"Old Days" is a song written by James Pankow for the group Chicago and recorded for their album Chicago VIII (1975). It was the second single released from that album, with lead vocals by Peter Cetera.[1]
Background
Pankow has said that the song is a nostalgic piece about his childhood:
"It touches on key phrases that, although they date me, are pretty right-on in terms of images of my childhood. 'The Howdy Doody Show' on television and collecting baseball cards and comic books."[2]
Pankow told group biographer James William Ruhlmann that the group stopped performing the song live because Cetera refused to sing it, calling the lyrics "corny".[3]
Cash Box praised the "great horn work," "Danny Seraphine's fine drum parts," and Terry Kath's "great guitar licks."[4]Record World said that Chicago's "wall-to-wall sound returns, this time abetted by Pat Williams strings, on a side that's destined to be this year's 'Saturday in the Park.'" "[5]
Chart performance
"Old Days" reached #5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Easy Listening chart.[6]
"Old Days" is featured on the soundtrack of the movie Starsky & Hutch (2004).
The band also reworked the song in 2009 to serve as the theme for the "Monsters in the Morning" show airing on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
"Old Days" is used in an internet meme (introduced in 2018) in which a man reads the Wikipedia entry for cock and ball torture while a distorted recording of the song plays in the background.
