Can-Con 45 Of The Day - April 20

[radiofan]

Today's Can-Con 45 is from 1972. Randy Bachman, Chad Allen and Brave Belt and "Dunrobin's Gone" ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLdkh2EOaqQ

[Richard Skelly]

A touching and well produced song. Dunrobin’s Gone would’ve been much more memorable, IMHO, if the title had been in the lyrics. Especially for new artists, it was important for listeners or prospective record store “pick hit” customers to be able to correctly name the song when calling in.

I’m guessing that Dunrobin probably referred to a Winnipeg street. Or was perhaps the name of the woman who left the guy in the song.

A couple of years ago, I read an online reminiscence about someone who tracked down a playable online Dunrobin’s Gone for his ailing uncle. The old gent didn’t know the name of the song. But loved how it symbolized a time in his life when he was in love, feeling good about the future and hearing it on headphones as he threshed grain as a farmhand. Using the snatches of lyrics remembered by his uncle, the nephew finally found the song. He knew it was the one because his frail relative burst into tears halfway through the first verse.

I’m surprised a savvy music biz guy like Randy Bachman wouldn’t have insisted that bandmate Chad Allan (and co-writer Barry Ericsson) retitle the song to, say, You Must Be A Happy Man or You Know She’s Gone (And She Won’t Be Back).

A more recallable song title might not have improved the so-so Canadian chart success of Dunrobin’s Gone. It was pretty much just a turntable hit for a few weeks in many markets. On the other hand, if it had become a major hit, Brave Belt might never have shed Chad, moved to Vancouver and become Bachman Turner Overdrive.