It's Hard for Me to Say I'm Sorry for Screwing Up These Lyrics for Over 20 Years

I bought a MacBook Pro a few months ago, and today I started the process of loading songs into iTunes that I didn't have on my iPod yet. I foresee MANY posts about some of the tunes I've been delighted to rediscover during this project, but for now I need to share my embarrassment... or rather, defend my misunderstanding of the lyrics to the song "It's Hard for Me to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago. Believe it or not, "Chicago's Greatest Hits (1982-1989)" was one of the CDs that hadn't been gracing my iPod to date.

Just in case you can't immediately place this song (for I know you know it!)... it starts out:
Everybody needs a little time away,
I heard her say,
from each uuuu-ther

You're starting to sing the rest of it right now, aren't you! Ha HA! You DO know it.

So here's the part where it gets ridiculous. I fully realize this makes no sense whatsoever, but for over two decades now, I have thought part of the chorus went as follows:

After all the hool you've been through, I will make it up to you!
I promise to!

Yeah, that's right, "the hool."

Quite honestly, I was never sure if it was spelled hool or houl, but I was sure that's what Mr. Peter Cetera was singing, and I just figured it was a word I didn't know yet. Cut me some slack, it was released when I was in second grade! What was I to know of hool? And as time went on, how much could I really expect from the guy who sang "Glory of Love" for The Karate Kid II soundtrack (though that movie rocked!)?

So just NOW... as in, less than an hour ago in the year 2007, a full 25 years after the song came out, I was singing along to the CD and I cut myself off right after "hool."

You know, I thought, I bet he's not really saying hool.

Therefore, I turned to Google for the lyrics. Imagine my surprise when the lyrics read:

After all that we've been through, I will make it up to you!
I promise to!

What? There is no way he was saying something that normal. I refused to believe it. I played that part of the song over and over and over, with my eyes shut and my ear crammed down to the speaker on my laptop, concentrating like my life depended on it. Hmmmm.... he was indeed saying "that we've" instead of "the hool you've," there was no denying it. But he didn't sing "we've" like a normal person would, he made a big WHA sound at the beginning of the word and then somehow made it into two syllables. Quite frankly, I prefer my version with the made-up word and I'm going to keep singing it that way! Perhaps I've converted some of you to my lyrics as well?

- e