95 Songs of Summer, #35 - "The Night Chicago Died" (1974)

Back at the beginning of this little project, I warned people that not every song included in the "summer mix" would be a classic.  And this song certainly fits the bill of "non-classic."

In fact, a few years ago I did a few posts on a concept that I called "transcendent badness" - songs that were so bad that they were actually fun to listen to, just to be able to savor the horrible nature of it all.  Songs like "Run Joey Run" and "Billy, Don't Be a Hero."

I think "The Night Chicago Died" certainly is a candidate for this esteemed category.  Mind you, it is a catchy tune (catchy in the sense of "if I don't get away from this person soon, I'm gonna catch their cold"), but let's face it, this song stinks.  The music is somewhere between silly and vapid, the lyrics are ridiculous (The "east side of Chicago?"  Who sings about the east side of Chicago?), and everything about it gives me that horrible, awkward feeling of feeling embarrassed for someone who is having a very public meltdown.

But then again, it did make it all the way to the top of the charts.  And when I hear it, I am instantly transported to the mid- to late-summer of 1974, when you really could not turn on the radio without hearing this within about 15 minutes or so.

So without further ado, I give you Paper Lace, with "The Night Chicago Died" - from the summer of 1974.