Takin' Care of Business
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Takin' Care of Business" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Song by Bachman-Turner Overdrive | ||
| from the album Bachman-Turner Overdrive II | ||
| Released | December, 1973 | |
| Recorded | 1973 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | ~4:54 | |
| Label | Mercury | |
| Writer(s) | Randy Bachman | |
| Bachman-Turner Overdrive II track listing | ||
| "I Don't Have to Hide" (7) |
"Takin' Care of Business" (8) |
|
"Takin' Care of Business" is a song written by Randy Bachman and first recorded by Canadian rock group Bachman-Turner Overdrive for their 1973 album Bachman-Turner Overdrive II. Licensed as the theme to Office Depot commercials and re-recorded by many bands (including a famous cover by The Chipmunks), this song is one of the most recognizable in Classic Rock.
Randy Bachman had written what would later become "Takin' Care of Business" while still a member of The Guess Who. His original idea was to write about a recording technician who worked on The Guess Who's recordings. This particular technician would take the 8:15 train to get to work, inspiring the lyrics "catch the 8:15 to the city." The standard uniform worn by technicians at the studio was a white collared shirt, which gave Randy the name "White Collar Worker."
The guitar riff Randy had arranged for the song was blatantly that of The Beatles' "Paperback Writer." When Randy first played this for Burton Cummings, Burton declared that he was ashamed of him.
Sometime later Randy was driving and listening to the radio when he heard that particular radio show's catch phrase "Takin' Care of Business." After this he rewrote the lyrics to "White Collar Worker" with a new chorus and the title "Takin' Care of Business." Along with this he wrote a new guitar riff, which was simply a I-VII-V progression, played with a shuffle. (though the I-VII-V progression is quite common, the riff became quite famous) The was recorded by Bachman-Turner Overdrive for their second album Bachman-Turner Overdrive II. It would reach #12 on Billboard and become B.T.O.'s most well known song.
During his Every Song Tells a Story concert, which was recorded and released on DVD and VHS, he tells the story of how he came up with this song.
The song has been used as an advertising campaign for companies such as Office Depot, whose business target consists largely of small business owners. The song was also used for many years in advertisements for Officeworks, an Australian chain of office supply stores which bear much similarity to the US Office Depot stores.
The song has been used in a number of movies including the movie of the same title and A Knights Tale.
In 2004, Bachman rewrote the song into a Christmas version titled "Takin' Care of Christmas," which was released on a Holiday CD of the same title. [1]
In addition, Randy Bachman of BTO uses the opening section of the song as the theme music of his CBC Radio One show, Vinyl Tap.
Elvis Presley became a fan of B.T.O. He adopted the motto "takin care of business in a flash" as an homage to this song. He also designed (or had designed for him) a logo with the letters TCB and a lightning bolt for necklaces worn by his entouage. At one time Elvis had invited Robin Bachman and Blair Thonton to Las Vegas to watch one of his concerts.
In his television show The Tom Green Subway Monkey Hour, Tom Green sings the song dressed as Elvis Presley whilst visiting Japan.
During the NASA space shuttle mission STS-115, the song was played at the start of day 5 for Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean.
The song played in several episodes of Australian soap Opera Neighbours between 2003 and 2006. The most recent use was in a scene where Robert Robinson lured his father, Paul into a mineshaft.
Among the many teams to use the song during sporting events, the New York Mets played the song after victories during the 2006 season. Their division rival Atlanta Braves used the song during their run of 14 consecutive division titles.
[edit] Lyrics
You get up every morning From your alarm clock's warning Take the 8:15 into the city There's a whistle up above And people pushin', people shovin' And the girls who try to look pretty
And if your train's on time You can get to work by nine And start your slaving job to get your pay If you ever get annoyed Look at me I'm self-employed I love to work at nothing all day
And I'll be... [Refrain] Taking care of business every day Taking care of business every way I've been taking care of business, it's all mine Taking care of business and working overtime Work out!
If it were easy as fishin' You could be a musician If you could make sounds loud or mellow Get a second-hand guitar Chances are you'll go far If you get in with the right bunch of fellows
People see you having fun Just a-lying in the sun 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
And we be... [Refrain]
[Spoken] Take good care of my business When I'm away, every day whoo!
[Repeat first 2 verses]
[Refrain]
Takin' care of business [4x]
[Refrain]
Takin' care of business [repeat, fade]
