Along with Joni Mitchell's "Help Me," this was one of the best singles of 1974, a year I remember especially well as it's when we welcomed my sister, Jennifer, to the family. Was amused to hear the song's catchiest bit ("ba-ba-ba-baby") was intended just for the band -- leader Randy Bachman was poking fun of brother Gary's stutter -- but the suits had other ideas.
Wikipedia notes that as production for the album "Not Fragile" was winding up, Charlie Fach of Mercury Records said the eight tracks they had lacked the "magic" that would make a hit single. Some band members asked Randy about the other song he'd written. Randy reluctantly admitted that he did have a ninth song, but did not intend to use it on the album. 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."
When Fach finally heard it he 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."
The song promptly shot to No. 1 in the U.S. and several other countries, becoming the band's biggest hit. And the rest, as they say, is speech-impediment history.
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