Endless Love-Part XII

The subject of today's blog is a song from a thirteen minute suite by the group, Chicago. I remember the first time I heard it. Needless to say, it blew me away.

The song, Make Me Smile, was written by band member/trombone player James Pankow. Part of Pankow's Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon song cycle/suite, it was recorded for their second album Chicago II (1970). Guitarist Terry Kath sang the lead vocal.

A radio-friendly edit of Make Me Smile (incorporating the end of Now More Than Ever, another track from the Ballet) was released as a single in March 1970, becoming the band's first Top 10 record, peaking at number nine on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon, is nearly thirteen-minutes long. It was the group's first attempt at a long-format multi-part work. Pankow got the inspiration to write the Ballet from his love of long classical music song cycles. The Buchannon in the title is actually a misspelling of Buckhannon, West Virginia. Ballet takes up three-quarters of side two of Chicago II and consists of seven tracks, three of which are instrumentals:

1.  Make Me Smile

2. So Much to Say, So Much to Give

3. Anxiety's Moment (instrumental)

4. West Virginia Fantasies (instrumental)

5. Colour My World

6. To Be Free (instrumental)

7. Now More Than Ever

The final track, Now More Than Ever, is a single-verse reprise of the suite's opening song, Make Me Smile. The vocal songs within the suite can be viewed as telling the story of a man searching for a far away lost love and attempting to rekindle the love they had shared. In addition to Make Me Smile (Now More Than Ever)(#9, 1970), Colour My World (#7, 1971)reached the top ten on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Watch an early video of Chicago, performing Make Me Smile. The footage was filmed on July 21, 1970, only 3 months after the song hit the Top 10.  The concert was at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA.