#MusicMonday – December 31, 2018

The last Music Monday, on the last day of the year, with a song about the last night of the year.  And it’s sung by Chicago.

Double the treats, my friends!

We made it to the end of 2018.  I hope your year went well, but if it didn’t, then perhaps 2019 will be your year?  For me, 2018 was a year I wouldn’t trade in for anything – it was certainly memorable, but for all the right reasons, in the best ways possible.

I may be a minority in the Awesome 2018 Department (I certainly hope not), but everyone has the opportunity to make a year the best it can possibly be.  So get out those writing tools, be it a computer, pen/pencil and paper, or scraps in a jar, and jot down those resolutions.  Keep this list handy, and see how many of these resolutions you keep one year from today.

I raise my glass to you in support.

My resolution this year is the usual “lose weight” line.  In actuality,  I have a goal in mind, and an incentive.  Because June 15, 2019 is a pretty big day, and I have a certain item of clothing that I’d like to look my best in.

So, we have the plans to better ourselves in 2019, but how do we bring in the new year?  Do you have a party, or do you watch the ball drop while sitting on the living room couch?  Do you attend a party somewhere else?  Or are you one of those people who go to bed before the ball drops?

I’ve been one of those people determined to watch the ball drop.  I did so successfully for the first time on New Year’s Eve 1993, when I successfully saw the first minutes of 1994.  I was eleven years old, and it felt so badass to stay up that late and witness history (or at least, my perception of it) in the changing of the year.  I’ve had years where I was wide awake and determined to see it happen, mixed with years where I just barely made it. For the record, I was wide awake the last two years, and I plan to ring in 2019 the exact same way: Wide Awake.

I also don’t plan on ringing it in cranky and unhappy, but today’s song seems to find our celebrator in a “screw this year” kind of mood.

“On the Last Night of the Year” appears on the 2011 Chicago Christmas-themed album (their third) Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three.  The song was written by Phil Galdston and Michael Whalen, and has Robert Lamm singing about how he’s (well, not him, the person that is the focus of the song) so over the year.

 

lamm
Photo source: Ultimate Classic Rock

There’s talk of lifting a glass to the past, throwing out Christmas cards and dried-up Christmas trees, making resolutions he won’t keep, and then going to bed before the ball drops.

I can’t find any information about this song, and a Google search turns up that Chicago sang it.  The notes about O Christmas Three don’t indicate this is an original song by the group, but no searches turn up that anyone else sang this song, so we’ll just assume this is a Chicago original until I find out otherwise.

(Research break)

This is an original Chicago song! YEA!!!!  That makes two-for-two this month on original holiday-themed songs! (See last week’s Music Monday for the other one, also a Chicago song.)

I love this angst-filled, “screw this” take on the traditional New Years Eve celebration, and Robert Lamm delivers just the right amount of it in this song.

I’d say take my word for it, but why not just listen and discover it for yourself?

So um, yeah, those people freezing their asses off in the cold weather.  Who needs them?

I’ll spend my night in my nice warm house, toasting to the New Year in my house, with my fiancee and friends.

And I plan to actually keep the one resolution I plan to make this year.

So here’s to 2019, and to all to come with the new year!  Have a great Music Monday New Years Eve, and enjoy the music!

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