Monday, November 18, 2019

Confessions of a Guess Who Fan

From 2012, please enjoy Guess Who frontman Burton Cummings as he asks the musical question -- what if Gordon Lightfoot's favorite singer was Rod Stewart?



Priceless, obviously, but I should add that if you are, like me, a long-time Guess Who fan you already know that Burton has a wicked sense of humor.

Here's one of my favorite examples, from the band's 1971 So Long, Bannatyne album.



As you'll hear, the song's succinct hard rock chorus -- "One man army...have you shot somebody down?" -- alternates with lounge jazz (sort of) nonsense verses sung by Cummings in the cheesiest Frito Bandito accent you can possibly imagine. And don't miss the spoken word interlude, in which Cummings and co-author/guitarist Kurt Winter play two Chicanos in a mens room dissing the crappy band onstage while peeing.

God, I love those guys.

7 comments:

Sal Nunziato said...

I laughed out loud.

Billy B said...

That was great.

Cummings had one of the best rock voices before or since.

MJConroy said...

Burton is great and his Lightfoot impersonation is a hoot. But that Guess Who track is not their finest hour.

John Werner said...

He blowed it up real good...in fact it hosed me.

Anonymous said...

The Guess Who's work up to about 1973 is criminally underrated. I'm biased, being from Winnipeg, but how that band is not in the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame is beyond by understanding.

steve simels said...

The Rockin' album is a genuine masterpiece and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Anonymous said...

I would agree about Rockin', Steve. I also have a soft spot for the Share The Land album.

BTW, have you listened to Guess Who's Home: A Tribute? Some very nice cover versions indeed.

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Guess-Whos-Home-A-Tribute/release/8656859