I'm 60, and I've been a Guess Who fan since I was 8. This is one of the most comprehensive videos I've seen about one of my favorite bands! Thank you for getting into their dark side, and also, geez, what a great band! Amazing rhythm section! (I think Self Pity might be about the death of rock n roll...) If you want some humor, check out Burton's cover of You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet. This was refreshing, thank you!
One of the most versatile bands ever, fronted by the most underrated vocalist of rock. Cummings is up there with Paul Rodgers, and Roger Daltry for best rocker. Listen to Feel like making love, 5:15, and No time back to back and say otherwise.
A few months before Woodstock in 1969, I saw the Guess Who open one of the dates at the Laurel Pop Festival in Laurel, MD (Led Zeppelin headlined). I can still remember them performing 'Friends of Mine' - I loved those long Doors numbers, and I was lovin' this! 'They're all friends of mine, no better and no worse' - and I haven't heard that song since that day but that has still stuck with me; really brought back something hearing you play that bit.. Pastiche or no, I thought it worked great - sure wasn't 'These Eyes'!
The two writers in the band did not live together or were not partners. They went off and did their own lives and then they would come together with what they have written and they were try to mash them up into one song. The professor of rock is a very interesting interview about one of their classic songs no sugar tonight was written when he went to San Francisco to see hippies. And while there he overheard an argument between a husband and wife and that’s what she told him. And then he went home and wrote about it.
I distinctly remember hearing Self Pity live in May 1973. Powerful complicated, and lyrics that have taken me an adult lifetime to understand. A song full of musical references, used to reflect his frame of mind and a fear of ending up like his dead musical heroes.
I asked Burton about Self Pity and the Got Mystery Train Fever section of the song. He said he simply combined several song titles together to produce the section. I was dumbfounded because l had listened to #10 dozens of times and those obvious song title lyrics had gone completely over my head until Burton Cummings pointed it out.
In a blog Burton Cummings spoke about Life In The Bloodstream's meaning. He said it was about stream of consciousness and existential and universal themes, rather than what mere mortals like me found it to mean. I had the crazy notion it was about family and life situations and not some cosmic celebration. But then Burton Cummings is operating at another level.
I always thought Don't You Want Me was a great Rock 'n' Roll tune and should have been a hit record. But then there was those lyrics like, "I'll kill your kid sister and murder your dad..." that AM radio would not abide.
@mrchrislatino: Burton had made a private decision to leave the Guess Who to seek solo stardom. He told me "I don't care how much hype and bullshit it is, I want to be an Elton John." He said he was going to move to the Columbia label and that he was going to star in a movie with Ali McGraw. This was 6 months after Donny McDougal joined the band after Kurt Winter was fired. Burton was drinking about a case of beer a day and was smoking heavily, doing whatever drugs came along. His hair was really long and not cared for well, also Burton had gotten the proverbial beer belly. To make this long story short, #10 was Burton Cumming's first solo album, but done as the Guess Who. On the album before #10, Burton wrote and sang half the songs. Kurt Winter wrote two songs and Don McDougal wrote and sang lead on two songs. On the album #10 Burton wrote and sang every song on the album. He made a solo record as the Guess Who to test market a solo career. Burton didn't leave the band as quickly as he planned. I moved away & lost touch with Burton. The next time I saw Burton he was on TV. He had his hair cut & styled, he had lost the beer belly and gotten into shape. Burton Cummings was now a solo artist promoting his new single "Stand Tall". Burton is on American Bandstand with Dick Clark, stylishly trimmed and dressed in an all white suit; and sitting at a white grand piano. Burton had a new look, and a new sound and he wants that super solo star status. So Dick Clark walks over to Burton, seated at the white grand piano; and Dick says to Burton, "Boy, Burton, we go way back in this music business together." If Burton's eyes were lasers Dick Clark would have been burnt to a crisp. Burton glared at Dick Clark. Burton is doing everything he could possibly do to become a new star, separate from the Guess Who. He hated Dick Clark referring to his long history in music, he wanted to be new. "Stand Tall" was a minor hit, followed by a few other charted songs; but Burton never achieved the "Elton John" level of adoration. In 1981 Burton got his movie role, pretty much playing himself - a washed up rock star- in a movie that came out in 1982 called "Melanie". Burton eventually made peace with Randy, re-joined the Guess Who for a while and occasionally the band did wonderful reunion tours.
I was pleased to hear you mention my favorite Guess Who song friends of mine. If you think this version is weird give the original a try I believe it came out one year earlier. The boogaloo's mother-in-law wants to suffocate his baby. I heard Burton say in an interview once said the lyrics came from a drug-related experience. Awesome band.
The Guess Who, and Bachman Turner Overdrive after them, epitomized a couple things in a singular way. One was an incredible work ethic. The other was an ability to make phenomenally popular rock music without being completely under the spell of the Hollywood music scene.
Burton had three primary writing partnerships in his Guess Who years. The first (started as a teenager) with Randy Bachman, Randy went off to form BTO after their breakout hits These Eyes & Laughing. Then Kurt Winter came along. Most of the stuff you covered was with Kurt. #10 is my personal all time favorite album of theirs. Flavours & Power in the Music were the last two Guess Who albums with Burton, he did those with Domenic Troiano. Domenic came from The James Gang where he replaced Joe Walsh. Those last two albums were really trying to tie in to a Montreal sound of the mid-seventies. However Long Gone was previously written by Burton and put on that album. I heard him say once "this song is dedicated to the biggest prick in the Western Hemisphere." and he was referring to Randy. They long ago buried the hatchet and have been the best of friends for the better part of the past 35-40 years, even touring together. Finally, Burton is religious and often struggled with beliefs and understanding and that's why some of his songs reference things like death. The song 'Hang on to your life' he actually quotes the full verse of Psalms 22:13-23.
I wrote a long reply and put it up as a post with your name at the beginning. I didn't want the comment buried where most would miss it. I really enjoyed reading your post. A great hard rock Guess Who song is "Pain Train." I believe it's the opening track on Live At The Paramount, the same theater in Seattle favored by Heart.
I think Burton Cummings was faithful to the record company and the contract and worked hard to release albums on schedule. After Randy Bachman was gone the band's output was very hit or miss. The good cuts were really good and then there were whole albums like Artificial Paradise.
He’s been doing that for years in various formats. I saw his show about 10 years ago and it’s well worth seeing if you can. He had a backup band and played a whole bunch of songs. The first half of the show was Guess Who and the second half was BTO. He’s a great storyteller teller and gives anecdotes about the songs… maybe something about how it was written, or a funny incident during recording, or whatever. Really entertaining.
Wow, it would have never occurred to me that TGW had worthy deep cuts. You have to buy albums to really get Steely Dan, Van Morrison, Led Zeppelin, but who knew about this?
You are stretching the left-handed compliment to the extreme at about @10:40. Your coverage was luke-warm at best, and disparaging at face value. Your Best Man speeches must be legendary.
I knew Burton & the band from some wild parties we had after the concerts. "Long Gone" expressed Burton's jealousy and hatred of Randy Bachman at the time. Randy Bachman left The Guess Who after the drug use grew in the members of the band. Randy became a Mormon and started the band Brave Belt with Chad Allen and his brother Randy, later adding C.F. Turner on bass & vocals. When Burton recorded "Flavours" he had fired long time lead guitarist & co-writer Kurt Winter. Kurt was replaced by Domenic Troiano, formerly from Iron Butterfly and the James Gang. So Burton is making albums under The Guess Who moniker, and having no hits or minor hits at best; trying to return to the charts. At the same time Brave Belt had morphed into Bachman Turner Overdrive and BTO is at the top of the charts; with hit album after hit album including big singles on the charts & radio. Burton wrote "Long Gone" as sort of a revenge fantasy against Randy Bachman due to his enormous success while Burton was no longer on the charts. Years later Burton and Randy reunited peacefully and have had several huge reunion concerts together.
Domenic Troiano was never in the Iron Butterfly. This video has enough mistakes, errors and outright falsehoods that we don;' need commentors adding to it.
WHAT? No mention of "Cardboard Empire," "Maple Fudge," or the bizarre opening of the original 1969 version of "No Time"? NOPE! This list isn't legit. I think you better "Hang On To Your Life" now. 😁
Burton has a great rock voice. But, I never liked how he ended alot of his songs by screaming over and over and over. Endings were a bit over done ( not Undone 😅 )
who are u to say who is werild.u wwasnt around in the 60's to have a opion unless u were alive growing into music in the 60's.i dont call a very sucessful nb and as being weird
I'm 60, and I've been a Guess Who fan since I was 8. This is one of the most comprehensive videos I've seen about one of my favorite bands! Thank you for getting into their dark side, and also, geez, what a great band! Amazing rhythm section! (I think Self Pity might be about the death of rock n roll...) If you want some humor, check out Burton's cover of You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet. This was refreshing, thank you!
One of the most versatile bands ever, fronted by the most underrated vocalist of rock. Cummings is up there with Paul Rodgers, and Roger Daltry for best rocker. Listen to Feel like making love, 5:15, and No time back to back and say otherwise.
I agree that The Guess Who are a fascinating band. Like so many artists, they're so much more than just what gets played on the radio.
Guess who are one of my top ten favorites!!
A few months before Woodstock in 1969, I saw the Guess Who open one of the dates at the Laurel Pop Festival in Laurel, MD (Led Zeppelin headlined). I can still remember them performing 'Friends of Mine' - I loved those long Doors numbers, and I was lovin' this! 'They're all friends of mine, no better and no worse' - and I haven't heard that song since that day but that has still stuck with me; really brought back something hearing you play that bit.. Pastiche or no, I thought it worked great - sure wasn't 'These Eyes'!
The two writers in the band did not live together or were not partners. They went off and did their own lives and then they would come together with what they have written and they were try to mash them up into one song. The professor of rock is a very interesting interview about one of their classic songs no sugar tonight was written when he went to San Francisco to see hippies. And while there he overheard an argument between a husband and wife and that’s what she told him. And then he went home and wrote about it.
I distinctly remember hearing Self Pity live in May 1973. Powerful complicated, and lyrics that have taken me an adult lifetime to understand. A song full of musical references, used to reflect his frame of mind and a fear of ending up like his dead musical heroes.
I asked Burton about Self Pity and the Got Mystery Train Fever section of the song. He said he simply combined several song titles together to produce the section. I was dumbfounded because l had listened to #10 dozens of times and those obvious song title lyrics had gone completely over my head until Burton Cummings pointed it out.
In a blog Burton Cummings spoke about Life In The Bloodstream's meaning. He said it was about stream of consciousness and existential and universal themes, rather than what mere mortals like me found it to mean. I had the crazy notion it was about family and life situations and not some cosmic celebration. But then Burton Cummings is operating at another level.
I always thought Don't You Want Me was a great Rock 'n' Roll tune and should have been a hit record. But then there was those lyrics like, "I'll kill your kid sister and murder your dad..." that AM radio would not abide.
@mrchrislatino: Burton had made a private decision to leave the Guess Who to seek solo stardom. He told me "I don't care how much hype and bullshit it is, I want to be an Elton John." He said he was going to move to the Columbia label and that he was going to star in a movie with Ali McGraw. This was 6 months after Donny McDougal joined the band after Kurt Winter was fired. Burton was drinking about a case of beer a day and was smoking heavily, doing whatever drugs came along. His hair was really long and not cared for well, also Burton had gotten the proverbial beer belly. To make this long story short, #10 was Burton Cumming's first solo album, but done as the Guess Who. On the album before #10, Burton wrote and sang half the songs. Kurt Winter wrote two songs and Don McDougal wrote and sang lead on two songs. On the album #10 Burton wrote and sang every song on the album. He made a solo record as the Guess Who to test market a solo career. Burton didn't leave the band as quickly as he planned. I moved away & lost touch with Burton. The next time I saw Burton he was on TV. He had his hair cut & styled, he had lost the beer belly and gotten into shape. Burton Cummings was now a solo artist promoting his new single "Stand Tall". Burton is on American Bandstand with Dick Clark, stylishly trimmed and dressed in an all white suit; and sitting at a white grand piano. Burton had a new look, and a new sound and he wants that super solo star status. So Dick Clark walks over to Burton, seated at the white grand piano; and Dick says to Burton, "Boy, Burton, we go way back in this music business together." If Burton's eyes were lasers Dick Clark would have been burnt to a crisp. Burton glared at Dick Clark. Burton is doing everything he could possibly do to become a new star, separate from the Guess Who. He hated Dick Clark referring to his long history in music, he wanted to be new. "Stand Tall" was a minor hit, followed by a few other charted songs; but Burton never achieved the "Elton John" level of adoration. In 1981 Burton got his movie role, pretty much playing himself - a washed up rock star- in a movie that came out in 1982 called "Melanie". Burton eventually made peace with Randy, re-joined the Guess Who for a while and occasionally the band did wonderful reunion tours.
I was pleased to hear you mention my favorite Guess Who song friends of mine. If you think this version is weird give the original a try I believe it came out one year earlier. The boogaloo's mother-in-law wants to suffocate his baby. I heard Burton say in an interview once said the lyrics came from a drug-related experience. Awesome band.
I'll have to look it up!
back in the day all kinds of stuff on one album was a treat. The essence of the band still came through though which makes the whole band great,
The Guess Who, and Bachman Turner Overdrive after them, epitomized a couple things in a singular way. One was an incredible work ethic.
The other was an ability to make phenomenally popular rock music without being completely under the spell of the Hollywood music scene.
"Long Gone" is a great tune. There is a clip of them playing it on TV in 1974/5. Bold move!
Yes, they are a Canadian band that found a lotta funny tings to write "aboot".
You do a good job of explaining to me why they were always a singles band to me, not an album band. Like a ham-handed version of Spirit.
Burton had three primary writing partnerships in his Guess Who years. The first (started as a teenager) with Randy Bachman, Randy went off to form BTO after their breakout hits These Eyes & Laughing. Then Kurt Winter came along. Most of the stuff you covered was with Kurt. #10 is my personal all time favorite album of theirs. Flavours & Power in the Music were the last two Guess Who albums with Burton, he did those with Domenic Troiano. Domenic came from The James Gang where he replaced Joe Walsh. Those last two albums were really trying to tie in to a Montreal sound of the mid-seventies. However Long Gone was previously written by Burton and put on that album. I heard him say once "this song is dedicated to the biggest prick in the Western Hemisphere." and he was referring to Randy. They long ago buried the hatchet and have been the best of friends for the better part of the past 35-40 years, even touring together. Finally, Burton is religious and often struggled with beliefs and understanding and that's why some of his songs reference things like death. The song 'Hang on to your life' he actually quotes the full verse of Psalms 22:13-23.
I wrote a long reply and put it up as a post with your name at the beginning. I didn't want the comment buried where most would miss it. I really enjoyed reading your post. A great hard rock Guess Who song is "Pain Train." I believe it's the opening track on Live At The Paramount, the same theater in Seattle favored by Heart.
i guess that's why they had those hits huh
I think Burton Cummings was faithful to the record company and the contract and worked hard to release albums on schedule. After Randy Bachman was gone the band's output was very hit or miss. The good cuts were really good and then there were whole albums like Artificial Paradise.
Burton and company were big fans of Frank Zappa, so that might have been a factor.
I can't remember the last time I heard someone who was so full of himself.
The last time I heard it was when I edited this stupid video
many thanks for whetting my curiosity in this band. I believe Randy Bachman is undertaking a tour which will include some material from The Guess Who.
He’s been doing that for years in various formats. I saw his show about 10 years ago and it’s well worth seeing if you can. He had a backup band and played a whole bunch of songs. The first half of the show was Guess Who and the second half was BTO. He’s a great storyteller teller and gives anecdotes about the songs… maybe something about how it was written, or a funny incident during recording, or whatever. Really entertaining.
Wow, it would have never occurred to me that TGW had worthy deep cuts.
You have to buy albums to really get Steely Dan, Van Morrison, Led Zeppelin, but who knew about this?
You are stretching the left-handed compliment to the extreme at about @10:40. Your coverage was luke-warm at best, and disparaging at face value. Your Best Man speeches must be legendary.
I knew Burton & the band from some wild parties we had after the concerts. "Long Gone" expressed Burton's jealousy and hatred of Randy Bachman at the time. Randy Bachman left The Guess Who after the drug use grew in the members of the band. Randy became a Mormon and started the band Brave Belt with Chad Allen and his brother Randy, later adding C.F. Turner on bass & vocals. When Burton recorded "Flavours" he had fired long time lead guitarist & co-writer Kurt Winter. Kurt was replaced by Domenic Troiano, formerly from Iron Butterfly and the James Gang. So Burton is making albums under The Guess Who moniker, and having no hits or minor hits at best; trying to return to the charts. At the same time Brave Belt had morphed into Bachman Turner Overdrive and BTO is at the top of the charts; with hit album after hit album including big singles on the charts & radio. Burton wrote "Long Gone" as sort of a revenge fantasy against Randy Bachman due to his enormous success while Burton was no longer on the charts. Years later Burton and Randy reunited peacefully and have had several huge reunion concerts together.
Domenic Troiano was never in the Iron Butterfly. This video has enough mistakes, errors and outright falsehoods that we don;' need commentors adding to it.
Never heard one man army before, it is weird, and almost like Cheech and Chong I have heard friends of mine which sounds like Jim Morrison.
I liked what Dominic Troiano brought to the band.
WHAT? No mention of "Cardboard Empire," "Maple Fudge," or the bizarre opening of the original 1969 version of "No Time"? NOPE! This list isn't legit.
I think you better "Hang On To Your Life" now. 😁
There's a bunch more, yeah!
That's your opinion ....and that's all it is.....
Musicione
Burton has a great rock voice. But, I never liked how he ended alot of his songs by screaming over and over and over. Endings were a bit over done ( not Undone 😅 )
I nominate "Hang On to Your Life" as the best song with a terrible ending out there. Just awful. But the actual song is great!
who are u to say who is werild.u wwasnt around in the 60's to have a opion unless u were alive growing into music in the 60's.i dont call a very sucessful nb and as being weird
This guy is gonna tell us that Black Sabbath was a joke band. It takes all kinds!
well, bats didnt like black sabbath . . .
Mhh.couldda been so much better
there is a big diffrence between the greatnes of burton and the tone def crap of queen. freddy was not great just gay.
Uhhh...
Ummm...Burton's gay, too, so...