Part I
Are you optimistic 'bout the way things are going?
No, I never ever think of it at all
Don't you ever worry
When you see what's going down?
No, I try to mind my business, that is, no business at all
When it's time to function as a feeling human being
Will your Bachelor of Arts help you get by?
I hope to study further, a few more years or so
I also hope to keep a steady high
Will you try to change things
Use the power that you have, the power of a million new ideas?
What is this power you speak of and this need for things to change?
I always thought that everything was fine
Don't you feel repression just closing in around?
No, the campus here is very, very free
Don't it make you angry the way war is dragging on?
Well, I hope the President knows what he's into, I don't know
Don't you ever see the starvation in the city where you live
All the needless hunger all the needless pain?
I haven't been there lately, the country is so fine
But my neighbors don't seem hungry 'cause they haven't got the time
Thank you for the talk, you know you really eased my mind
I was troubled by the shapes of things to come
Well, if you had my outlook your feelings would be numb
You'd always think that everything was fine
Part II
We can make it happen
We can change the world now
We can save the children
We can make it better
We can make it happen
We can save the children
We can make it happen
I thought the lyrics were a little silly, but it was written in the early 70s and I didn't hear it until the 90s. The lyrics are about a politically active person talking to a politically ignorant one. What I like in this song are the horn parts.
I think the lyrics are great because they're true. People are oblivious to what's around them; and in truth, they don't want to know.
The best part of his song is that it's still 100% dead on today
i like the We can make it happen, yeaaaah. from the It's only the beginning - Greatest hits edit. :D and i thnk you guys (along with chicago) are spot on.
as i understand it, Terry, the first singer, (RIP) had seen an interview on television with a college student and wrote down the conversation between he and this tv interviewer. after the interview they changed over to an anti-war rally where they were chanting "we can make it happen" etc.......for those of you who do not know, terry, one of the biggest parts of this band was tragically killed when a 9mm that he was cleaning discharged and went right thru his temple because he thought it was not loaded. it happened in 1978 at the home of one of the head 'roadies'.....it was very very sad.........
I was 14 when Terry shot himself, and I was devastated.
I was 14 when Terry shot himself, and I was devastated.
I think this is one of Chicago's absolute BEST songs of all time. It's a great listen, it's something I could hear time and time again, day after day, but it's actually got a premise to it. Believe it or not, most songs don't tell stories like movies do, but Dialogue managed to.
The story is essentially two people: one a pessimist (Terry Kath), the other a blind (figuratively), apathetic optimist (Peter Cetera), who meet, discuss their political beliefs, and by the end of the song, come to be more hopeful and realistic.
It's a toss-up between Dialogue and Saturday in the Park as my all-time favorite Chicago song.
@alliematt Now we know which Chicago album is your favorite ..... "Hit by Verese" is one of my favorite
@alliematt Now we know which Chicago album is your favorite ..... "Hit by Verese" is one of my favorite
Most telling part of otherwise self explanatory song was last exchange between Terry and Peter:
(T)Thank you for the talk, you know you really eased my mind I was troubled by the shapes of things to come
(P)Well, if you had my outlook your feelings would be numb You'd always think that everything was fine
Terry is being sarcastic here. Peter is sort of confessing he's shutting out the horror of the world