"Questions 67 and 68" is a 1969 song written by

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 ...

for the rock band

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 ...

(then known as Chicago Transit Authority) and recorded for their debut album ''

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of public transport, mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, CTA bu ...

''. It was their first single release.

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 ...

is the primary lead singer with Lamm also on vocals. In 2015, Dave Swanson, writing for ''

Ultimate Classic Rock Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

'', listed the song as ninth in a list of top ten Chicago songs. Writing for ''Rock Cellar'' magazine, Frank Mastropolo rated the song as number 11 in a list of "Top 11 Question Songs".

Lyrics and music

The questions in "Questions 67 and 68" relate to the nature of a romantic relationship Lamm had during 1967 and 1968. In 2008, Lamm said, "It’s about a girl I knew during those years with a hint of

acid An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...

imagery and very

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

influenced." The lyrics include the title phrase only as the last words. With respect to the horn arrangement, James Pankow said in a 2000 ''

Goldmine Goldmine may refer to: * A location where gold mining takes place * ''Goldmine'' (magazine), a music collectibles magazine * ''Goldmine'' (album), by Gabby Barrett, 2020 * "Goldmine" (George Fox song), 1989 * "Goldmine" (Kimbra song), 2015 * ...

'' article, "In the old days, however, I used to write horns very harmonically. 'Questions 67 and 68' is probably a very good example of how I used to approach horns. I had no rests. We played from the first bar of the song, which is not very musical anymore. We got away with that then, I guess. Guercio hicago's producer thenused to triple, quite often. He'd have three sections, and the one in the middle was me playing pedals, that's why it sounded like

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

. It sounded like a big band." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described the single as "a soulful, driving rhythm ballad with big band in strong support," and as a "potent chart item."

Chart performance

Released in July 1969, the song was released as a mono single version with a slightly altered vocal mix. This peaked at on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and on the ''

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 ...

'' Top 100. After the band's success with subsequent singles, "Questions 67 and 68" was edited to a more radio-friendly length and was re-released in September 1971, with " I'm a Man" as the B-side. The edited single climbed to on ''Billboard'' and on ''Cash Box''.

Weekly charts

Japanese release

Cetera and Lamm recorded

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

-language vocals for the song in 1971, and the version of the song with those vocals was released as a single in Japan. Columbia Records released the song only as a radio-only promotional 45 rpm single, with the English version on the other side. This recording was released digitally in 1998 on the Japan-only compilation CD ''The Heart Of Chicago 1967-1971 Volume II Special Edition'' (green cover), which also contains " Lowdown" sung in Japanese. The group performed the song live with the Japanese lyrics during tours of Japan in 1972, documented on the '' Live In Japan'' album, and again in 1995. The single's duration is incorrectly listed as 3:07, rather than 4:36, and omits the 22 second final sustained note.

Personnel

– lead vocals, bass *

– backing and lead vocals, piano *

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 ...

– guitar *

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 ...

– drums *

Jimmy 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 Chic ...

– trombone *

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 * Walt Parazaider – tenor saxophone

Cover versions

Panic! at the Disco Panic! at the Disco was an American pop rock band formed in Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2004 by high school friends Ryan Ross (guitar) and Spencer Smith (musician), Spencer Smith (drums), who recruited classmates Brendon Urie (vocals and ...

sampled this song in "

Hallelujah ''Hallelujah'' (; , Modern ) is an interjection from the Hebrew language, used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Tanakh (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four times in the Christ ...

". * Leonid and Friends on Chicagovich youtube.com, Leonid and Friends, Questions 67 and 68
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References

External links

* {{Authority control 1969 songs 1969 debut singles 1971 singles Chicago (band) songs Songs written by Robert Lamm Song recordings produced by James William Guercio Columbia Records singles