Drummer Danny Seraphine and Rufus keyboardist David Wolinki are the authors of “Birthday Boy,” which closes the old first side of 1980’s much-maligned Chicago XIV, which is of course my favorite post-Terry Kath album, lol! The song, sung by bassist Peter Cetera, begins with a wash of whiny, laughably dated 1980s New Wave synthesizer. The horns charge in, and Seraphine adds a drumroll.
Birthday boy, blow out the candles
Good friends around you, should feel ok
Apparently this song was written on the occasion of Seraphine turning 30 years old (he was the original band’s youngest member) and feeling melancholy at the thought. However, the subject of the song is given a pep talk:
Don’t look so sad and blue
Don’t look forsaken, this day’s for you
There isn’t much more to the song. The horns play a more subdued, background role while Chicago’s excellent temporary lead guitarist Chris Pinnick manages some nice, distorted fills. Lee Loughnane plays an all-too-brief piccolo trumpet line, and things repeat themselves. Even if I really like the album, I must admit this song has no business making the final cut. The Chicago XIV remaster actually contains three bonus tracks that blow this song out of the water.
Is “Birthday Boy” the worst song Chicago came up with during their 1969-80 era with Columbia Records? Possibly, but there are several dogs on the previous album, 1979’s Chicago 13, that give it a run for its money.
In any case, avoid “Birthday Boy” and program one or all of the bonus tracks in its place. Amazingly, Chicago would do a lot worse later in their career, but that’s a story to be told down the road.
- Chicago, “Watching All the Colors” (2014): Saturdays in the Park - January 22, 2022
- Chicago, “Love Lives On” from ‘Chicago XXXVI: Now’ (2014): Saturdays in the Park - January 8, 2022
- Chicago, “More Will Be Revealed” from ‘Chicago XXXVI: Now’ (2014): Saturdays in the Park - December 11, 2021
