Chicago Transit Authority - Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (1969), tribute to Sharon Tate

NOTE: In 1969, Sharon, a lover of jazz, would have experienced this song as an album track, not as a Top 40 edit, so she would have listened to the PIANO INTRO as well. As I mentioned during work on an earlier Sharon Tate tribute, "The Crystal Ship," I happened to discover that The Doors was one of her three favorite rock bands. This famous
jazz rock group, Chicago (then called Chicago Transit Authority), was another. Their self-titled first album was released in April 1969 along with the single "Questions 67 and 68." Three other songs were destined to become singles, two of them not until 1970, but all the tracks got FM radio play on the progressive West Coast FM stations (while stations in other parts of the country sort of doled them out one at a time over time). It is likely Sharon picked up the album by sometime in May of '69, three months before
her tragic death. One can only guess which tracks or sides of the double album she preferred ... if there was any preference at all. So it is guesswork on my part that perhaps
one track she might have loved was this one, "Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?," destined to be their first major hit in October 1970 at #7. It was a personal favorite of mine at least and defined the band's most popular "sound" ... one that would carry over into q succession of future albums in the 1970's. Much else of what appeared on the first
album was highly experimental.

Of course the album version of this ever-popular tune was slightly different than the one AM radio listeners would become most familiar with: included was a 1 minute and 15 second piano introduction, done in an avant-garde, free form jazz style. This is the version I use on my video, from my CD. Nevertheless, the somber tones finally give way to an upbeat, lively outburst of pure joy, despite the at times cynical lyrics.

Time really doesn't matter when you're happy.

Here, in Sharon's final year of happiness, we see the same joy heard on this timeless musical classic. Includes footage from The Thirteen Chairs (1969), directed by Nicolas Gessner and Luciano Lucignani, Sharon Tate's final film.

[rosshutch]

What a superb match-up of Chicago;s music to the visuals of Sharon Tate. I especially liked the jump from the piano solo to the main theme and Sharon's gesturing to her friend - fits the music perfectly. (Mike, I hope you can post The Photographer Act III soon).

[Aldyside]

Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate beautiful and happy together

[jayrowe]

These are some of the best tribute videos I've seen. Where did you get that footage from the pool side at the Cielo house? I haven't seen that before. That was a pretty neat house!