The Catalyst interview: Burton Cummings

They’re still out there today, played every day on Sirius XM and Classic Rock stations the world over: “These Eyes,” “No Time,” “Laughing,” “Undun,” “No Sugar Tonight” and “American Woman,” the best-known late ‘60s hits by the Guess Who, Canada’s best-known rock ‘n’ roll band.

You’ll still hear the best of the Guess Who’s early ‘70s output, too: “Share the Land,” “Star Baby,” “Bus Rider,” “Hand Me Down World,” “Rain Dance,” “Albert Flasher” and “Dancin’ Fool.”

The common denominator in every one of those songs is singer Burton Cummings, whose distinctive, rough-edged but razor-sharp voice put him in a class with Paul Rodgers, Robert Plant and even Mick Jagger in that personality-driven era. Cummings wrote (or co-wrote) most of the Guess Who tunes, as well.

The native of Winnipeg, Manitoba went solo 50 years ago, although there have been reunions alongside original Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman and his ‘70s replacement, Kurt Winter.

Cummings and his current band will play Ruth Eckerd Hall Feb. 7.

With Jim Messina opening, it’s the second leg of his first American tour in years. In 2024, Cummings sued the Guess Who’s original bassist and drummer  – both of them non-singers or songwriters – for using his likeness, and his recordings, to promote a band of ringers they called the Guess Who.

“They kept me out,” Cummings says in this interview. “Legally, I couldn’t even mention the fact that I was ever in the Guess Who.”

Tickets to the Feb. 7 concert are available at this link.

St. Pete Catalyst: I see you’ve settled the lawsuit with Jim Kale and Garry Peterson …

Burton Cummings: That’s over with! The fake Guess Who is finished! These clowns used to have a meet-and greet, and they would take our real albums, that we had done on RCA, and sign them. They pretended that they were us. They used the real songs, with my voice, and Randy Bachman and Kurt Winter’s guitars, and used the real records to draw unsuspecting public to their fake shows. So that’s it, it’s over, there’s no more fake Guess Who. I’m back in the States, singing the songs that I wrote and recorded. And the reaction is ‘hey, glad to have you back here singing your own songs.’ So that’s terrific.

I understand there’s a theater in Winnipeg named after you?

Yes, it’s a beautiful building, it’s 100 years old. It’s a Heritage building now, and it’ll be protected. You know, I used to go there to the movies when I was a kid. I think I saw Help! there, with the Beatles. And even before I was born, my mother and my biological father actually went to that theater. So it’s kind of strange now to have my name on it. It’s called the Burton Cummings Theatre for Performing Arts. It’s a big honor. I’m very happy about that. I’m very proud of that.

Well, you have every conceivable Canadian honor … but in the States, the Guess Who are on the list of deserving artists not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. How do you feel about that?

Aw, here we go. I don’t think about it so much until people ask me. I’m not losing sleep about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For God’s sakes, Chic is in there! Madonna is in there! That’s not rock ‘n’ roll. So I don’t lose any sleep over it.

Would you still go if that turned around?

No. No, no, no, absolutely not. Not after what Peterson and Kale have done to the name. And the legacy. And then those guys would expect to be there! I’m not ever gonna be on a stage again with Jim Kale and Garry Peterson.

The Guess Who, 1969: Garry Peterson, left, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings and Jim Kale. Photo: RCA Records.

Do you feel like the Guess Who got enough credit, historically?

I’m very happy with where I’m sitting, you know? I’m 77 years old – how many people still have a career at 77? Not many. And I’ve lost a lot of friends and peers. I’m very happy where I’m at. I’ve been on Facebook for over a decade. I get messages from all over the world. I’m talking to people in Australia and New Zealand, in Japan and all over Europe, so what have I got to complain about? I’m very happy to be back in the States, singing my songs … and I’m very happy that the fake Guess Who is over for good.

Was there a time when you weren’t touring in the States?

Oh, they kept me out. Legally, I couldn’t even mention the fact that I was ever in the Guess Who. They tried to really scoop the legacy, steal the legacy. They had all the streaming platforms covered. If you went to the Guess Who on social media you got the fake band. All that’s over with! That young blonde, whoever, who thought he was me, it’s over! Those guys have got to go find something else to do! I don’t have much more to say about that.

Will you ever take up the Guess Who name again?

It’s hard to say what’s coming in the future. I don’t know. Randy Bachman and I could go out as the Guess Who, and I’m sure we would draw some crowds. But then, Randy is doing his BTO (Bachman Turner Overdrive) thing, so … I don’t really don’t know what’s coming ahead.

We recently lost Richard Perry, who produced some of your solo work.

I did my first two solo albums with Richard. And Richard was a legend, and he did some of the biggest records in history. I mean, he produced “You’re So Vain,” one of the biggest records that ever was. I didn’t know until Richard told me that Mick Jagger sang background vocals to Carly Simon on “You’re So Vain.” Once you know that, and you hear the record, it’s very obvious.

Working with Richard was great. I was doing a vocal one day, and a couple of the Pointer Sisters came in and were listening to me singing … Richard’s world was great. To work in Richard’s world was always an unexpected treat coming along.

Umm … what is “Rain Dance” about?

I lived next door to a guy who was a hunter. He would sometimes go away and hunt ducks and whatever, and one day he was cleaning his gun on the front steps of the house next door. I thought “This is interesting.” His name was John – so I just came up with that line, “Where’d you get the gun, John?” And the rest of it, I’m just trying to make things rhyme. Kurt Winter came up with that chant, Don’t you wanna rain dance with me? Don’t you wanna rain dance with me? And I liked that, I thought it was kinda catchy. We messed around a put some pieces together, and before we knew it the song was finished.

How about “Albert Flasher”?

We were on our way to Hawaii, to play Honolulu again. I was doing an interview in a radio studio, before we left Los Angeles for Honolulu, and when we finished part of the interview a light started flashing: The ALERT FLASHER. I looked up, and for some strange reason I thought it said Albert Flasher. And I thought that was kind of a cool name. So I wrote that name down on a little piece of paper in my pocket, and on the long flight to Hawaii I pulled that paper out and there it was: Albert Flasher. So I started messing around with some lyrics. When we finally got back to Winnipeg, I finished it.

“Albert Flasher” was actually the B-side of the single; the A-side was “Broken,” which was not my very favorite song of all. But what happened was, a disc jockey somewhere flipped it over – and “Albert Flasher” caught on very quickly. Another happy accident – the same thing with “American Woman.” We didn’t see that coming. And it was one of the biggest records of the decade.