The first time I read the lyrics of the song I thought it had to do with the time and writing. I also suspected it may have been influenced by drugs. Often writers are in altered states while writing. Why couldn't Lamm be telling the truth about the song and STILL have been on something. Despite Skaball's assertion that "Chicago as a whole was anti-drugs," Lamm, in the same original interview where he described the song's meaning/origin, was also quite candid about the bands history of drug usage. So, yeah, they were high. A lot. Thus, it may be safe to assume that as he did drugs and wrote music, he may (and almost certainly did) combine the two activities. Why wouldn't this have been one of those times. It seemed obvious to me decades before I heard the interview, the first time I hard the song and read the lyrics. (I won't comment on my state of mind at the time, though ;) )
The first time I read the lyrics of the song I thought it had to do with the time and writing. I also suspected it may have been influenced by drugs. Often writers are in altered states while writing. Why couldn't Lamm be telling the truth about the song and STILL have been on something. Despite Skaball's assertion that "Chicago as a whole was anti-drugs," Lamm, in the same original interview where he described the song's meaning/origin, was also quite candid about the bands history of drug usage. So, yeah, they were high. A lot. Thus, it may be safe to assume that as he did drugs and wrote music, he may (and almost certainly did) combine the two activities. Why wouldn't this have been one of those times. It seemed obvious to me decades before I heard the interview, the first time I hard the song and read the lyrics. (I won't comment on my state of mind at the time, though ;) )