When Gary the manager of Bachman-Turner Overdrive retired, the band would record a “tribute” to their former “boss with a stutter”. Originally intended as a joke, this private recording featured Gary’s Brother, Randy Bachman, stuttering through the lyrics; an older brother having a little fun with his younger sibling.
Fast forward to next Album time and BTO’s record company fail to hear any track with “the magic” for another hit. Under pressure the band play the prank track and the immediate response is “That’s the track. It’s got a brightness to it. It kind of floats a foot higher than the other songs when you listen to it”
Randy agrees to release it with an agreement that the vocals be rerecorded. However failing to nail straight vocals on any of the new versions, the stuttering vocal is released on album in ‘74. Not Fragile does really well and radio stations start playing the album cut. More pressure is put on Randy for a single release but he procrastinates because “it’s just a stupid song”.
Eventually after 3 weeks and realising he likes a lot of “stupid” songs, (“Louie, Louie” anybody?) Randy relents and the “stuttering song” climbs the charts to #1.
You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet becomes the bands best selling track ever but was originally recorded as a joke.