Randy Bachman
If you’re gonna die, he reckons on stage at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is the place to do it. And he nearly did.
The years have done nothing to dim Randy Bachman. It might be 53 years since, as a member of the Guess Who, he had his first Canadian No.1 with their cover of Shakin’ All Over, and 45 since he formed Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but he still bursts with vigour. So much so that it’s almost impossible to stop him talking.
Musically he doesn’t stop either. He’s followed 2014’s Heavy Blues with his new album By George – By Bachman, comprised of covers of songs by George Harrison alongside one original.
How did the new album come about? Three years ago I was invited to the celebrations for John Lennon’s 75th birthday in London and Liverpool. Then I thought: “George was the youngest Beatle. When would George be seventy-five?” I don’t like to celebrate when a guy died, I like to celebrate his birth. So I thought I would do a celebration of George; I thought I would take all the George songs I liked, take the ones that fit my voice, and take the major songs and make them minor, a little bit darker-sounding. I would see what chords I could put in. I’d be up late at night with Garageband with three thousand drum loops. I’d print out Beatles lyrics, get a couple of chords and sit there with drum loops – “Can I twist this to fit into that beat?”
What do you know now that you wish you’d known when the Guess Who were starting out?
It’s a tough lesson to learn: trust yourself and nobody else. Your best friends, your best uncle, your best whoever will screw ya. It happens to everybody. Thanks to the hits I’m set up for life, but I could be really, really, really set up for life. It’s like winning the lottery. You win a million, it’s wonderful. You win ten million, it’s really, really, really wonderful. I got shafted by my producer, my publisher, my best bandmates in the Guess Who. I made sure that wouldn’t happen again in BTO.
Do you ever get fed up of playing the big hits – American Woman, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, Takin’ Care of Business and so on? Go on, be honest.
No. My biggest hits were all accidents! You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet wasn’t meant to be on the album. It was a reject. It was written to tease my brother who stuttered. But the head of the label said he didn’t hear a single for top-forty radio, and the engineer told me to play him the reject. Takin’ Care Of Business was written on stage out of desperation. I’ve written the greatest songs in the world, but you’ll never hear them because nobody likes them. Only I like them, because I wrote them. It’s the accidents that are hits. Charlie Fach of [label] Mercury said to me about You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet: “This is a career song; you’re going to sing it for the rest of your life and you’re going to thank me.”’
“I’ve written the greatest songs in the world, but you’ll never hear them.”
How long can you continue?
I’ve played with my back out of place in three places, both knees broken, flu, concussions. I have a pacemaker. Three years ago, I’m playing the Moondog Coronation Ball at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, with Smokey Robinson on the bill. I’m on stage, and the battery to my pacemaker shut down. It’s like someone took a shovel and hit me and I can’t breathe. I figure if I’m dying, this is the place – the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, with Smokey Robinson watching!
By George – By Bachman is available now via Universal Music.