You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet 3489629 225739707 2008-07-15T04:29:49Z Brianhenke 660751 {{For|the compilation album by Bachman-Turner Overdrive|You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet (album)}} "'''You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet'''" is a [[rock music|rock song]] written by [[Randy Bachman]] and performed by [[Bachman-Turner Overdrive]] (BTO) on the album ''[[Not Fragile]]''. It was released as a single in [[1974 in music|1974]] with an instrumental track "Free Wheelin'" as the B-side. The single won the [[Juno Award for Single of the Year|Juno Award]] for best-selling single of 1976. ==Theme== The lyrics for the song tell of the singer meeting a "devil woman" and her giving him love. The chorus of the song includes the song's famous stutter and speaks of her looking at him with "big brown eyes and [saying] 'You ain't seen nothin yet. B-, b-, b-, baby, you just ain't seen na-, na-, nothin yet. Here's somethin' that you're never gonna forget. B-, b-, b-, baby, you just ain't seen na-, na-, nothin yet.'"[{Citequote}] The song lyrics don't follow a logical path or make much sense. But since the band changed their style of music, it did not really matter. The guitar riff heard throughout the song is identical to the riff from [[Baba O'Riley]] by [[the Who]]. ==Development== "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" was written by Randy Bachman as a joke for his brother, Gary.<ref name="super"/> Gary had a [[Stuttering|stutter]] and Randy only intended to record it once with a stutter and send the only recording to Gary. Randy developed the song while recording BTO's third album, ''Not Fragile''. It began as an instrumental piece inspired by the rhythm guitar of [[Dave Mason]]. Randy says "it was basically just an instrumental and I was fooling around... I wrote the lyrics, out of the blue, and stuttered them through." The band typically used the song as a "work track" in the studio to get the amplifiers and microphones set properly.<ref>Interview track on the album ''King Biscuit: Bachman-Turner Overdrive'' (King Biscuit Flower Hour Records, 1998)</ref> But when winding up production for their second album, Charlie Fach of [[Mercury Records]] said the eight tracks they had lacked the "magic" that would make a hit single. Randy mentioned that he had this ninth song, but didn't intend to have it played. He said, "We have this one song, but it's a joke. I'm laughing at the end. I sang it on the first take. It's sharp, it's flat, I'm stuttering to do this thing for my brother."<ref name="super">Fred Bronson, ''The Billboard Book of Number One Hits'', Billboard, 1988 via [http://www.superseventies.com/sw_youaintseennothinyet.html "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet"] from SuperSeventies.com</ref> Fach asked to hear it, and they played the recording for him. Fach smiled and said "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."<ref name="super"/> Bachman agreed to include the song, but only if he could re-record the vocals first, without the stutter. Fach agreed, but Bachman says "I tried to sing it, but I sounded like [[Frank Sinatra]]. It didn't fit." Fach said to leave it as it was, with the stutter.<ref name="super"/> George Bachman has since lost his stutter. ==Market performance== "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" was an immediate hit. Radio stations all over the USA were giving it a great deal of airplay. So much so, Bachman was embarrassed because he thought it was a stupid song, just something that he wrote as a joke.<ref name="super"/> Fach would call him with airplay reports, asking for permission to release it as a single. Bachman says, "And I refused for three weeks... I was producer, so I had final say on what went out. I woke up one day and asked myself, 'Why am I stopping this? Some of my favorite records are really dumb things like '[[Louie, Louie]]'... so I said to Charlie, 'O.K., release it. I bet it does nothing.'" <ref name="super"/> "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" debuted at #65 on [[September 21]] [[1974]] and shot to the top of the Hot 100 seven weeks later. "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" was the only chart topper for BTO. Though they had other hits, none reached number one as this song did. However, Bachman had had another number one hit when with [[The Guess Who]] ("American Woman" in 1970).<ref name="super"/> On the UK version of the single, the label credits the band as "''Bachmann'' Turner Overdrive". It was kept off the top in the UK charts by "[[Lonely This Christmas]]" by [[Mud (band)|Mud]]. A [[techno]] [[remix]] of the song was used as the theme song for [[ITV Sport#Motorsport|ITV Sport]]'s [[Formula One]] coverage from [[2003]] to [[2005]]. The remix is by German group, The Disco Boys, titled "B-B-B-Baby." The song was always played at the end of the "[[Smashie and Nicey]]" sketch on the British [[sketch show]], ''[[Harry Enfield's Television Programme]]''. The song was played in episode of ''[[Ballykissangel]]'', a British television show playing on [[PBS]], Saturday nights at 10:00. The song was, together with [[U2]]'s "[[Beautiful Day]]", used as a theme song by the [[Democratic Party (United States)|US Democratic Party]] following the [[United States general elections, 2006|US 2006 midterm elections]]. The song was featured on a number of occasions on the Australian Soap opera ''[[Neighbours]]'' between 2002 and 2006. It was also played on the third season premiere of [[Supernatural]]. Bachman appears in the promo video for [[Bus Stop (band)|Bus Stop]]'s [[1998]] remake of the song. During a trip to the US, [[Margaret Thatcher]] quoted the song when talking to an audience with [[Ronald Reagan]]. Telling the audience that "You ain't seen nothing yet". In [[2008 in television|2008]], a cover version is featured in a [[TV commercial]] for [[3M]]'s [[ScotchBrite]]. ==References== <references/> {{start box}} {{succession box | before = "[[You Haven't Done Nothin']]" by [[Stevie Wonder]] | title = [[Billboard Hot 100]] [[List of number-one hits (United States)|number one single]] | years = [[November 9]] [[1974]] | after = "[[Whatever Gets You Thru the Night]]" by [[John Lennon]] }} {{end box}} [[Category:1974 singles]] [[Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles]] [[Category:Bachman-Turner Overdrive songs]] [[Category:Number-one singles in Germany]]