Poem 58
Composer: Lamm
Key: A minor (jam); E minor (sung part)
Meter: 4/4
Lead Vocal: Robert Lamm (not Cetera, as erroneously claimed elsewhere on the internet)
Form: Long jam, intro, verse 1, guitar solo, horn section feature, verse 2, outro
Instrumentation: Jam - electric guitar, bass, drums. Song portion - add trumpet, tenor sax, trombone,
electric piano, three voices
Overall form and style: “Poem 58” is split into two totally distinct halves which flow together without a pause. The first section is a jam opening with a guitar riff reminiscent of a faster version of the opening riff of “I Can’t Quit Her” from Blood Sweat & Tears’ first album. (A deliberate nod? Probably not, but it’s the same chord, the same key, and a similar rhythm.) The riff quickly settles into a jam featuring a guitar solo accompanied by bass and drums which lasts until about the 4:50 mark, more than halfway through the piece’s running time.
At this point, the tempo drops suddenly and the second part begins. A lovely dissonant chord builds up one instrument at a time before the tune settles into a blues riff in a medium slow rock feel. The form is a slightly altered twelve-bar blues with a modal flavor. After one verse, the blues form continues uninterrupted for a guitar solo and an “arranger’s solo” AKA a horn section feature. After a second verse, an abbreviated version of the opening build ends the piece.
Melody: The vocal melody here is constructed almost entirely out of the E minor pentatonic scale, for a simple, bluesy melody (though without use of the blues scale). The melody is sung a few notes at a time, leaving space in the middle of each measure for the backup vocals and horn stabs. The first eight measures of the twelve-bar form are all over an E minor chord, but build tension by the voice reaching higher in measures 5-8. The highest note comes in bar 10, on the altered dominant chord. For most of the melody, each measure is answered by background voices singing one single syllable in harmony which ascends up the Dorian scale each time. It’s not easy to understand the words the background voices sing, but if you listen you can pick it out: “I… do… love… you…” (a line also used on the next album on “In the Country”).
The riff under the E minor measures (ten measures out of the twelve in the form) is a blues riff (complete with a blue note, a lowered fifth) played by the rhythm section. The only time they play full chords is in the two measures with sharp 9 chords, making those nasty chords even more biting.
Harmony: The first section, the long jam, is entirely in A minor with no key changes or chord progression. The direction in this part comes from the players responding to each other and bringing the volume and intensity up and down.
The song section opens with a dissonant chord built up one instrument at a time. From bottom to top, the notes are B, A, C#, G#, and D. There are some funky intervals in that - a major 7th, a minor 9th, and a tritone. The chord is not quite a dominant seventh (no D#), but since B and A are present it gives the impression of a dissonant variation on V7. I suppose analytically, you get a minor 13th, but with that upside-down voicing that has the C# a whole octave below the D, the chord doesn’t really sound like a minor 13th. The main blues form has only three chords. The first eight measures and last two are a modal E-7. This is the reason that the piece is not a standard blues: it doesn’t go to the iv chord in the fifth bar as you would expect. However, it does surprisingly go to D7#9 in the ninth bar (you expect a change here in the blues, but not to this chord) and then B7#9 in the tenth (a typical place to find the V chord in a blues). The effect is confining. Only a few bars leave the constant E minor riff, and those few bars are dissonant dominant sharp 9 chords. The final chord of the piece reinforces the modality of the verses: it ends on an E minor seventh chord, which is only a i chord in a strongly modal environment.
Arrangement: Chicago Transit Authority is the only album by this band that lets the players really stretch out and jam, with the possible exception of Chicago III. Both “Poem 58” and “Liberation” have lengthy sections that do not seem composed but rather are just jammed out by the rhythm section. The first 4:50 of “Poem 58” is an improvised jam between the guitar, bass, and drums, letting us hear these guys just enjoying playing together. Chicago is known so much for its horn section, but the rhythm section is also fantastic when they get to strut their stuff.
The second part, by contrast, is clearly arranged. The build leading into the new section is a dark, dissonant, unsteady chord which moves unsettlingly up and down chromatically. From the bottom, the voices are bass, guitar, trombone, tenor sax, and trumpet. Once the blues form settles in, the E minor riff dominates the accompaniment. No one is comping changes, but instead the bass, electric piano, and guitar are all playing the riff together. (If you’re having trouble picking out the piano, which I believe is a Wurlitzer electric, it’s on the left speaker, doubling the bass in the same octave and not easy to pick out.) The ninth and tenth measures of the form are the only two with different chords, and here the riff stops and the guitar and piano comp the sharp 9 chords. The sudden change from unison riff to nasty chords sets those measure apart even more than the harmonic change already does.
The verses in “Poem 58” are ingeniously arranged, with four separate parts coming together almost jigsaw fashion. Over the repeating riff, the lead vocalist sings a line, which is answered by the background vocals singing a long note with vibrato. (The vibrato sounds artificial or exaggerated - could they have been running through an effect or a leslie?) That, in turn, is answered by the horn section in a short figure consisting of three biting, short notes. The lead voice picks up during the horn stab, and this is repeated every measure. The contrast between the slow-moving vocal and riff, the sustained background vocals, and sudden, quick horn jabs is distinctive and effective. The two sharp nine measures change these roles, with the rhythm section becoming more active and the horns playing a sustained chord with a fortepiano and crescendo.
The blues form continues for a solo section, and Chicago once again pulls out the “arranger’s solo” trick. After two choruses of guitar solo, there is one chorus of horn section feature. The whole thing is nice, but listen especially for the wailing siren effect in the eighth measure, which would be repurposed in “All Is Well” a few albums down the line.
The final buildup is just like the one that opened the second half, but only half as long as each instrument comes in after two beats instead of a whole measure.
Other notes: This is the one song with a number in its title that I don’t have an explanation for. A quick internet search reveals nothing except that a lot of people agree with me that this is a great, underappreciated Chicago track. Perhaps it was inspired by something in Mr. Lamm’s life in 1958, when he would have turned 14.
There are three parts of this album that feature extended guitar solos - the first ~5 minutes of this tune, “Free Form Guitar”, and most of “Liberation”. I have long felt that a minor weakness of this incredible album is that there is so much guitar solo that it almost sounds like they are stalling for time to fill out a double album. As great as Terry Kath was, it’s a bit much. However, I am slowly revising that opinion. The extended guitar solo in “Poem 58” is fantastic. It keeps your interest all the way through and features some nice interplay among the rhythm section.
Peter Cetera doesn't get enough credit for being a great rock bass guitarist. I suppose he's better known as a singer and also suffers from Terry Kath's handicap of playing a common instrument in a band with unusual instrumentation, but the jam in "Poem 58" is a great example of how good this guy was, even when not singing a note.
On the last chord of the horn feature, the tenor sax sticks out of the texture a tiny bit. Normally, this wouldn’t be worth noting in the slightest, since that’s what happens in horn sections… but it’s so rare in Chicago to hear a voice sticking out, even a tiny bit.
The previous tune “Listen” had a riff, but that riff stopped during the verses. Here in “Poem 58”, the minor blues riff continues uninterrupted though nearly all of the sung portion (and the solos as well). The effect of these riffs, especially since they’re in a minor key and plodding along at a medium slow speed, is a confining effect. It’s almost as if the singer wants to escape, tries in those two measures where the harmony changes… and fails.
PM
Key: A minor (jam); E minor (sung part)
Meter: 4/4
Lead Vocal: Robert Lamm (not Cetera, as erroneously claimed elsewhere on the internet)
Form: Long jam, intro, verse 1, guitar solo, horn section feature, verse 2, outro
Instrumentation: Jam - electric guitar, bass, drums. Song portion - add trumpet, tenor sax, trombone,
electric piano, three voices
Overall form and style: “Poem 58” is split into two totally distinct halves which flow together without a pause. The first section is a jam opening with a guitar riff reminiscent of a faster version of the opening riff of “I Can’t Quit Her” from Blood Sweat & Tears’ first album. (A deliberate nod? Probably not, but it’s the same chord, the same key, and a similar rhythm.) The riff quickly settles into a jam featuring a guitar solo accompanied by bass and drums which lasts until about the 4:50 mark, more than halfway through the piece’s running time.
At this point, the tempo drops suddenly and the second part begins. A lovely dissonant chord builds up one instrument at a time before the tune settles into a blues riff in a medium slow rock feel. The form is a slightly altered twelve-bar blues with a modal flavor. After one verse, the blues form continues uninterrupted for a guitar solo and an “arranger’s solo” AKA a horn section feature. After a second verse, an abbreviated version of the opening build ends the piece.
Melody: The vocal melody here is constructed almost entirely out of the E minor pentatonic scale, for a simple, bluesy melody (though without use of the blues scale). The melody is sung a few notes at a time, leaving space in the middle of each measure for the backup vocals and horn stabs. The first eight measures of the twelve-bar form are all over an E minor chord, but build tension by the voice reaching higher in measures 5-8. The highest note comes in bar 10, on the altered dominant chord. For most of the melody, each measure is answered by background voices singing one single syllable in harmony which ascends up the Dorian scale each time. It’s not easy to understand the words the background voices sing, but if you listen you can pick it out: “I… do… love… you…” (a line also used on the next album on “In the Country”).
The riff under the E minor measures (ten measures out of the twelve in the form) is a blues riff (complete with a blue note, a lowered fifth) played by the rhythm section. The only time they play full chords is in the two measures with sharp 9 chords, making those nasty chords even more biting.
Harmony: The first section, the long jam, is entirely in A minor with no key changes or chord progression. The direction in this part comes from the players responding to each other and bringing the volume and intensity up and down.
The song section opens with a dissonant chord built up one instrument at a time. From bottom to top, the notes are B, A, C#, G#, and D. There are some funky intervals in that - a major 7th, a minor 9th, and a tritone. The chord is not quite a dominant seventh (no D#), but since B and A are present it gives the impression of a dissonant variation on V7. I suppose analytically, you get a minor 13th, but with that upside-down voicing that has the C# a whole octave below the D, the chord doesn’t really sound like a minor 13th. The main blues form has only three chords. The first eight measures and last two are a modal E-7. This is the reason that the piece is not a standard blues: it doesn’t go to the iv chord in the fifth bar as you would expect. However, it does surprisingly go to D7#9 in the ninth bar (you expect a change here in the blues, but not to this chord) and then B7#9 in the tenth (a typical place to find the V chord in a blues). The effect is confining. Only a few bars leave the constant E minor riff, and those few bars are dissonant dominant sharp 9 chords. The final chord of the piece reinforces the modality of the verses: it ends on an E minor seventh chord, which is only a i chord in a strongly modal environment.
Arrangement: Chicago Transit Authority is the only album by this band that lets the players really stretch out and jam, with the possible exception of Chicago III. Both “Poem 58” and “Liberation” have lengthy sections that do not seem composed but rather are just jammed out by the rhythm section. The first 4:50 of “Poem 58” is an improvised jam between the guitar, bass, and drums, letting us hear these guys just enjoying playing together. Chicago is known so much for its horn section, but the rhythm section is also fantastic when they get to strut their stuff.
The second part, by contrast, is clearly arranged. The build leading into the new section is a dark, dissonant, unsteady chord which moves unsettlingly up and down chromatically. From the bottom, the voices are bass, guitar, trombone, tenor sax, and trumpet. Once the blues form settles in, the E minor riff dominates the accompaniment. No one is comping changes, but instead the bass, electric piano, and guitar are all playing the riff together. (If you’re having trouble picking out the piano, which I believe is a Wurlitzer electric, it’s on the left speaker, doubling the bass in the same octave and not easy to pick out.) The ninth and tenth measures of the form are the only two with different chords, and here the riff stops and the guitar and piano comp the sharp 9 chords. The sudden change from unison riff to nasty chords sets those measure apart even more than the harmonic change already does.
The verses in “Poem 58” are ingeniously arranged, with four separate parts coming together almost jigsaw fashion. Over the repeating riff, the lead vocalist sings a line, which is answered by the background vocals singing a long note with vibrato. (The vibrato sounds artificial or exaggerated - could they have been running through an effect or a leslie?) That, in turn, is answered by the horn section in a short figure consisting of three biting, short notes. The lead voice picks up during the horn stab, and this is repeated every measure. The contrast between the slow-moving vocal and riff, the sustained background vocals, and sudden, quick horn jabs is distinctive and effective. The two sharp nine measures change these roles, with the rhythm section becoming more active and the horns playing a sustained chord with a fortepiano and crescendo.
The blues form continues for a solo section, and Chicago once again pulls out the “arranger’s solo” trick. After two choruses of guitar solo, there is one chorus of horn section feature. The whole thing is nice, but listen especially for the wailing siren effect in the eighth measure, which would be repurposed in “All Is Well” a few albums down the line.
The final buildup is just like the one that opened the second half, but only half as long as each instrument comes in after two beats instead of a whole measure.
Other notes: This is the one song with a number in its title that I don’t have an explanation for. A quick internet search reveals nothing except that a lot of people agree with me that this is a great, underappreciated Chicago track. Perhaps it was inspired by something in Mr. Lamm’s life in 1958, when he would have turned 14.
There are three parts of this album that feature extended guitar solos - the first ~5 minutes of this tune, “Free Form Guitar”, and most of “Liberation”. I have long felt that a minor weakness of this incredible album is that there is so much guitar solo that it almost sounds like they are stalling for time to fill out a double album. As great as Terry Kath was, it’s a bit much. However, I am slowly revising that opinion. The extended guitar solo in “Poem 58” is fantastic. It keeps your interest all the way through and features some nice interplay among the rhythm section.
Peter Cetera doesn't get enough credit for being a great rock bass guitarist. I suppose he's better known as a singer and also suffers from Terry Kath's handicap of playing a common instrument in a band with unusual instrumentation, but the jam in "Poem 58" is a great example of how good this guy was, even when not singing a note.
On the last chord of the horn feature, the tenor sax sticks out of the texture a tiny bit. Normally, this wouldn’t be worth noting in the slightest, since that’s what happens in horn sections… but it’s so rare in Chicago to hear a voice sticking out, even a tiny bit.
The previous tune “Listen” had a riff, but that riff stopped during the verses. Here in “Poem 58”, the minor blues riff continues uninterrupted though nearly all of the sung portion (and the solos as well). The effect of these riffs, especially since they’re in a minor key and plodding along at a medium slow speed, is a confining effect. It’s almost as if the singer wants to escape, tries in those two measures where the harmony changes… and fails.
PM
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