During my hippy days , we used to party in the basement of my friend Chuck ’ s parents . We would just hang out and party in his parents ’ basement : smoking joints , drinking beers , and listening to music – mostly The Doors and The Beatles . I always have fond memories from those early days in my career hanging out there .”
The seeds for “ No Sugar Tonight ” is a fantastic story , which the songwriter remembers like it was yesterday . The year : 1969 . The Guess Who was offered a fourcity West Coast tour , opening for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention , along with a young Alice Cooper . The final gig was in San Francisco on a Sunday night . The next morning , the band wandered the streets of Haight-Ashbury and Telegraph Avenue in Berkley looking for the epicentre of the hippy culture .
After shopping for some bootleg vinyl in the head shops on Telegraph Avenue in Berkley , Bachman went to put place his purchases in the van that they had parked on a side street . The songwriter recalls the scene that ensued :
“ Suddenly , three guys with bulging muscles and tattoos start coming down the hill towards me : one Black , one Chicano , and one white . These guys looked like biker gangs I had seen in movies … like the beginning of Gunsmoke . I was like , ‘ What am I going to do ?’ when I hear a noisy car roaring up from behind me . A brown car with a blue door , a bumper hanging off , and dragging its muffler , pulls up . Two of the three guys run , leaving just me , and one of the guys standing there . Out of the car gets this five-foot woman , who yells at the guy stuff like , ‘ you no good so and so , you are supposed to be looking for a job , not sitting in a coffee shop and hanging out with your boys ! You left me alone again with the kids !’ The guy gets in the car . She slams it shut behind him . Then , the last thing I heard was her saying , “ And furthermore baby , when we get home , you ain ’ t getting no sugar tonight !’ I had never heard that phrase said before and immediately got in my car and wrote the skeleton of the song down on a pad of paper .”
When the “ American Woman ” single was released , Jack Richardson , unbeknown to Cummings at the time , decided to put “ No Sugar Tonight ” on the flip side , causing a rift for a while between the songwriters . No surprise . The double-sided single record “ American Woman / No Sugar Tonight ” peaked at No . 1 on the RPM magazine charts and No . 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 . Cummings says he got some retribution a few years later when fellow RCA recording artists The Friends of Distinction cut a funky R & B version of “ New Mother Nature ,” without ‘ No Sugar Tonight .” “ I was very happy about that ,” he says . “ In the long run , choosing Randy ’ s song for the B-side of ‘ American Woman ’ was a good move commercially , but at the time , it broke my heart .”
Members of The Parachute Club performing at the CSHF induction gala ]
“ Rise Up ” Artist : The Parachute Club Songwriter : Lorraine Segato Year Written : 1983 Year Inducted : 2019
Fast Facts : •° Peaked at No . 9 on RPM Singles Chart •° Made Billboard ’ s dance chart , topping at 26 . •° Album went gold •° Won a Juno Award in 1984 for Single of the Year , beating out songs by Corey Hart and Bryan Adams
•° Produced by Daniel Lanois and recorded at Grant Avenue Studios in Hamilton , ON
The ‘ 80s zeitgeist and the making of an anthem Sometimes the final piece that turns a good song into a great song , and one that becomes timeless , happens in the studio . That is well illustrated by The Parachute Club ’ s anthem “ Rise Up .”
The seven-piece band was a relatively new group when they entered Daniel Lanois ’ Grant Avenue Studios in Hamilton , ON . Lorraine Segato and drummer Billy Bryans had played in rock band Mama Quilla in the late 1970s and this core eventually evolved into what became The
Parachute Club in the 1980s . The band quickly developed a following in Toronto ’ s Queen Street West arts scene , which led to a demo deal . Seeking inspiration and to broaden their musical horizons , Segato and Bryans spent one month in Trinidad with a friend , studying and soaking up
Soca music , a popular genre that combines the Soul of Calypso with African and East Indian rhythms . Upon their return to Toronto , the Caribbean sounds seeped into The Parachute Club ’ s music . Jamming in rehearsal one day , the melody and groove for “ Rise Up ” arrived in a moment of spontaneity . The words to match still eluded Segato . Her best friend – artist / poet Lynne Ferris , who was the unofficial eighth member of the band – approached her and said , “ I think I have some lyrics for that song … it ’ s about empowerment .”
She recalls that seminal moment when they were in Lanois ’ studio . “ Rise Up ” was the last song they recorded . The final words just flowed out .
“ I looked at Lynne ’ s lyrics ,” Segato says . “ I was in the studio with three pieces of paper … three different sets of lyrics and I was just cutting and pasting as I was singing . It was very spontaneous , adding that final layer . We immediately realized what the song was about : empowerment and equality , but it also came from a deeply spiritual place as well . Lynne had taken a drive up the B . C . coast and was touched by all of the Indigenous ceremonial places you passed along the highway – something about the land that spoke to her . The ‘ Oh rise up and share your power ’ part came from a feeling that was invoked
PHOTO : GRANT W MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY
40 CANADIAN MUSICIAN