Despite the brilliance and seemingly adventurous life that Rock ‘N’ Roll promotes, this is still an extremely lucrative business.
All jobs are characterized by time consistency, order, and strict planning.
So, in the music industry, in order to conquer a great “want”, which is nothing more than the music creation or the musical product, the “musts” are put above all!
Especially when it comes to technicians, consistency is a prerequisite for the success of a recording.
Sometimes, of course, the involvement of a technician can have a completely different result than expected.
Many times, when we refer to the ingenuity of the rock ‘N’ Roll musicians we could not miss a technician!
Just as it happened with Bachman – Turner Overdrive (BTO)’s Randy Bachman, influenced by such a technician, he wrote “Takin ‘Care of Business”.
Takin’ Care of Business…
The song was written while still a member of The Guess Who when he spotted an employee in the recording studio.
This particular technician took the 8.15 train to the city of Vancouver, hence the verse “take the 8.15 into the city”.
The original idea was for the song to be titled “White Collar Worker”, inspired by the white-collar T-shirt worn by the technicians.
But the title was rejected out of “fear” of a possible Beatles lawsuit over its resemblance to “Paperback Writer”.
The title may have been rejected, but the song was about to be “embodied”…
The opinion of its creator, was that the song was remarkable especially the lyrical part, so much so that it was not enough to throw it away!
So, when Bachman’s new band toured to promote their debut album, playing mainly in small venues, the occasion for the new effort was found.
On the way to one of their live shows, he overheard the C-Fox DJ saying “Takin ‘Care of Business” on the car radio.
That was enough to replace the chorus, which had changed slightly, but also the musical part.
A Bachman cold was another little brick in an almost “karmic” domino!
The song takes on flesh and blood, but with the voice of C. Fred Turner!
The melody…
The events unfold, according to some imaginary or satanic scenario, from where an irrelevant “pizza boy” is not missing, but neither is the “king” Elvis himself!
The recordings are made at Kaye-Smith Studios in Seattle, Washington.
During them, a “pizza boy” under the name Norman Durkee delivers their pizza.
Before leaving, Durkee addresses them: “That needs a piano! A real boogie-woogie piano would sound cool”, leaving them speechless!
The band members later located him in another studio and as it turned out he was a complete musician.
In fact, he had managed to write his music intervention on a pizza box, which he performed himself.
He later became music director for Bette Midler and Barry Manilow!
The song climbed several charts and became the trademark of the band and more!
It is worth noting that the title of the song entered the dictionaries and designates someone who works.
At the same time, King Elvis Presley used it as a motto on his plane, which still carries goods to Graceland.
For the sake of brevity, the “TCB” still figures in a room of the “king” theme park.
The creator of the song himself learned only in 2010 from a documentary that the specific initials define the title of the song.
But also, Elvis’s latest band, the TCB Band!
He may have wanted to record a performance of his own, but he got the call in the “Big Band”!
A song, which was initially rejected, has dressed up almost everything musically and its covers are too many!