Chicago returned from a commercial slump in a big way in 1982 with “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” which shot to the top of the pop charts. Little did most fans know the song was mostly the product of the lead singer collaborating with the song’s producer and a bunch of hired-gun session players.
That didn’t sit too well with other members of the band, which meant the song set the tone for both a highly successful stretch for the band and the eventual departure of Cetera. Here’s how it all happened for “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.”
“Foster” the People
Drastic times call for drastic measures, or so the old saying goes. Chicago was always a band very much reliant on the success of its singles, and they released a pair of albums in the late ’70s that didn’t bring home the bacon in that department. As the ’80s dawned, their horn-based sound was sounding a bit outdated in the age of synthesizers.
Enter David Foster, who was just making his name as a top producer for hire. Foster came in brimming with confidence about his abilities to write and produce hits, and he demanded in no uncertain terms the band’s members should rise to the occasion in kind with the songs they wrote. If not, those songs wouldn’t make the cut.
Foster also had no qualms about bringing in top session players to realize his vision. Luckily, he struck up a good working relationship with Peter Cetera, Chicago’s bassist and lead singer. Cetera, who wasn’t overly fond of the brassier Chicago songs anyway, quickly aligned with Foster in an attempt to modernize the band’s sound, which could be heard on “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” the lead single from Chicago 16 in 1982.
“Sorry,” Not Sorry
Foster and Cetera wrote “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” which fit snugly into a category of song that was just coming into fashion at that time: the power ballad. The Chicago horn section was mostly relegated to the sideline. As a matter of fact, most of the band sat this one out, save Cetera on vocals and Danny Seraphine on drums.
Synthesizers were added by Steve Porcaro and David Paich, while Steve Lukather played guitar on the song. That meant three members of Toto were partly responsible for a big Chicago hit. And what a hit it turned out to be—it became the band’s second career No. 1 (after “If You Leave Me Now,” another Cetera-sung ballad from 1976).
With “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” driving the bus, Chicago 16 returned the band to prominence, and the follow-up (you guessed it, Chicago 17) did even bigger business in ’84. But Cetera’s growing stardom within the band rankled the others, and he departed after that. Foster produced just one more Chicago album and then he was gone as well.
What is the Meaning of “Hard to Say I’m Sorry”?
Everybody needs a little time away, I heard her say / From each other. Those ominous words begin “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” and we know we’re smack-dab in the middle of a breakup song. Even lovers need a holiday / Far away from each other, the girl continues. This isn’t sounding promising at all.
What makes it worse, from the narrator’s standpoint, is this was a bed he made, as evidenced by the chorus: After all that we’ve been through / I will make it up to you / I’ll promise to. The title gives it away: He has done something for which he must atone. You’re just the part of me I can’t let go, he moans.
“Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” built on Cetera’s anguished vocals and Foster’s stirring production, was a can’t-miss upon its release. Interestingly enough, Chicago scored their next No. 1 in 1989 with “Look Away,” a similar song released after the Cetera/Foster partnership was out of the picture. The men responsible for it may no longer have been wanted, but the formula they created still made sense for Chicago, to paraphrase the song, after all that they’d been through.
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