Randy Bachman Read online

  But it’s the best thing I’ve ever done—it absolutely changed my life. I lost over 150 pounds. But there are rules you have to follow. You can’t eat big portions and you have to chew your food well or you’ll become violently ill. It’s not a quick fix, though. There’s a strict routine I have to adhere to, including regular exercise and dietary requirements. But I’ve gone from being Mr. Couch Potato to being the guy who can’t wait to get up in the morning to go to the gym. And best of all I feel good, and good about myself again.

  GILES MARTIN

  Travelling the world and sleeping in different beds almost every night, sitting on airplanes and sometimes jammed into tiny cars, I maintain a network of chiropractors around the world. (I travel with my own pillow now, which saves my neck.) It’s very important for me not to have my back seize up. I’ve played sometimes with dislocated disks in my back and it ain’t a good thing to do.

  When I’m in London, England, I have a chiropractor there, Antoni Jakubowski, who’s actually from British Columbia. I’m at his office in 2005 getting straightened out and he says to me, “There’s a client of mine in the waiting room who’s next to see me who’s a fan of yours and would like to meet you. His name is Giles. He’s a songwriter, too. He tried to hook up with you in Nashville a few years ago but was unable to.” So after I get my back straight, I go out to the waiting room and there’s this tall, stately looking gentleman there. I shake hands with him. I recognize him as a songwriter, nothing else. He asks me what I’m doing in London and I tell him I’m there to do some songwriting and a couple of shows.

  “What are you doing now?” I ask him naively. “Are you still writing songs?”

  He replies, “No, not really. I’m just kind of working with my dad on a musical project.”

  I still haven’t caught on yet. “So what are you doing with your dad?”

  He says, “It’s kind of a love project.”

  So, still in the dark, I say to him, “Oh, so what does your dad do?”

  Then he says, “He’s George Martin. I’m Giles Martin.”

  Duh, what an idiot I am. His dad is Sir George Martin, the Beatles’ record producer, Mr. Fifth Beatle. Giles invited me to the studio to hear some of the Beatles’ Love album the two were working on for the big Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas production. For Beatles fans like me, who would have thought that in the new millennium we’d have a new Beatles album? I was choked up when I heard it. When I got the album, I sat there listening and crying. It’s amazing.

  Later, Giles invited me to Abbey Road Studios where he was transferring the Beatles’ original tapes into the Pro Tools computer program for further work on their digital releases and iTunes. I sat there while he isolated each of the different Beatles voices and instruments for me, which all sounded quite eerie. But when he put all the tracks together it was this magical combination of individual genius that mesmerized the entire world and still does today. He then isolated each instrument in that famous opening chord to “A Hard Day’s Night” for me. That blew me away.

  My Picks

  “AMERICAN WOMAN” by Lenny Kravitz

  “BOYS” by the Beatles

  “CLASSICAL GAS” by Mason Williams

  “COULD I BE YOUR GIRL” by Jann Arden

  “FAITH” by George Michael

  “GOTTA KEEP THE SUMMER ALIVE” by Union

  “A HARD DAY’S NIGHT” by the Beatles

  “I WANT CANDY” by the Strangeloves

  “IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS” by Barenaked Ladies

  “KEEP THE SUMMER ALIVE” by the Beach Boys

  “LUCILLE” by Little Richard

  “MY GENERATION” by the Who

  “NIGHTS ON BROADWAY” by the Bee Gees

  “PEACE TRAIN” by Cat Stevens

  “PETER GUNN” by Henry Mancini

  “PIECE OF MY HEART” by Big Brother and the Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin)

  “RAISE A LITTLE HELL” by Trooper

  “SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY” by Donna Summer

  “SLOW HAND” by the Pointer Sisters

  “SPANISH FLY” by Van Halen

  “TAKE IT LIKE A MAN” by BTO

  “TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT” by Johnny Paycheck

  “THE THRILL IS GONE” by B.B. King

  “THE TWIST” by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters

  “WE’RE HERE FOR A GOOD TIME” by Trooper

  “WHO DO YOU LOVE” by Bo Diddley

  “WORKING MAN” by Rita MacNeil

  “YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET” by BTO

  Conclusion

  For as long as Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap has been on the air, people have been asking for transcriptions of the shows. Well, I don’t really have a script each week, I only work off a song list we prepare for that particular theme, and there’s no time to write down what I’ve said. It’s pretty much all off the cuff, either from my own knowledge or personal experience from five decades in the music business, or it’s based on Denise’s research.

  When Penguin Canada approached me to do a Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap Stories book, I was excited. It would allow me to tell many of my most memorable stories from the show and the fans would be able to download the songs from iTunes and put together their own package. I can’t remember everything I said over six years, so I asked my writer friend John Einarson to help me out. I’ve known John since the 60s music scene in Winnipeg and he’s written many great books on music. John plowed through hundreds of shows to pull out the best stories, and we worked together to compile song lists and theme lists. Presenting the oral stories in written form is not an easy thing. He’s done an excellent job of sifting through the stories and compiling them into a readable format. I’m extremely pleased with the results and I hope listeners and readers will be, too. It’s an opportunity to relive the Vinyl Tap experience and enjoy again the stories you liked best as well as the ones you might have missed.

  One of my favourite things to do was to have friends over to my house and play them records I’d gathered from my travels all over the world and explain to them what was intriguing or different about each one. Now I get to do that every weekend with millions of people. Last year at a gig where the Canadian classic rock band Lighthouse opened for me, keyboard player Paul Hoffert said, “Isn’t it interesting that you’ve travelled, played music, and done research for this show for the past forty years?” He was right.

  I love doing Vinyl Tap because it reminds me of how and why I love so many different kinds of music. It has also opened my world up to so many new friends who listen every week and contact us. From all the feedback and mail we receive, our listeners range in age from eight to eighty and come from the most amazing places in the world.

  I also appreciate the fact that CBC Radio is commercial-free and gives me the freedom to play whatever music I want. What I like the most, though, is trying to find and play songs like the radio I listened to growing up, a very eclectic mix of styles and sounds. What a great mixture it was.

  Cheers.

  Randy’s Favourites

  On Vinyl Tap, once I got into the swing of “theme” shows featuring songs over a span of five decades that have the same subject matter or some other connection, the fans began responding with theme ideas of their own as well as providing us with song lists to start each idea rolling. Denise and I would go through the song lists, add some of our own ideas, and eventually come up with a show. Most of the show has to be music that I like and am familiar with so that I can talk about it and hopefully relay a personal experience or connection to the song that will be interesting to the listeners. I now have enough theme ideas for many years of shows, and they keep coming in. Some of them, like funeral songs, for example— I never would have thought of that theme for Vinyl Tap—really surprise me and are great. I can’t wait to get at them and get the shows ready.

  RANDY’S FAVOURITE DOUBLE A-SIDED SINGLES

  With CDs, MP3s, iTunes, and digital downloads, talking about A- and B-sides of a rec
ord no longer applies. But wasn’t it great when you got two A-sides, or top songs, on one record instead of a B-side for your 99¢? The Beatles, the Stones, Creedence, and even the Guess Who had several double A-sided hits. Not an easy thing to accomplish, but if you did, it was quite something. The Guess Who are in some pretty impressive company.

  1 The Beatles: Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever

  2 Queen: We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions

  3 The Rolling Stones: Honky Tonk Women / You Can’t Always Get What You Want

  4 Creedence Clearwater Revival: Proud Mary / Born on the Bayou

  5 The Beach Boys: I Get Around / Don’t Worry Baby

  6 Rod Stewart: Reason to Believe / Maggie May

  7 The Guess Who: American Woman / No Sugar Tonight

  8 The Everly Brothers: All I Have to Do Is Dream / Claudette

  9 The Beatles: Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out

  10 Elvis Presley: Hound Dog / Don’t Be Cruel

  11 The Guess Who: Laughing / Undun

  12 Larry Williams: Slow Down / Dizzy Miss Lizzie

  13 Little Richard: Rip It Up / Ready Teddy

  14 Bobby Day: Rockin’ Robin / Over and Over

  RANDY’S 25 FAVOURITE GIRL GROUP SONGS

  Girl groups were quite a phenomenon in the 1960s. Every song was sing-along material and each song was a step up from the simple but repetitive doo-wop songs of the 50s. Just reading the titles below, you instantly start singing the choruses in your head. That’s how ingrained in our consciousness these songs are. Most of the girl group songs came from either New York’s Brill Building or Motown (Detroit) and have stood the test of time. I got to perform with and even back up many of the New York girl groups like the Crystals, the Shirelles, the Ronettes, Candy and the Kisses, and more. They were all great people, fun to work with, and their music lives on.

  1 Be My Baby—the Ronettes

  2 He’s So Fine—the Chiffons

  3 Leader of the Pack—the Shangri-Las

  4 Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow—the Shirelles

  5 Heat Wave—Martha and the Vandellas

  6 My Boyfriend’s Back—the Angels

  7 Maybe—the Chantels

  8 Tell Him—the Exciters

  9 Chains—the Cookies

  10 Chapel of Love—the Dixie Cups

  11 Dancing in the Streets—Martha and the Vandellas

  12 Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad About My Baby—the Cookies

  13 One Fine Day—the Chiffons

  14 A Lover’s Concerto—the Toys

  15 Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy—the Andrews Sisters

  16 Sugartime—the McGuire Sisters

  17 Stop! In the Name of Love—the Supremes

  18 Quicksand—Martha and the Vandellas

  19 He’s a Rebel—the Crystals

  20 Da Doo Ron Ron—the Crystals

  21 Baby It’s You—the Shirelles

  22 Please Mr. Postman—the Marvelettes

  23 Mr. Lee—the Bobbettes

  24 Tonight You Belong to Me—Patience and Prudence

  25 He’s a Doll—the Honeys

  RANDY’S 10 FAVOURITE COWBELL SONGS

  After seeing a repeat of the “More Cowbell” skit on Saturday Night Live, my whole band and Kevin Duffy, my road manager, said, “How about a Vinyl Tap show on the cowbell?” It wasn’t hard to put together. We made a list right away. I started out the show telling the audience to get something to bang on because they could participate in this with a spoon and a pot, or a fork and a bottle. The show was a big success. To this day I’ll be walking down the street in Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, or anywhere and someone will roll down the car or truck window and yell out, “We loved the cowbell show!” So thanks to Saturday Night Live for that great skit, and everyone who played along at home.

  1 (Don’t Fear) The Reaper—Blue Öyster Cult

  2 Drive My Car—the Beatles

  3 All Right Now—Free

  4 Honky Tonk Women—the Rolling Stones

  5 We’re an American Band—Grand Funk Railroad

  6 Oye Como Va—Santana

  7 Down on the Corner—Creedence Clearwater Revival

  8 Free Ride—the Edgar Winter Group

  9 Time Has Come Today—the Chambers Brothers

  10 You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet—BTO

  RANDY’S 10 FAVOURITE ROCK ’N’ ROLL MONDEGREENS

  Mondegreens are misheard or misinterpreted lyrics. What you think you hear may not be what the songwriter actually wrote. That’s the fun part of mondegreens, what you think someone is really singing. The word comes from a seventeenth-century ballad where the line “And laid him on the green” was misinterpreted as “And Lady Mondegreen.” Denise came up with this theme, and it was one of our more popular shows. I have a ton of my own favourite mondegreens, but it was great to get listener feedback and their own misheard words. One of my faves was “baking carrot biscuits” for “Taking Care of Business.”

  1 Purple Haze—Jimi Hendrix:

  “’Scuse me while I kiss this guy”

  (actual lyric: “’Scuse me while I kiss the sky”)

  2 Bad Moon Rising—Creedence Clearwater Revival:

  “There’s a bathroom on the right”

  (actual lyric: “There’s a bad moon on the rise”)

  3 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds—the Beatles:

  “The girl with colitis goes by”

  (actual lyric: “The girl with kaleidoscope eyes”)

  4 Rocket Man—Elton John:

  “Burning all the shoes off everyone”

  (actual lyric: “Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone”)

  5 Groovin’—the Young Rascals:

  “You and me and Leslie groovin’”

  (actual lyric: “You and me, endlessly groovin’”)

  6 Secret Agent Man—Johnny Rivers:

  “Secret Asian man”

  (actual lyric: “Secret agent man”)

  7 The Heart of Rock ’n’ Roll—Huey Lewis and the News:

  “The harder rock ’n’ roll is in Cleveland”

  (actual lyric: “Heart of rock and roll is still beating”)

  8 Tiny Dancer—Elton John:

  “Hold me closer Tony Danza”

  (actual lyric: “Hold me closer tiny dancer”)

  9 You’re the One That I Want—John Travolta and Olivia

  Newton-John:

  “I’ve got shoes, they’re made of plywood”

  (actual lyric: “I’ve got chills, they’re multiplyin’”)

  10 Another Brick in the Wall—Pink Floyd:

  “No Dukes of Hazzard in the classroom”

  (actual lyric: “No dark sarcasm in the classroom”)

  SONGS PLAYED AT YOUR FUNERAL

  It was amazing to get the listeners’ views on this subject. Some were seriously sad and some were very funny, ranging from “Our Leaves Are Green Again” to “Another One Bites the Dust” and “Wasn’t That a Party.” Everyone loved this show, and it also made many put the music requests into their last will and testament.

  1 I Shall Be Released—the Band

  2 And When I Die—Blood Sweat & Tears

  3 Peaceful Easy Feeling—the Eagles

  4 Two of Us—the Beatles

  5 Old and Wise—the Alan Parsons Project

  6 Friends in Low Places—Garth Brooks

  7 Bridge Over Troubled Waters—Simon & Garfunkel

  8 I Will Remember You—Sarah McLachlan

  9 Wasn’t That a Party—the Irish Rovers

  10 Spirit in the Sky—Norman Greenbaum

  11 All My Tears—Emmylou Harris

  12 Precious Time—Van Morrison

  13 Without You—Harry Nilsson

  14 Thank U—Alanis Morissette

  15 When I Die—Motherlode

  16 Thank You for Being a Friend—Andrew Gold

  17 If You Sleep—Tal Bachman

  18 Missing You—John Waite

  19 Our Leaves Are Green Again—Randy Bachman and Stephan Moc
cio

  20 Another One Bites the Dust—Queen

  21 Baby Come Back—Eddy Grant

  22 People Get Ready—Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions

  RANDY’S 15 FAVOURITE CHUCK BERRY SONGS

  Chuck Berry is unquestionably the greatest storyteller in rock ’n’ roll. He knew what teenagers thought and he wrote songs that captured those thoughts and images. Every song painted a picture in your mind with a great storyline. Chuck even made up his own words to fill a rhyme, and we understood the word the first time we heard it, like the word “motorvatin’” in the song “Maybellene.” I’ve taken to doing that as well with words I’ve put together, like gi-normous, huge-antic, and others. But there was no one like Chuck Berry.