"Saturday in the Park" is a song written by

Robert Lamm Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American keyboardist, guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He wrote many of the band's biggest hits, including " Questions 67 & 68", "Does ...

and recorded by the group

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

for their 1972 album '' Chicago V''. It was very successful upon release, reaching on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and became the band's highest-charting single at the time, helping lift the album to . ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 76 song for 1972. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA, selling over 1,000,000 units in the U.S. alone.

Background

According to fellow Chicago member

Walter Parazaider Walter Parazaider (born March 14, 1945) is an American woodwind musician best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He plays a wide variety of wind instruments, including saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He also occasionall ...

, Lamm was inspired to write the song during the recording of ''

Chicago III ''Chicago III'' is the third studio album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1971. It was the band's third consecutive double album of new studio material in less than two years. Background In the wake of the enormous worldwid ...

'' in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on Saturday, July 4, 1970: However, Lamm recalls the story differently, as he told ''Billboard'' magazine: In the studio version of the song, the line "singing Italian songs" is followed by " Eh Cumpari" (the title of a song made famous by

Julius La Rosa Julius La Rosa (January 2, 1930 – May 12, 2016) was an American traditional popular music singer, who worked in both radio and television beginning in the 1950s. Early years La Rosa was born of Italian-immigrant parents in the Brooklyn borough ...

in 1953), and then Italian-sounding nonsense words, rendered in the printed lyrics as "?". Piano, guitar, and vocal sheet music arrangements have often read "improvised Italian lyrics" in parentheses after this line. However, in a film of Chicago performing "Saturday in the Park" at the

Arie Crown Theater The Arie Crown Theater is an entertainment venue named after Lithuanian immigrant Arie Crown, who was the father of Henry Crown, the American industrialist and philanthropist, and situated on Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. It opened in 1960, with se ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1972, Robert Lamm clearly sings, "Eh Cumpari, ci vo sunari," the first line of "Eh, Cumpari!".

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

– lead vocals, electric piano *

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera ( ; born September 13, 1944) is an American retired musician best known for being a lead vocalist and the bassist of the rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985, before launching a successful solo career. His ...

– lead vocals (chorus),

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Terry Kath Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He played guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band's early hit singl ...

– rhythm guitar *

Lee Loughnane Lee David Loughnane (pronounced LOCK-nain; born October 21, 1946) is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter, best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago. Early life and education Lee David Loughna ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

James Pankow James Carter Pankow is an American trombone player, songwriter and brass instrument player, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. Early life, family and education Born in St. Louis, Missouri of German and Irish descent, Pa ...

–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

– alto saxophone *

Danny Seraphine Daniel Peter Seraphine (born August 28, 1948) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer and film producer. He is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted fr ...

– drums

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saturday In The Park (Song) 1972 singles Chicago (band) songs Songs written by Robert Lamm Song recordings produced by James William Guercio Columbia Records singles 1972 songs Songs based on actual events Songs about New York City Macaronic songs