- Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
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"Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" Single by Chicago from the album The Chicago Transit Authority B-side "Listen" Released October 1970 Format 7" Recorded January 27/30, 1969 Genre Jazz fusion Length 4:36 (album track)
3:20 (single)
2:54 (greatest hits edit)
2:46 (promo single edit)Label Columbia Writer(s) Robert Lamm Producer James William Guercio Chicago singles chronology 25 or 6 to 4
(1970)Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
(1970)Free
(1971)"Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" is a song written and sung by Robert Lamm while in the rock band Chicago and recorded for their debut album The Chicago Transit Authority (1969).
The song was not released as a single until two records from their second album ("Make Me Smile" and "25 or 6 to 4") had become hits. It became the band's third straight Top 10 record, peaking at #7 in the U.S.
The original uncut album version opens with a brief "free form" piano solo performed by Lamm. A spoken verse by Lamm is mixed into the sung final verse of the album version. The single version does not include the "free form" intro or the spoken verse, and was originally mixed in mono. A stereo re-edit (beginning from the point where the "free form" intro leaves off) was issued on the group's Only The Beginning greatest hits CD set.
A shorter edit (without the opening fanfare or piano break, starting at the trumpet solo) was included on the original vinyl version of Chicago's Greatest Hits, but was not included on the CD version. This short edit was included on the CD version of the compilation album If You Leave Me Now. An even shorter version (starting mid-way through the trumpet solo) was issued as a promotional single, which finally appeared on 2007's The Best of Chicago: 40th Anniversary Edition.
A live version on the Chicago at Carnegie Hall box set presents an expanded version of the "free form" intro, which itself is given its own track.
Appearances in other media
- In the 2000 movie Little Nicky, a recording of the song is played backwards on a record turntable and (fake) Satanic messages are heard.
- The morning news show Morning Joe weaves this song into their program nearly every morning.
Chicago Studio albums - The Chicago Transit Authority
- Chicago
- Chicago III
- Chicago V
- Chicago VI
- Chicago VII
- Chicago VIII
- Chicago X
- Chicago XI
- Hot Streets
- Chicago 13
- Chicago XIV
- Chicago 16
- Chicago 17
- Chicago 18
- Chicago 19
- Twenty 1
- Night & Day Big Band
- Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album
- Chicago XXX
- Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus
- Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three
Live albums - Chicago at Carnegie Hall
- Live in Japan
- Chicago XXVI: Live in Concert
- Chicago XXXIV: Live in '75
Compilations - Chicago IX - Chicago's Greatest Hits
- Greatest Hits, Volume II
- If You Leave Me Now
- Take Me Back to Chicago
- Greatest Hits 1982-1989
- Group Portrait
- The Heart of Chicago 1967-1997
- The Heart of Chicago 1967-1998 Volume II
- The Very Best of: Only the Beginning
- The Box
- Love Songs
- The Best of Chicago: 40th Anniversary Edition
Related articles Categories:- 1969 songs
- 1970 singles
- Chicago (band) songs
- Songs written by Robert Lamm
- Songs about the military
- Songs of the Vietnam War
- 1970s single stubs
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