Comments by "John Luetjen" (@jehl1963) on "What Makes This Song Great? Ep.108 CHICAGO “Make Me Smile”" video.

  1. Rick Beato -- doing Chicago -- this just "Makes Me Smile"! Chicago was also one of my first albums in the 1970's. Their first "Greatest Hits" album as a matter of fact. As I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate some of what Danny Saraphine (who seems to be quite accessible via social media) was doing as a drummer. Many of the fills early in the song seemed to be based on the simple paradiddle -- a rudiment that is far more fundamental than it might seem. (Better drummers than I, feel free to correct me) It was very popular in the Big Band Era (see the song "Paradiddle Joe" for example), but seems less so nowadays. But than Danny always admitted to approaching the songs as a jazz drummer, and I believe that he learned from some of the greats. The other thing that I've come to appreciate is how the horn parts are accented like a good jazz chart. It seems almost every note has a different accent (<>^V) on it, which is challenging to play but provides a lot of energy and interest to the parts. Finally, I think you've highlighted why Terry Kath was such an important part of the band, and over time proved to be essentially unreplaceable. There were other excellent guitarists and singers, but they lacked the soulful tonality of his voice, and his touch on the guitar -- which I assume that you'll discuss in the follow-up video. I can hardly wait! If you'd like to get a sense of what they sounded like live, check out a concert from Leonid and Friends, who are touring the US as I write this. Having seen Chicago in the 70's (with the original line-up), and Leonid and Friends 2 years ago -- they've nailed it.
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