Twenty 1 is the seventeenth studio album (and twenty-first overall) by the American band Chicago. Released on January 29, 1991, it was their first album of the 1990s. Twenty 1 spent eleven weeks on the American Billboard 200, peaking at position No. 66, and did not chart in the UK.
The production of Twenty 1 saw a significant personnel reconfiguration. The recent departure of founding drummer Danny Seraphine had made way for the band's "great new drummer"Tris Imboden. Session player John Keane played the majority of this album's drum tracks. Their touring guitarist since 1986, Dawayne Bailey, performed as an extra guitarist for Twenty 1's sessions.
The band retained producer Ron Nevison, who'd already done Chicago 19. According to Nevison, work on the album was somewhat fragmented, with the band members rarely being in the studio together, and with work continuing with session musicians while the band was on tour. The fragmentation was furthered when Humberto Gatica was assigned to mix the final version of the album without Nevison's input.
Smoke in the sky, slime in the sea
Tall timber tumblin' down around me
Red acid rain glows in the night
Nuclear winter closes down on me
The light of the world is fading to black
And the absence of people who care
Is bringing me down, bringing me down
God save the queen
Dear mother earth is dying away
Time's running out
One more tomorrow depends on today
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
Greenhouse condition getting' steamier
Nobody's clean, nobody's free
Nobody's breathin' any easier
The children of earth are dying each day
And the nightmare of who is to blame
Is bringing me down, bringing me down
God save the queen
Dear mother earth is dying away
Time's running out
One more tomorrow depends on today