Takin' Care of Business
by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
- 129
- BPM
- Bb major
- Key
- 6B
- Camelot
- 74
- Danceability
- 8
- Acousticness
The original studio version of "Takin' Care of Business" was recorded at Kaye-Smith Studios in Seattle, and the prominent piano came from Norman Durkee. How he got there is disputed. Randy Bachman has said Durkee was delivering pizzas to the musicians, overheard the song in rehearsal and talked the band into adding piano. Robbie Bachman and Durkee himself say Durkee was already in the building as a musician, recording commercials in the next room, when sound engineer Buzz Richmond asked him to play. He had only minutes to spare, scribbled the chords on a pizza box and recorded the part in one take without hearing the song first.
Bachman had started the song while still in the Guess Who, as "White Collar Worker," and Burton Cummings told him they would never record it. The new words came after Bachman heard Vancouver DJ Daryl B say "We're takin' care of business." That night singer Fred Turner lost his voice before the last set, and Bachman sang the new chorus with the band repeating a simple progression.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive released it on the 1973 album Bachman-Turner Overdrive II. It reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on the Canadian RPM chart.
Takin' Care of Business runs at 129 BPM, the tempo of house, disco and most club dance music. In classical terms it sits in allegro territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.86 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 465 ms. It is in Bb major, Camelot 6B, which shares its notes with G minor and mixes cleanly with Eb major and F major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.