![]() ![]() Others give the credit to backup catcher Gene Oliver. ![]() Some say it was the Cubs’ 64 year-old manager, that always colorful character Leo Durocher, who actually encouraged the idea of his boys warbling on a record. But hey, it was a feel-good novelty record! And it was tapping into a genuine, growing excitement that this Cubs team, after 61 years of heartache, might just be the real deal. 2075) to slightly less enthusiastic reviews. He recorded the Fathers & Sons LP with Muddy and other Chicago stalwarts (including Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Otis Spann) and released it in August to an excellent reception.Īt almost the exact same time, early August of ’69, Chess also put out “Pennant Fever” (Recording No. As 1969 progressed, he let the music become his escape from the bureaucracy.Īfter producing two polarizing “psychedelic blues rock” albums with Chess veterans Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, Marshall decided to hit the rewind button and return to more of the traditional “pure blues” sound that had helped put Chess Records on the map. He’d been groomed for this role since boyhood-helping his dad cut records for everybody from Chuck Berry and Etta James to the Rolling Stones-so he wasn’t accustomed to red tape (or whatever other kind of tape GRT specialized in). Unfortunately, the transition to life under West Coast corporate overlords was proving shaky out of the gate for the old family business-as funding shortages and creative differences quickly started testing young Marshall Chess’s patience. ![]() As part of the $6.5 million agreement, Chess Records would carry on with its Chicago production, and Leonard Chess’ 27 year-old son Marshall would serve as the label’s new president. ![]() They might have been the “best days” of Bryan Adams’s life, but the summer of 1969 was quite the tumultuous time at the Chess Producing Corp., a 20 year-old record company entering a new era of uncertainty.Įarlier that year, the label’s founders, owners, and namesakes-brothers Leonard and Phil Chess-finalized a deal to sell the revered blues/jazz/soul imprint to a California-based reel-to-reel manufacturer, General Recorded Tape, Inc., or GRT. Until 2016, that is! Yes, with the “Curse of the Billy Goat” now officially vanquished, perhaps we can finally look back on this dusty 45 with a new appreciation-not just for its overlooked role in the Cubs’ most legendary collapse, but for the way it brought together two of Chicago’s most beloved institutions: the North Side’s baseball club and the South Side’s greatest hit factory, Chess Records (with all apologies to the Sox). For those who did remember it, the tune offered little more than a sad reminder that the Cubbies did not, in fact, win the pennant that season-or any season since. “Pennant Fever,” a funky pop ditty performed by seven members of the 1969 Chicago Cubs, has been largely forgotten by even the most devout Wrigleyvillians over the past 50 years. Long before the Chicago Bears awkwardly rapped their way to a certified gold record with “The Super Bowl Shuffle,” the precedent for a singing sports team had already been set-albeit with substantially less commercial and cultural impact-by the baby bears over at Clark and Addison. Museum Artifact: Chicago Cubs “Pennant Fever” 7-inch Record, 1969 ![]()
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