Peak
7
Weeks
12
Score
2,370
Chart Year
1971
This was written by Chicago's trombone player, James Pankow, and sung by Terry Kath. After Kath's death in 1978, the band did not play the song for several years, eventually bringing It back with Bill Champlin on vocals when he joined in 1981. The song remained a concert favorite, and was later sung live by Robert Lamm. In our interview with James Pankow, he explained: "I titled it 'Colour My World' because it affected a lyric that again mirrors the emotion of love. In this case, I used the emotion of love and description as a Technicolor movie that takes places in my heart. It colors, it gives color and vivid definition to my life, like bringing this emotion to it." On the album, this is the fourth section of a musical suite called "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon." Almost 13-minutes long, the suite begins with "Make Me Smile," which became the band's first hit when their record company packaged that section as a single. On The Chris Isaak Hour, Pankow explained: "It's a small segment of a multi-movement piece on our second album which is basically a tribute to my first love. I had been listening to Bach - the Brandenburg Concertos, and they had all those arpeggiated melodies. I sat at a piano and started messing around with these arpeggios. That cycle of arpeggios became the foundation of the song. Frank Sinatra called our publicist and said, 'Ask that kid to write another verse for that song.' I thought about it, I called him back and said I can't do it - it's like sewing another arm on your kid, I can't do it." The band was on tour and staying at a Holiday Inn when James Pankow came up with the melody late at night on his keyboard. When he came up with a contrapuntal melody for flute, he couldn't wait, so he woke up Walter Parazaider, the saxophone/flute player in the band, and they worked out the song in Pankow's room. One of the band's most popular songs, "Colour My World" never charted because it wasn't released as a single. It was used as the B-side of the "Make Me Smile" in April 1970, and as the B-side of "Beginnings" in June 1971. Seems not everyone in the band likes this song. Bill Champlin almost turned down the gig when he found out he would have to sing it. "I did it for a few years and I handed it off to Robert Lamm," he said in a Songfacts interview. "I started jazzing it a little bit and singing different melodies than the original and started pissing off the guys. Robert said I should do it, and I went, 'Don't throw me in that briar patch.' I let him take it. I just don't dig that tune very much. I can play it, and I can sing it, but night after night after night of it... I heard rumors that they drew straws to see who was going to sing it in the studio and the loser had to sing it, so Terry ended up singing it. And, from what I understand, he had a bottle of Jack before he sang. He wanted to give it one pass and there's history right there. That's how good a singer Terry was."
As time goes on I realize Just what you mean To me And now Now that you're near Promise your love That I've waited to share And dreams Of our moments together Colour my world with hope of loving you
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 3, 1971 | 38 | 88 |
| 2 | Jul 10, 1971 | 37 | 89 |
| 3 | Jul 17, 1971 | 23 | 103 |
| 4 | Jul 24, 1971 | 19 | 107 |
| 5 | Jul 31, 1971 | 16 | 110 |
| 6 | Aug 7, 1971 | 8 | 118 |
| 7 | Aug 14, 1971 | 7 | 119 |
| 8 | Aug 21, 1971 | 7 | 119 |
| 9 | Aug 28, 1971 | 11 | 115 |
| 10 | Sep 4, 1971 | 15 | 111 |
| 11 | Sep 11, 1971 | 19 | 107 |
| 12 | Sep 18, 1971 | 26 | 100 |