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"
ReleasedJune 1970
RecordedAugust 1969
Genre
Length
  • 4:50 (album version)
  • 2:52 (single version)
LabelColumbia
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)

"25 or 6 to 4" is a song written by American musician Robert Lamm, one of the founding members of the band Chicago. It was recorded in 1969 for their second album, Chicago. Peter Cetera was on the lead vocals.[1]

Background[change | change source]

Lamm said the song is about trying to write a song in the middle of the night.[2] The song's title is the time at which the song is set: 25 or 26 minutes before 4 a.m. (twenty-five or [twenty-]six [minutes] to four [o’clock]).[3][4] Since the song has a unique title, "25 or 6 to 4", some people thought it mean the quantity of a certain drug or the name of a famous person in code.[2]

The original recording features an electric guitar solo using a wah-wah pedal by Chicago guitarist Terry Kath, and a lead vocal line in the Aeolian mode.[5]

Release[change | change source]

The album was released in January 1970 and the song was edited and released as a single in June (omitting the second verse and most of the guitar solo), climbing to number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart[6][7] and number 7 on the UK Singles Chart.[8]

Bans[change | change source]

The song was banned in Singapore in 1970 because of it possibly being about drugs.[9] The ban extended to later albums that included the song, such as Chicago 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.[10]

Pop culture[change | change source]

The song has been used in popular media as well. It appears as an on-disc track in the video game Rock Band 3;[11] the animated TV series King of the Hill,[12][13] the 2017 movie I, Tonya,[14][15] and the 2023 DCEU superhero movie The Flash.[16]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ Chicago Group Portrait (Box Set) (Media notes). New York City: Columbia Records. 1991. Archived from the original (album liner notes archived online) on December 29, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "What does the Chicago lyric '25 or 6 to 4' mean?". The Straight Dope. October 18, 2000. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  3. ↑ Lamm, Robert (2009-06-15). "Chicago Comes to Agganis". BU Today (Interview). Interviewed by 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.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ Stephenson, Ken (2002). What to Listen For in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis. Yale University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-300-09239-4. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Chicago - Chart history Hot 100 | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  7. ↑ "Chicago Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  8. ↑ "CHICAGO | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  9. ↑ Leo, Christie (1986-12-27). "Singapore Bans Fogerty LP". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 52. p. 87. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  10. ↑ "Singapore Censors Relax Ban on Some Beatles Hits". DeseretNews.com. 1993-05-27. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  11. ↑ Rybka, Jason (April 28, 2017). "Rock Band 3 Track List (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)". Lifewire. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Chicago (Band)". IMDb.
  13. ↑ "King of the Hill: Season 11 Episode 4 Script". Springfield!. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  14. ↑ Blair, Iain (December 18, 2017). "Craig Gillespie on directing I, Tonya - Randi Altman's postPerspective". Randi Altman's postPerspective. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  15. ↑ Bax, David (December 7, 2017). "I, Tonya: Here's Why, by David Bax". Battleship Pretension. Archived from the original on 2017-12-14. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  16. ↑ Miskelly, Zoe (June 15, 2023). "The Flash Soundtrack Guide: Every Song In The DC Movie". ScreenRant. Retrieved July 20, 2023.


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