Call on Me by Chicago

Album: Chicago VII (1974)

Charted: 6

License This Song

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

This was written by Lee Loughnane, who is a founding member and trumpet player for Chicago. On The Chris Isaak Hour, he explained: "I was at the end of a marriage, and I wanted to remain friends with her. I put that in the lyric: you can call on me even though we're not going to be together anymore, but it seems like the right thing to do. Since then I've changed my mind, of course."
The group's bass player Peter Cetera sang lead on this track. Various members of Chicago handled vocals, but Cetera sang the lion's share of their hits, including "You're the Inspiration" and "Hard to Say I'm Sorry."
Chicago VII was a double album with more jazz-influenced tracks than their previous two. "Call on Me" was the second single from the set, following "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" and preceding "Wishing You Were Here." It made #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, the second time the band made the top spot on the tally ("Beginnings" was their first). The band would eventually score eight AC #1s.

Comments: 2

Mort Sahl Fan from UsAccording to Cetera, though, he needed some help. "I tried to help Lee Loughnane with a song," Cetera says, "and that song turned out to be 'Call On Me.' Lee had written a song. It wasn't called, 'Call On Me,' it was called something else, and it in fact was terrible. I talked to him at the ranch one day, and he was all bent out of shape. He said that he had played the song for the guys, and they had told him in fact to get the heck out of there with the song. I said, 'Well, come on, let's have a go.' So Lee and I went and re-wrote the lyrics and re-wrote the melody and came up with the song called, 'Call On Me,' which was a big hit for him." Loughnane remembers it a little differently. "Peter changed a couple of the words and the way he sang the melody in order for him to be able to play the bass and sing the melody at the same time because that's the way he felt it." Loughnane added, "I appreciate his efforts, and we did make the song a hit."
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn August 16th 1974, the ABC television network aired the Chicago special 'Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch', featured guests were Anne Murray and Charlie Rich...
At the time Chicago's "Call On Me" was in its second week at #6 on Billboard's Hot Top 100, that would be its peak position on the chart...
Two days after the special aired, on August 18th, the record would reach #1 {for 1 week} on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart...
The song was track two of side four on the group's sixth studio album, 'Chicago VII', and on April 21st, 1974 the album peaked at #1 {for 1 week} on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart...
Two other tracks from the album also made the Top 100 chart; "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" {peaked at #9 for 3 weeks on May 5th, 1974} and "Wishing You Were Here" {reached #11 for 2 weeks on November 4th, 1974}...
And for what it’s worth; the day the special aired the #1 record on the Top 100 was "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Police Dog BluesHugh Laurie

Hugh Laurie, star of the TV show House, had a minor hit in 2011 with "Police Dog Blues," an old Blues song from 1929.

Black WidowIggy Azalea

Katy Perry co-wrote Iggy Azalea's hit single "Black Widow." Perry was originally going to sing on the track, but she couldn't fit it into her schedule, so Rita Ora provided the sung vocals instead.

Only Wanna Be With YouHootie & the Blowfish

"Only Wanna Be With You" by Hootie & the Blowfish is a tribute to Bob Dylan, but Dylan sued them over it for using lyrics from his song "Idiot Wind."

Can't Get You Out Of My HeadKylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" received more airplay during the 2000s than any other song in the UK.

Cher was 43 in 1989 when she landed one of her biggest hits: "If I Could Turn Back Time." It made her an unlikely MTV star thanks to a video shot on the battleship USS Missouri where she's entertaining the troops in fishnet stockings and a thong.

More Than a FeelingBoston

Boston leader Tom Scholz went back to his job at Polaroid after releasing the group's debut album. When his co-workers kept coming by to tell him "More Than A Feeling" was playing on the radio, he knew it was time to quit his day job.