"Call on Me" is a song written by Lee Loughnane for the group Chicago and recorded for their album Chicago VII (1974). Peter Cetera sang lead vocals and the arrangement makes prominent use of conga drums played by Guille Garcia.
Background
"Call on Me" was the first Loughnane composition to be released by the band. It was written with uncredited help from Peter Cetera.[1] Loughnane was the last original Chicago member to receive a songwriting credit.
According to Cetera, though, he needed some help. "I tried to help Lee Loughnane with a song," Cetera says, "and that song turned out to be 'Call On Me.' Lee had written a song. It wasn't called, 'Call On Me,' it was called something else, and it in fact was terrible. I talked to him at the ranch one day, and he was all bent out of shape. He said that he had played the song for the guys, and they had told him in fact to get the heck out of there with the song. I said, 'Well, come on, let's have a go.' So Lee and I went and re-wrote the lyrics and re-wrote the melody and came up with the song called, 'Call On Me,' which was a big hit for him." Loughnane remembers it a little differently. "Peter changed a couple of the words and the way he sang the melody in order for him to be able to play the bass and sing the melody at the same time because that's the way he felt it." Loughnane added, "I appreciate his efforts, and we did make the song a hit."
Reception
Billboard described "Call on Me" as a "good, summer sounding disk" that sounds a little like Chicago's earlier single "Saturday in the Park."[2]Record World said that the "light Latin lilt is perfect for summer airwaves."[3]
^Ruhlmann, William James (1991). Chicago Group Portrait (Box Set) (Media notes). New York City, NY: Columbia Records. p. 7. Archived from the original(CD booklet archived online) on February 13, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
^"Top Single Picks"(PDF). Billboard. June 15, 1974. p. 50. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
^"Hits of the Week"(PDF). Record World. June 15, 1974. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
^Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 54.
