Chicago’s Peter Cetera Sang This Hit Single With His Jaw Wired Shut

In June of 1970, Chicago scored their first Top 5 single, with “25 Or 6 To 4”. The song, written by the band’s own Robert Lamm, is part of Chicago’s eponymous debut album.

Surprisingly, lead singer Peter Cetera had to sing this song with his jaw wired shut after an unfortunate altercation at a baseball game. Cetera was reportedly at a game where his Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. He was celebrating the Cubs’ win when he got into a fight with four Marines, who apparently didn’t like the way he was celebrating. Cetera was injured in the argument, with his jaw being broken in three places. The result was that his jaw was wired shut for three months, during which time, Chicago wanted to record “25 Or 6 To 4”. 

“He had to learn to sing differently,” producer  James Guercio tells Mix Online. “I told him, ‘I can’t wait, we’re gonna do this.’” 

Not only did Cetera nail his performance of “25 Or 6 To 4”, but it began a new style of singing for him, with his teeth clenched.

The Story Behind “25 Or 6 To 4” by Chicago

“25 Or 6 To 4” begins with, “Waiting for the break of day / Searching for something to say / Flashing lights against the sky / Giving up, I close my eyes / Sitting cross-legged on the floor / Twenty five or six to four.”

“25 Or 6 To 4” is a song that fans have sung for decades, although a lot of them don’t know the true meaning of the song. Lamm later reveals that “25 Or 6 To 4” began while he was “living with a bunch of hippies” in a house that looked down on Sunset Strip.

 “One of the advantages of this particular house was that it was in the Hollywood Hills, and I could look out over the city late at night,” Lamm remembers. “I wanted to try to describe the process of writing the song that I was writing. So, ‘Waiting for the break of day, searching for something to say, flashing lights against the sky,’ there was a neon sign across the city. That song came from the fact that it was 25 or 6 to 4 a.m. in the morning when I looked at my watch. I was looking for a line to finish the chorus.”

“25 Or 6 To 4” also helped make Chicago’s horn section popular, something that subsequently remained part of the band.

Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns

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