Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXVI--The Guess Who: Share the Land

Every now and again in rock and roll's history, a "Peace! Love! Dope!" song comes along that isn't a schmaltzy soul-sapping piece of drivel like say, "We Are the World."  And "Share the Land" by The Guess Who is just such a song.

Fun fact:  In 1965, Chad Allan and the Expressions had a number one hit in Canada (#22 U.S.) with a cover version of "Shakin' All Over."  In a desperate attempt to attach some sort of mystique to the single, the label released the decidedly British Beat song as being by "Guess Who?" to attract folks who might think it secretly done by one of the British Invasion artists.  Alas, the name stuck and the band became forever known as The Guess Who.

Formed in 1959 in Winnipeg, Manitoba (that hotbed of rock and roll) The Guess Who would go through numerous incarnations before finding success in the late 60's.  They had a nice run through the mid 70's, with several hit singles (most notably their only number one hit in the U.S., "American Woman," later one of the five worst cover versions in rock and roll history by Lenny Kravitz).  After 1975, they pretty much disappeared, though various members continued touring under The Guess Who moniker.  Lead singer Burton Cummings would go on to have some solo success, and lead guitarist Randy Bachman would go onto  much similar single success with Bachman Turner Overdrive.  While I would never confuse The Guess Who with the great bands of rock and roll (though they are in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame!), I still put on their Best Of  LP and enjoy the living shit out of it--ain't nothing wrong with a great singles band.  And The Guess Who had a bunch of great ones.

And none more so than "Share the Land" a paean to the communal spirit of the 60's (which somehow brought us to where we are today in the land of extreme income inequality--no one ever said it was going to be easy).  Released in 1970 on their aptly named Share the Land album, the song would reach #10 (with a bullet!) on The Billboard Hot 100.  The song is more or less a series of questions asking if you've done your part to make the world a better place, before breaking into the catchy as all hell chorus which reminds you that one day we're all going to live in harmony.  Throughout there's wonderful gospelesque backing vocals echoing Burton Cummings heartfelt singing.  The creme de la creme, though, is the song's closing, which is Cummings wailing a scat like rap of lots of shiny happy thoughts, with all of us holding hands down by the river.  Corny drivel?  You bet--but it's cool corny drivel from some boys from the Great White North.  Good enough for me....

Lyric sheet:  "Every day coming sunshine, everyday, everybody laughin'...."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee