Randy Bachman (27 page)

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 record 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 Moccio

 

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.

 

1
  Johnny B. Goode

 

2
  Roll Over Beethoven

 

3
  Maybellene

 

4
  Rock and Roll Music

 

5
  Sweet Little Sixteen

 

6
  Too Much Monkey Business

 

7
  School Days

 

8
  Reelin' and Rockin'

 

9
  Nadine

 

10
  Brown Eyed Handsome Man

 

11
  Little Queenie

 

12
  No Particular Place to Go

 

13
  Promised Land

 

14
  You Never Can Tell

 

15
  Memphis, Tennessee

 

RANDY'S 25 FAVOURITE VEHICLE SONGS

All these songs get your motor runnin', whether it's in a car, truck, or motorcycle.

 

1
  She Loves My Automobile—ZZ Top (with Willie Nelson)

 

2
  Crawling from the Wreckage—Dave Edmunds