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ONLY YOU

from CHICAGO 17

Written by David Foster & James Pankow

Released in the Spring of 1984, Chicago 17 was one of the pivotal projects of David Foster’s entire career. That record’s perfect pop sounds brought the veteran band four huge Top 40 hits including “Hard Habit To Break,” “You’re The Inspiration,” “Stay The Night,” “Along Comes A Woman” plus multimillion sales that total today over six million copies in the US alone. With Chicago 17, Foster basically shaped the pop/adult contemporary genre that dominated the radio waves of the Eighties.

Chicago 17 perfected the match of Foster’s superior talents as a musician, songwriter, arranger and producer with Peter Cetera’s blooming skills as a singer/songwriter. They both were at the peak of their creativity and the results were astounding. Cetera’s voice and personality were in the spotlight on most of the project but there were some album tracks that didn’t feature him but were total ear candy just the same. Previous reviews of “We Can Stop The Hurtin’” and “Please Hold On” are perfect testaments of this statement. Chicago 17 had some fantastic contributions by Bill Champlin. From his duet with Cetera on “Hard Habit To Break” to his soul-drenched vocals throughout the album, you can hear Champlin’s influence. Chicago’s main guys, James Pankow and Robert Lamm, were also in good form. One superb example was “Only You,” the choice for this week’s review.

Co-written by Foster and Pankow, “Only You” was an irresistible mid-tempo. Lamm and Champlin shared the lead vocals and sang most of the vocal harmonies on this light/funk number arranged by Foster. Session great Paul Jackson Jr. added some nasty rhythm guitar licks while the Hitman played keyboards and a grooving moog bass. The legendary Chicago horns shone on “Only You” by delivering their trademark sounds. This jam was a state-of-the-art music affair and eventually became the b-side of “Stay The Night.” This timeless project rightly brought Foster and his engineer, Humberto Gatica, Grammys as “Producer of the Year” and “Best Engineered Recording,” respectively.


Listen

 

  • Lead Vocals: Bill Champlin & Robert Lamm
  • Drums: Danny Seraphine
  • Keyboards & Bass Synthesizer: David Foster
  • Guitars: Paul Jackson, Jr.
  • Trombone: James Pankow
  • Saxophone: Walter Parazaider
  • Trumpet: Lee Loughnane
  • Backing Vocals: Bill Champlin, Robert Lamm & Peter Cetera
  • Arranged by David Foster
  • Horns Arranged by David Foster & James Pankow
  • Vocals Arranged by Bill Champlin & Robert Lamm
  • Produced by David Foster

Lyrics

Hold me forever
Whisper the words I’ve waited so long to hear
Love’s sweet surrender
Steals an embrace and kisses away the tears

Lookin’ back down the road of love
We can still feel the heartache
Pain and joy of an unrelenting love
Hold us together

Only you
You’ve got control
Only you
You’ve got the key to my heart
Only you
You’ve got control
Need your love, take me forever

Sad empty faces
Faded away when I fell in love with you
True love erases
Fear and the doubt not knowing we’d see things through

So in
In a world of illusion
We fell in love until the end of time
True love, forever

Only you
You’ve got control
Only you
You’ve got the key to my heart
Only you
You’ve got control
Need your love, take me forever

Lookin’ back down the road of love
We can still feel the heartache
Pain and joy of an unrelenting love
Hold us together

Only you
You’ve got control
Only you
You’ve got the key to my heart
Only you
You’ve got control
Need your love, take me forever