Call On Me (1974) 11/22/20

Chicago trumpeter Lee Loughnane was going through a divorce, and although he wasn't a prolific songwriter, he felt compelled to sit down and write something about it. The result was “Call On Me,” which was released as a single off the 1974 album, “Chicago VII.”

Lyrically, he was trying to take the high road. In an interview, he was quoted as saying (quite possibly with tongue planted firmly in cheek), “I wanted to remain friends with her. I put that in the lyric, 'You can call on me even though we're not going to be together anymore.' Since then, I've changed my mind, of course.”

Thanks to some solid vocals by Peter Cetera and an excellent arrangement, Lee scored a “Great Song of the '70s” with his very first Chicago songwriting credit.

It went to #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart, and #6 on the Hot 100. In Canada, it reached #9 on the Top 40.

From 1974: