Taking care of business

Somebody didn’t take care of business this week. I’ll give both candidates credit; they barnstormed the country. At their ages, that was impressive. Now we wait on the lawsuits.

Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business” is #3 on my all-time rock hits. It’s a great song, it’s fun to sing along with and it is sort of everybody’s fantasy. “If you ever get annoyed, look at me, I’m self-employed. I love to work at nothing all day https://genius.com/Bachmanturner-overdrive-takin-care-of-business-lyrics#note-16453794.”

The song was written by Randy Bachman, starting off as “White Collar Worker,” an ode to his first band’s (Guess Who) sound technician who was blind but took the “8:15 into the city” every day. The song sounded so similar to The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” that his band mates joked they were going to have to send the royalties to John, Paul and George. They suggested a rewrite. 

Randy played it at a concert, subbing in “Takin’ Care of Business,” which he had heard on the radio as a DJ’s tagline, for “white collar worker,” and the crowd loved it. He then reworked the lyrics to make it a fun song about being in a band, and it was a hit. 

There was a longtime myth that I bought into which claimed the piano part was played by a pizza delivery guy. Randy keeps that fable alive, but the truth was that a studio musician by the name of Norman Durkee was in an adjoining studio and was invited by the sound engineer to play piano on the song. Durkee only had a few minutes, so he wrote down the chords as provided by Randy on a pizza box. One take was all it took. Next time you hear the song, listen for the piano, it’s amazing. 

The song is the most used song for commercial purposes, at least according to Randy. It’s common to hear it in commercials even today, so it remains popular with the kiddos. My kids all know it well, but that’s because I sing it full volume when it comes on the radio. That is true of all my Top 10 songs. The kids used to warn their friends when they got in the car of the possibility. Living with me was tough, but they all survived. 

Hope your anxiety over the election isn’t too bad, whomever you’re rooting for. Remember, life goes on. Maybe under the new administration—whomever it ends up being—you can live like this: “People see you having fun, just a-lying in the sun, you tell them that you like it this way. It’s the work that we avoid and we’re all self-employed. We love to work at nothing all day.”

Kelly Burke, retired attorney, former district attorney and magistrate judge, writes about the law, rock ’n’ roll, and politics or anything that strikes him. These articles are not designed to give legal advice, but are designed to inform the public about how the law affects their daily lives. Contact Kelly at dakellyburke@gmail.com to comment on this article or suggest articles that you’d like to see, and visit his website at www.kellyrburke.com to view prior columns and contact Kelly. 

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