The fall and rise of Burton Cummings

Burton Cummings on the cover of his 1981 album "Sweet, Sweet"
Source: www.discogs.com/Burton-Cummings-Sweet-Sweet/release/1936455

(may be subject to copyright)

I was sitting in Row 2 at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge waiting for Burton Cummings to take the stage when all these memories came rushing back, especially from the 1980s.

He is a Canadian musical icon, a man with a golden voice and a talent to tickle the ivories.

When the 1980s opened, Burton Cummings had already had his biggest success. By the time the decade drew to a close, he had plummeted out of sight only to return with a surprising and stirring comeback that put him back on the charts.

This is the fall and rise of Burton Cummings.

Pre-history

Burton Cummings’ rise to stardom is well documented. Growing up in Winnipeg, he rose to prominence after joining Randy Bachman and the Guess Who when he was still just a teenager.

They would have a storied career with hits such as “These Eyes”, “Laughing”, “Undun”, “No Time”, and their biggest hit of all – the iconoclastic “American Woman”.

Then the band came apart at the seams.

Both Cummings and Bachman left, and not on the best of terms with each other. Bachman would go on to team up with brothers Robin and Tim and friend Fred Turner to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive, while Cummings struck out on his own.

He would ride through the 1970s  with a string of hit albums and singles, including, “Stand Tall”, “Break it to Them Gently”, “I Will Play a Rhapsody”, “My Own Way to Rock”, “Dream of a Child”, and, “I’m Scared.” His 1978 album “Dream of a Child” went triple platinum and was the best-selling album in Canada ever to that date.

Yet, by the end of the 1970s, his career began to tail off a bit.

Dawn of the decade

The decade opened for Burton Cummings with the 1981 release of the album, “Sweet, Sweet”, which would produce singles such as “Saved My Soul” and “Something Old, Something New”.

I first came in contact with this when I was at my sister’s place one night and we saw the trailer for this movie called “Melanie” on CTV, Channel 13. It caught my attention because they kept referring to it as starring Miami Vice’s Don Johnson, as well as Glynnis O’Connor, and – Burton Cummings. It was the story of a woman, O’Connor as the title character Melanie, in an abusive relationship with her husband played by Johnson. She eventually leaves him and takes up with a musician, trying to make a comeback, played by Cummings.

His actual songs are featured in the movie, which had been released in 1982, a year after the album came out.

I discovered that when I found a copy of “Sweet, Sweet” at a comic book shop at the Park Meadows mall in Lethbridge in 1986.

My sister always was willing to record vinyl onto tape and she did with this one too. I ended up listening to it for close to a month before school every morning while I waited for the bus. But the first time I ever heard “Saved My Soul” was when Cummings performed it on a live broadcast of the Genies.

“Saved My Soul” would go on to win the Genie for best original song in 1983. It also had moderate chart success in Canada, rising to number 31 on the charts, and number 12 on the adult contemporary chart.

I was disappointed “Something Old, Something New”, which went all the way to number one in the movie, did not duplicate the success its fictional counterpart had. It rose to number 26 on the adult contemporary chart.

The fall

“Sweet Sweet” seemed to be the beginning of the end for Burton Cummings. He put out an album called “Heart” in 1984, but it attracted little attention.

I only heard about it in passing when it was mentioned in a profile of Burton Cummings I heard one night on LA-107 FM. There was nothing notable about that album, and Burton Cummings seemed to be fading away like so many of his contemporaries.

Then something happened at the end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990.

The rise

It was strange. I was cruising through the lounge on Main Kelsey, the floor I lived on in res at the University of Alberta. Muchmusic always seemed to be playing on the TV. This day, I heard a voice that sounded familiar, but the song did not. Moreover, I liked what I heard.

I stopped and watched. I saw a picture of none other than Burton Cummings on he screen. But what was he singing?

It turned out to be, “Take One Away”, the first single off his new album, “Plus Signs.”

So, I started looking for the song. It began to climb up the charts on Much. And, it wasn’t just old fans like me who took notice. Young people, like my friend Jim Lake on our floor, also liked the song and indicated he was going to buy the tape. He had never really heard, or at least paid attention to, Burton Cummings before that.

The song went all the way to number 16 on the charts, and number six on the adult contemporary chart. It was his last top 20 single to date.

More importantly, Burton Cummings was back. It was not the same smash he had enjoyed more than a decade earlier, but he had made a comeback and was relevant again.

The years after

The album “Plus Signs” spawned a tour, and I was able to see Burton Cummings live at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton right after my third year of university ended. I want to say it was May or maybe June. I went with my good friend Kevan Farrell, and it was awesome. I still have the concert shirt kicking around somewhere.

He would keep touring and performing, get back together with Randy Bachman, and with the Guess Who to perform. He was named an officer in the Order of Canada in 2009, received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2011, was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2016, and was awarded a lifetime achievement award in 2018 from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) for his songwriting.

So, even at the age of 71, he continues to write, record, perform and tour.

Parting thoughts

I have been listening to Burton Cummings as long as I can remember. When he sings one of his ballads such as “Break it to Them Gently” or “I Will Play a Rhapsody” it just touches me deeply, even after all these years. His voice just has that magical quality.

But, there are several things that cemented my love for Burton Cummings.

One was seeing “Melanie” on TV and subsequently discovering the album “Sweet, Sweet” that was a sort of  de facto soundtrack for it. Cummings essentially played a version of himself in the movie. He was a washed up rock star who made a big comeback, but only after he helped someone else overcome her own challenges. I listened to that tape over and over because those two songs, “Saved My Soul” and “Something Old, Something New” just resonated with me. They remain two of my favourites.  

Another thing was going to see him live in 1990. There, he was the perfect host, explaining the history of the songs he played, whether with the Guess Who or his solo efforts.

In particular, he talked about “I’m Scared”, where he visited a cathedral in New York City, and said he felt the very presence of God. I had not really heard that song before, but now it had new meaning for me.

Then, in 1996, he released “Up Close and Alone”, a solo album that stripped away all the processing and sound engineering. It was just Cummings and his piano, and it was amazing. It showcased his two greatest talents – his voice and his ability to play piano. He also shared some history of the songs once again, which was almost identical to the stories he told back in 1990. It was then, after hearing that version with just voice and piano, that “I’m Scared” became one of my favourite Burton Cummings’ songs of all time. I still regularly listen to that album, and enjoy that song immensely.

Finally, he showed his resilience and some depth when he released “Take One Away”. It showed me that he seemed to have conquered some of the demons and excesses that can consume the careers of performers. Better yet, the song was about some adult themes and was cleverly written and arranged. It is another one of my favourites because it is so much different from all the songs that came before it.

So, when I went to see Burton Cummings at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge on October 19, 2017, I pretty much knew what to expect. It was just him and his piano, telling the same stories and playing the same songs he had the previous time I saw him and heard him on tape.

And it was just perfect. It reinforced the reasons I enjoy his music so much. It reminded me of the long journey he took in the 1980s, and the trip I took right along with him as a fan.

(You can hear for yourself below. At is concert on Oct. 19, 2017, Burton Cummings encouraged everyone to shoot video and post it online, so I am with this live, unplugged version of "Saved My Soul")