Hard to Say I'm Sorry
"Hard to Say I'm Sorry" is a power ballad performed by rock group Chicago, written by bandmate Peter Cetera from the album Chicago 16, in 1982. The song hit number one for two weeks on the Billboard Charts on September 11 of that year.
The song, as well as the album on which it is featured, is a marked departure from Chicago's classic soft-rock, horns-driven sound, taking on a highly polished, modernized feel. Indeed, there were no horns used on the track, insted being traded for layered synthesizers and heavier distorted electric guitars in a more updated (for the time) 80's fashion. This was done to revitalize the band that was nearly extinct at the time. It was this song that most foreshadowed Cetera's later solo work, and Chicago would adopt this sound for the album in question all the way up to their Chicago 19 album, albeit with some minor changes internally.
The album version of "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" segued into a second song titled "Get Away," which was closer to the Chicago sound longtime fans knew and loved and was much more uptempo and horn-flavored. Reportedly, the band tacked "Get Away" onto the end of the song in an effort to appease fans who found "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" too "mainstream" or "bland." Most Top 40 and Adult Contemporary radio stations at the time, however, did not play the entire album track, choosing to cut it off just before "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" segued into "Get Away." Today, many radio stations do play the entire album track.