Sunday, July 03, 2011,
Fourth of July







"According to fellow Chicago member Walter Parazaider, Lamm was inspired to write the song during the recording of V in New York City on July 4, 1971:
"Robert came back to the hotel from Central Park very excited after seeing the steel drum players, singers, dancers, and jugglers. I said, 'Man, it's time to put music to this!'"
The song is played at Wrigley Field during Chicago Cubs home games on Saturday afternoons, and at Yankee Stadium before New York Yankees home games.

There is indeed something unique about Saturday in the Park, aside from Robert Lamm's excitement about Central Park on the Fourth of July. 

Consider the lyrics:

Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
People dancing people laughing
A man selling ice-cream
Singing Italian songs


([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_in_the_Park_(song) Fake Italian lyrics])
Can you dig it, yes I can
And I've been waiting such a long time
For Saturday


Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
People talkin' really smiling
A man playin' guitar
And singing for us all
Will you help him change the world
Can you dig it, yes I can
And I've been waiting such a long time
For today


Slow motion riders fly the colors of the day
A prose man still can tell stories his own way
Listen children all is not lost, all is not lost, oh no, no,
Funny days in the park,
Every day's the Fourth of July
Funny days in the park,
 

Every day's the Fourth of July
People reaching, people touching,
A real celebration
Waiting for us all,
If we want it, really want it
Can you dig it (yes, I can),
And I've been waiting such a long time
For the day


Consider the lyrics--Saturday in the park. Saturday...Shabbat, rest, peace, joy. A real celebration. Sounds like a messianic era. Playing Italian song...the line is supposedly improvised. I have another interpretation: Controversy over whether Christopher Columbus discovered American; or the Italian influence on the US largely forgotten that it all sounds like gibberish. Still, these "fake" Italian lyrics aren't entirely fake. Ecco (sp) means here or behold. Vare refers to a staff of justice; Iseh, apparently a common adjective in foreign languages. Nate (pronounced Nahtay).

Obviously this song has meaning to both Chicago and New York City. It has meaning in Buffalo, too. The Friendship Festival, a joint celebration of Canada Day and the Fourth of July. US/Canadian border is the largest relatively unprotected border in the US, if not the world.

Fly the colors of the day...Canadian maple leaf. The US stars and stripes. BTW, the lyric about a bronze man does not refer to a Bronx man, the author said it meant a bronze man, which could refer to bronze statues, military or other famous people. In the lyrics above it says a prose man, which could also make sense. Though again, Lamm has said it refers it refers to a bronze man.

In any event, I made a video slide show of the Friendship Festival today. I was disappointed that the dissolves from picture to picture on You Tube . No problems when I saved it to my computer, so I am a little disappointed. Still, I did enjoy going to the park this afternoon.

Final thoughts--Fourth of July--FREEDOM!

A belated Happy Canada Day! An early Happy Fourth of July! 

And for those in NYC, it must be amazing to celebrate the Fourth of July there!











 
 
posted by Keli Ata
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