Community Song Post

Born in Chicago – Paul Butterfield Blues Band

I was born in Chicago at nineteen and forty-one
I was born in Chicago at nineteen and forty-one
Well, my father told me
"Son, you had better get a gun"
 

Well, my first friend went down
When I was 17 years old
Well, my first friend went down
When I was 17 years old

Well, there's one thing I can say about that boy
He gotta go

Well, my second friend went down
When I was 21 years of age

Well, my second friend went down
When I was 21 years of age

Well, there's one thing I can say about that boy
He gotta pray

Well, now rules are alright
If there's someone left to play the game
Well, now rules are alright
If there's someone left to play the game

All my friends are going
And thing's just don't seem the same
Oh, thing's just don't seem the same, babe

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The song brings out the less favorable aspects of Paul’s hometown Chicago. He’s knows where he’s from, however he explains the dangers of his hometown when he sings, “Son, you had better get a gun." Here, he is reenacting his father’s warnings to him that Chicago can be dangerous, and he might want to think about having something to protect himself. The urban Chicago is put in a negative light, as he explains he has experienced the deaths of close ones. By the end of the song, he realizes how much Chicago has changed, however he didn’t particularly explain how it was later in his life.