I was born in New York — but I grew up with Chicago. When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame decided to induct the “Saturday in the Park” band, I and some 37 million other fans breathed a collective “Finally!”

Still, it hurt to hear my Gen X colleagues call Chicago “corny.” Hey, what can you expect from those who missed the ’70s? By then, The Beatles had disbanded, leaving Paul McCartney to burble “Hands across the water” and Donny Osmond and Tony Orlando (and Dawn!) to top the charts.

Enter Chicago: pop-rock with horns. Sure, Jethro Tull had a flute, but these guys had one too — plus percussion, keyboards, trumpet and trombone. And they were bluesy: not as raw as Blood, Sweat and Tears, but a lot more dangerous sounding than Donny (and Dawn!).

Student musicians loved them. Long Island’s Hewlett High School — unspoken motto: “Our football team sucks, but our marching band’s great!” — had a Chicago cover band. I still get mushy thinking about its horns.

So it was only fitting that when Chicago hit New York in 1971, the band didn’t play Shea Stadium, but Carnegie Hall. A friend’s big brother drove us there, and it was bliss. By the encore, the ushers could no longer stem the tide of teeny-bopper love — I raced down the aisle till I was eye-level with the stage.

“I’m looking at Pete Cetera’s shoes,” I cried. “I’m looking at Pete Cetera’s shoes!” I can recall almost nothing else of that night. Or, for that matter, the rest of high school.

The other day I reached out to Chicago’s Robert Lamm (keyboard, vocals) to see if he remembered it too.

“I don’t, but it sounds likely,” he said, kindly. “Pete had big shoes!” Nevertheless, the Brooklyn-born Lamm, now 71, remembers it for something else: “My mother was there, and for her son to be appearing at that legendary venue was really touching.”

While I had him on the line, it seemed only fair to have him resolve one of life’s great mysteries: “ ‘25 or 6 to 4’ — WTF?”

“I had the idea for the song, the melody and chord changes, but wasn’t getting anywhere with the lyrics,” Lamm replied. “I tried to describe what I was going through writing it, sitting cross-legged on the floor. I looked at my watch and it was either 25 or 26 minutes to 4.” Good thing he wasn’t wearing a Casio.

That title’s spawned a few crackpot theories. Lamm’s favorite? “That it’s a formula for making LSD.”

The band’s still performing, but it’s not quite the same: Terry Kath’s decades passed, and Cetera went solo. (How’s that working out for you, Pete?) Even so, whenever I hear Chicago — on the radio, at a wedding, in the gym — it never fails to make me smile.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, at the Barclays Center Friday night, will air on HBO April 30 at 8 p.m.