"Old Days" is a song written by

James Pankow James Carter Pankow (born August 20, 1947) is an American trombone player, songwriter, and brass instrument arranger who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for his brass arrangements, and for being one-third of Chi ...

for the group

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and recorded for their album '' Chicago VIII'' (1975). It was the second single released from that album, with lead vocals by

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera Jr. ( ; born September 13, 1944) is a retired American musician best known for being a frontman, vocalist, and bassist for the American rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985. His career as a recording artist ...

Background

Pankow has said that the song is a nostalgic piece about his childhood: :''"It touches on key phrases that, although they date me, are pretty right-on in terms of images of my childhood. '

The Howdy Doody Show ''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F. Campbell

' on television and collecting

baseball card A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s, they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, s ...

s and

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s."'' Pankow told group biographer James William Ruhlmann that the group stopped performing the song live because Cetera refused to sing it, calling the lyrics "corny". ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' praised the "great horn work," "

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 from ...

's fine drum parts," and

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

's "great guitar licks." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that Chicago's "wall-to-wall sound returns, this time abetted by Pat Williams strings, on a side that's destined to be this year's ' Saturday in the Park.'" "

Chart performance

"Old Days" reached #5 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #3 on the Easy Listening chart.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

- lead vocals, bass *

Robert Lamm Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for his songwriting, vocals, and keyboard melodies, most significantly on the band's debut studio album, ''Chic ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

, backing vocals *

- fuzzed wah-wah electric guitars, backing vocals *

- drums *

Laudir de Oliveira Laudir Soares de Oliveira (6 January 1940 – 17 September 2017) was a Brazilian musician and producer mostly renowned for his time as percussionist with the band Chicago. Career Oliveira grew up in Rio de Janeiro, and started working profession ...

- percussion *

- trombone, backing vocals *

Lee Loughnane Lee David Loughnane (pronounced LOCK-nain; born October 21, 1946) is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/wo ...

- trumpet *

Walter Parazaider Walter Parazaider (born March 14, 1945) is an American woodwind musician who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/woodwind section alongside Lee Loughnane and James Pankow. Para ...

- tenor saxophone ;Additional Personnel * Patrick Williams - string orchestrations

Use in media

"Old Days" is featured on the soundtrack of the movie ''

Starsky & Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a '' Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired ...

'' (2004).

References

1974 songs 1975 singles Chicago (band) songs Songs written by James Pankow Song recordings produced by James William Guercio Columbia Records singles List songs Songs about nostalgia Internet memes introduced in 2018 {{1970s-rock-song-stub