A Song for Richard and His Friends is a song written by keyboardist
Robert Lamm and first recorded by American rock band Chicago in 1971
at a live concert at Carnegie Hall in NYC. The song did not receive
much radio airplay, but is a notorious example of Chicago's political
persuasions in the early years of the band. It is a nose-thumbing
directed at President Richard Nixon. Watergate was just around the
corner and the notorious burglary that led to his ruin had just occurred.
On November 17, 1973, Nixon would deliver his "I am not a crook"
speech at a televised press conference at Disney World, Florida.
Finally, on August 8, 1974, Nixon delivered his resignation speech
in front of a nationally televised audience. The following day,
Richard Nixon officially resigned from office and Gerald Ford
becomes the 38th President of the United States.
Chicago at Carnegie Hall (also known as Chicago IV) is the first live
album, and fourth LP overall, by American band Chicago. The band
played Carnegie Hall for a week in April 1971 and sold out all of
their shows. They were the first rock 'n' roll group to sell out a
week at Carnegie Hall. The album was initially released in October
1971 by Columbia Records as a four-LP vinyl box set and
reached #3 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart.
A Playlist of all HT Class of '73 Songs of the Day is available by clicking below:
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