I see that’s what the first hit on Google is for the lyrics but it’s got to be wrong. If you dig a little deeper, you’ll find a site that has it as:
That make more sense since Broadview is an actual town in Saskatchewan.
BTW, before The Who got to Tommy they released the following singles, among others:
I Can’t Explain
Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere
My Generation
Substitute
A Legal Matter
The Kids Are Alright
I’m a Boy
Happy Jack
Pictures of Lily
I Can See for Miles
Magic Bus
Probably “Canned Wheat” and “American Woman”. I’m most familiar with the latter – it has some goofy songs on it, but it does feature “No Sugar Tonight”/“New Mother Nature”.
Say, speaking of the Guess Who, anybody know what the hell the story is on Albert Flasher? There’s a fragmented story there that suggests it might have been part of a musical or something.
Well, “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature” is pretty much a one-of-a-kind song. But if you like it, I think it’s very likely that you will also like the rest of the album it’s from, “American Woman”. Sure, the title track was clearly designed to be radio-friendly (AM radio, in those days), but there are some other truly great songs on that album that have a similar appeal to “No Sugar”, like “Talisman” and “Proper Stranger”. I would actually suggest that you NOT go for the greatest hits album, because you’ll get all the, well, hits, which don’t include The Guess Who’s really greatest work.
So try the “American Woman” album first. If you like that, try “Artificial Paradise”, which includes greats like “Samantha’s Living Room” (yeah, no one’s ever heard of it), “Follow Your daughter Home”, and one of my personal favorites “All Hashed Out”.
After that maybe the album “Road Food” (hmm, that name sounds familiar somehow…) which has one of their mega-hits, “Clap for the Wolfman”, plus a couple of truly great ballads, “One Way Road to Hell”, “The Ballad of The Last Five Years”, and the truly, truly fun song “Attila’s Blues” (with such lyrical gems as “Have you ever had an aardvark sandwich? Have you ever had a seagull stew? I had a pet pitiful penguin and I made him watch the six o’clock news; shine my shoes.” Yes, you need to listen to truly appreciate it.)
What, no love for Share the Land (the album)? The one that contains, besides the title track, “Hand Me Down World,” “Bus Rider,” “Do You Miss Me, Darlin’?,” “Hang on to Your Life,” “Three More Days”?
One cool thing about the Guess Who is that, like the Beatles, they never stuck to a specific “sound.” Even just listening to their hits, you’d hardly guess that “These Eyes,” “Undun,” “American Woman,” “Clap for the Wolfman,” and “Albert Flasher” were all the same band.
I’ve got the Best of the Guess Who on my iPod and listen to it fairly often…my favorite song is one I don’t think anyone else has mentioned: “No Time.” For a singer in a pop band, Burton Cummings is quite an impressive shouter.
I like that album. But then, I like all things Guess Who. I’d put Share the Land in the middle; similar to American Woman (not surprising, since it came out right after), but just not as good, nor up there with Road Food or * Rockin’*. Still, better than #10 or Power in the Music.
Or “Dirty” or “Long Gone” (From Flavours) or “Rain Dance” or “Goin’ A Little Crazy” or “Fiddlin’” or “Life in the Bloodstream” (from So Long Bannatyne) or “Musicione” or “Lie Down” (from #10) or “Running Bear” or “Herbert’s a Loser” or “Key” or “Maple Fudge” . . .
Do you remember the Sea of Love? They covered it as filler on one of the later albums. The Sea of Love is playing in the background while a couple of drunks are speaking over it.
Yeah, that’s “Hi Rockers”, the last song on the album Rockin’. That’s Burton Cummings and . . . gotta admit, I don’t know who “Bri” is, doing the odd dialog. They don’t really sound drunk to me, just two guys talking (and making sure to say the other guy’s name at the end of every sentence; “Comme ci, comme ca the world, uh, Burt”). “Sea of Love” is playing on the jukebox in the background and when it finishes, Burt puts another quarter in and the song “Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday” blasts into the foreground.
With regard to Albert Flasher, it’s that rarest of rare songs: the one where you’re certain you’ve misheard the lyrics, and then years later, you realize you were right all along – Cummings really did sing “I was a workshop owner in the gulch for the people, an I offered myself to the world!” What the hell does that mean? Is this the only use of the word “gulch” in the history of pop music lyrics?
On the other hand, I always heard “Michael was a movie maker” and it’s actually "Michael was a moonbeam maker. Great tune, anyway.