hard rock, jazz rock
Length
4:50 (Album version)
2:53 (Single version)
Label
Columbia
Songwriter(s)
Robert Lamm
Producer(s)
James William Guercio
Chicago singles chronology
"Make Me Smile/Colour My World"
(1970) "25 or 6 to 4"
(1970) "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"
(1970)
"Make Me Smile/Colour My World"
(1970) "25 or 6 to 4"
(1970) "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"
(1970)
"Along Comes a Woman"
(1985) Along Comes a Woman1985
"25 or 6 to 4/One More Day"
(1986) String Module Error: Match not found1986
"Will You Still Love Me?"
(1986) Will You Still Love Me?1986
Audio sample
file
help
"25 or 6 to 4" is a song written by the American musician Robert Lamm, one of the founding members of the rock/jazz fusion band Chicago. It was recorded in 1969 for their second album, Chicago, with Peter Cetera on lead vocals.[1] The album was released in January 1970 and the song was edited and released as a single in June of that same year, climbing to number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart[2][3] and number seven on the UK Singles Chart.[4] It was the band's first song to reach the top five in the U.S.[2] It has been included in numerous Chicago compilation albums.
An updated version of "25 or 6 to 4" was recorded for the 1986 album Chicago 18 with James Pankow listed as co-writer.[5] With the new band member Jason Scheff on lead vocals, the single reached number 48 on the U.S. chart.[6] This version was also used as the B-side for the band's next single in 1986, "Will You Still Love Me?".[7]
In the 2010s, "25 or 6 to 4" continues to be a staple in Chicago's live concert set list,[8][9][10] and in Peter Cetera's solo concert set list.[11][12][13] In 2016, former drummer, Danny Seraphine, reunited on stage with Chicago to perform "25 or 6 to 4" and two other songs at their induction ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[14]
Contents
[hide]
1 Meaning
2 Composition
3 Music video
4 Chart performance
4.1 Weekly singles charts
4.2 Year-end charts
5 Covers and parodies
6 Use in popular culture
7 Influence
8 Personnel
9 References
Meaning[edit]
According to composer Robert Lamm, the song is about trying to write a song in the middle of the night. The song's title is the time at which the song is set: 25 or 26 minutes before 4 AM.[15][16] Because of the unique phrasing of the song's title, "25 or 6 to 4" has been incorrectly speculated to be a veiled reference to drug quantities, or a mystical allusion.[17] The 1986 music video for the song references the correct meaning at its beginning. The song was banned in Singapore in 1970 and again in 1986 because of its "alleged allusions to drugs."[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.[19]
In what may be a coincidence, the song's writer, Robert Lamm, had recently written and sung another Chicago hit, "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", for which this song's title can be seen to serve as an answer.[17]
Composition[edit]
The original recording features an electric guitar solo using a wah-wah pedal by Chicago guitarist Terry Kath, and a lead vocal line in Aeolian mode.[20]
The song's opening guitar riff has been compared to chord progressions and riffs in other songs. In the opinion of writer Melissa Locker:
...the opening guitar riff from Green Day’s 'Brain Stew' bears a striking similarity to the opening stanza of Chicago’s '25 or 6 to 4.'[21]
LA Weekly's music editor, Andy Hermann, names it "The Riff" and describes it as follows:
It's a descending five-chord pattern, typically played as power chords over four bars, with the last two chords sharing the last bar. The most common variant of it goes from A minor to G to F sharp to F to E, although it can also be played as Am-G-D-F-E or even Am-G-D9-F#-F-E...[22]
Hermann details the riff's similarity to the chord progression in Led Zepellin's song, "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", which came out a year before "25 or 6 to 4", and the similarity of that chord progression to one in George Harrison's song, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which came out even earlier. He labels "Brain Stew", released in 1996, as "derivative" by comparison to "25 or 6 to 4".[22]
Music video[edit]
The music video for the 1986 remake won an American Video Award, in the category "Best Cinematography," for Bobby Byrnes.[23]
Chart performance[edit]
Weekly singles charts[edit]
Chart (1970)
Peak
position
Australia[24] 12
Canada RPM[25] 2
Ireland (IRMA)[26] 13
UK[4] 7
US Billboard Hot 100[2] 4
Year-end charts[edit]
Chart (1970)
Rank
Australia[24] 74
Canada[27] 29
UK[28] 72
US Billboard Hot 100[29] 61
Covers and parodies[edit]
The song has been covered by various artists, including Leonid & Friends,[30] Straitjacket, Local H, Intruder,[31] Bruce Foxton,[32] The Moog Cookbook,[33] Earth, Wind & Fire, Paul Gilbert, Pacifika,[34] former Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil,[35] Umphrey's McGee,[36] Nick Ingman,[37] and as an instrumental on the Dave Koz collaboration album Summer Horns.[38] Constantine Maroulis released his version of the song as a single in 2011.[39]
For the results night performance of the finale of the ninth season of American Idol, Lee DeWyze performed "25 or 6 to 4" with Chicago.[40]
In 2005, Jonathan Coulton made "When I'm 25 or 64", a mashup of "25 or 6 to 4" with "When I'm Sixty-Four" by The Beatles.[41]
Use in popular culture[edit]
The song appears as an on-disc track in the video game Rock Band 3[42] and has been made available as a download for the game/learning software Rocksmith 2014.[43]
Influence[edit]
Jason Newsted, former bassist of Metallica, says that this song has the first rock or metal riff he ever learned to play.[44]
Paul Gilbert, former guitarist of Racer X and Mr. Big, says that a "really primitive version" of "25 or 6 to 4" was one of the first songs he taught himself to play on the guitar, using one string.[45]
Personnel[edit]
Peter Cetera – lead vocals, bass
Terry Kath – guitar, backing vocals
Robert Lamm – piano, backing vocals
Danny Seraphine – drums
Jimmy Pankow – trombone
Lee Loughnane – trumpet
Walt Parazaider – tenor saxophone
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Chicago Group Portrait (Box Set) (album liner notes archived online) (Media notes). New York City, NY: Columbia Records. 1991. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Chicago - Chart history Hot 100 | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
Jump up ^ "Chicago Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
^ Jump up to: a b "CHICAGO | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
Jump up ^ "Billboard Hot 100 Singles". Billboard. 98 (41). October 11, 1986. p. 80 (Scroll to page, see No. 48 on Hot 100 Singles chart.). Retrieved February 26, 2017.
Jump up ^ Trust, Gary (2009-11-13). "Ask Billboard: Why We Follow The Charts - Second Helping of Seconds". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
Jump up ^ Popoff, Martin (2010). Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records 1948-1991. Krause Publications. p. 240. ISBN 1-4402-1621-5.
Jump up ^ Durchholz, Daniel (June 22, 2017). "Chicago delivers a satisfying career retrospective but pulls a political punch". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Groller, Keith (August 6, 2017). "REVIEW: Chicago shows it's a hard habit to break with a night filled with hits". The Morning Call. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Price, Robert (August 10, 2017). "Chicago feeling 50 years young". New Jersey Herald. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Maloni, Joshua (October 18, 2015). "Who needs Chicago? Peter Cetera proves his worth at Fallsview". www.wnypapers.com. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Varias, Chris (October 4, 2016). "Cetera: All roads lead away from Chicago". Cincinnati.com. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
Jump up ^ MURUGAPPAN, REVATHI (September 8, 2017). "At 72, Peter Cetera Still Commands The Crowd". Star2.com. Star Media Group Berhad. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Onesti, Ron (April 15, 2016). "Chicago, Cheap Trick bring rock pride to Illinois". Daily Herald. Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA: Paddock Publications. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Lamm, Robert (2009-06-15). "Chicago Comes to Agganis". BU Today (Interview). Interview with Devon Maloney. Boston University. Retrieved 2017-02-13. It's a reference to time. It's a song about writing the song, and I looked at my watch while I was writing and it was 25 minutes to four in the morning, or maybe 26.
Jump up ^ History of Chicago (television documentary). CNN. Retrieved December 30, 2016. '25 or 6 to 4' indicates the time in the morning, 25 minutes to 4 a.m.
^ Jump up to: a b "What does the Chicago lyric "25 or 6 to 4" mean?". The Straight Dope. October 18, 2000. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
Jump up ^ Leo, Christie (1986-12-27). "Singapore Bans Fogerty LP". Billboard. 98 (52). p. 87. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
Jump up ^ "Singapore Censors Relax Ban on Some Beatles Hits". DeseretNews.com. 1993-05-27. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
Jump up ^ Stephenson, Ken (2002). What to Listen For in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-300-09239-4. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
Jump up ^ Locker, Melissa (August 21, 2013). "11 Suspiciously Sound-Alike Songs". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b Hermann, Andy (June 25, 2016). "You Still Can't Copyright a Riff — and That's a Good Thing". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ "'Sledgehammer' wins". Fort Lauderdale News. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. February 28, 1987. p. 2A. Retrieved August 1, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jump up to: a b Hung, Steffen. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
Jump up ^ "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
Jump up ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – 25 or 6 to 4". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
Jump up ^ "RPM's Top 100 of 1970". RPM. 1971-01-09. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
Jump up ^ "Top 100 1970 – UK Music Charts". Uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
Jump up ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1970/Top 100 Songs of 1970". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
Jump up ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_torOTK5qc
Jump up ^ "Escape from Pain - Intruder | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Reardon, Tom (July 1, 2016). "The 25 Best Concerts in Phoenix in July 2016: Chicago – Wednesday, July 6 – Celebrity Theatre". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ KAUFMAN, GIL (October 1, 1997). "Moog Cookbook's Newest Mock Rock Recipe". MTV News. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
Jump up ^ Perusse, Bernard (January 22, 2011). "Pacifika's music hard to label". Regina Leader-Post. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: Postmedia News. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Vince Neil plays Del Mar birthday bash". Reno Gazette-Journal. Reno,Nevada, USA: Reno Newspapers, Inc. January 18, 1996. p. 15, "Best Bets" section. Retrieved August 1, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
Jump up ^ Porio, Anabelle (January 6, 2017). "“ZONKEY” by Umphrey’s McGee". Entertainment Monthly. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Emerson College. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Soft Rock - Invention". Discogs. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
Jump up ^ Ragogna, Mike (May 29, 2013). "From Summer Horns to Napa Jazz: Conversations with Dave Koz and Brian Culbertson, Plus Toby Lightman's "Better" Premiere". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
Jump up ^ Chicago-Admin. "Constantine Maroulis releases his version of Chicago classic: 25 Or 6 To 4". Chicago – The Band. Archived from the original on April 22, 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
Jump up ^ KAUFMAN, GIL (May 26, 2010). "'American Idol' Finale: Lee DeWyze Upsets Crystal Bowersox". MTV News. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Coulton, Jonathan (2005-11-18). "When I'm 25 or 64". Retrieved 2016-10-03.
Jump up ^ Rybka, Jason (April 28, 2017). "Rock Band 3 Track List (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)". Lifewire. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Millheim, Edwin (October 2013). "Rocksmith 2014 Review". Impulse Gamer. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Trunk, Eddie (host); Jamieson, Don (host); Florentine, Jim (host) (June 1, 2013). "Jason Newsted". That Metal Show. Season 12. Episode 1. Event occurs at 21:00. VH1. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ Frost, Matt (March 2015). "Paul Gilbert". Guitarist. No. 391 (published February 6, 2015). Retrieved October 23, 2017.
[show]
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Chicago
Robert Lamm
Lee Loughnane
James Pankow
Walter Parazaider
Tris Imboden
Keith Howland
Lou Pardini
Walfredo Reyes Jr.
Jeff Coffey
Danny Seraphine
Peter Cetera
Terry Kath
Laudir de Oliveira
Donnie Dacus
Chris Pinnick
Bill Champlin
Jason Scheff
Dawayne Bailey
Drew Hester
Daniel de los Reyes
Touring musicians
Studio albums
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago
Chicago III
Chicago V
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Chicago VIII
Chicago X
Chicago XI
Hot Streets
Chicago 13
Chicago XIV
Chicago 16
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Chicago 18
Chicago 19
Twenty 1
Night & Day: Big Band
Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album
Chicago XXX
Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus
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Chicago XXXV: The Nashville Sessions
Chicago XXXVI: Now
Live albums
Chicago at Carnegie Hall
Live in Japan
Chicago Transit Authority Live In Toronto
Chicago XXVI: Live in Concert
Chicago XXXIV: Live in '75
Chicago at Symphony Hall
Compilations
Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits, Volume II
If You Leave Me Now
Take Me Back to Chicago
Greatest Hits 1982–1989
Group Portrait
The Heart of Chicago 1967–1997
The Heart of Chicago 1967–1998 Volume II
The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning
The Box
Love Songs
The Best of Chicago: 40th Anniversary Edition
Related articles
Discography
Peter Cetera
Tom Dowd
Tim Feehan
David Foster
James William Guercio
Electra Glide in Blue
Phil Ramone
[show]
v
t
e
Chicago singles discography
singles 1960s
and 1970s
1969
"Questions 67 and 68"
"Beginnings"
1970
"Make Me Smile"
"25 or 6 to 4"
"Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"
1971
"Free"
"Lowdown"
1972
"Saturday in the Park"
"Dialogue (Part I & II)"
1973
"Feelin' Stronger Every Day"
"Just You 'N' Me"
1974
"(I've Been) Searchin' So Long"
"Call on Me"
"Wishing You Were Here"
1975
"Harry Truman"
"Old Days"
"Brand New Love Affair"
1976
"Another Rainy Day in New York City"
"If You Leave Me Now"
1977
"You Are on My Mind"
"Baby, What a Big Surprise"
1978
"Little One"
"Take Me Back to Chicago"
"Alive Again"
"No Tell Lover"
1979
"Gone Long Gone"
"Must Have Been Crazy"
"Street Player"
singles 1980s
1980
"Thunder and Lightning"
"Song for You"
1982
"Hard to Say I'm Sorry"
"Love Me Tomorrow"
1983
"What You're Missing"
1984
"Stay the Night"
"Hard Habit to Break"
"You're the Inspiration"
1985
"Along Comes a Woman"
1986
"25 or 6 to 4" (re-recorded)
"Will You Still Love Me?"
1987
"If She Would Have Been Faithful..."
"Niagara Falls"
1988
"I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love"
"Look Away"
1989
"You're Not Alone"
"We Can Last Forever"
"What Kind of Man Would I Be?"
singles 1990s
and 2000s
1990
"Hearts in Trouble"
1991
"Chasin' the Wind"
"Explain It to My Heart"
"You Come to My Senses"
2008
"Let's Take a Lifetime"
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