Throwing back to the week of November 9, 1974, we find Bachman-Turner Overdrive atop the Billboard Hot 100 with their only #1 hit (and only one to reach the top ten), ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.’
This is a case of a song stumbling its way to success without really trying. Songwriter and frontman Randy Bachman says he wrote the song as a joke for his brother, who had a stutter, and the band recorded it with the intention that it would only ever be heard by him. (Incidentally, I’m not sure that’s a very funny joke, but I guess brothers find weird things amusing.)
While in the studio recording their third album, the band would play this song to test their equipment. A record label head, feeling the album needed another track with a good hook, suggested they choose this one. Bachman initially balked, but ended up agreeing.
He first recorded a new vocal, without the stutter, but said it “sounded like Frank Sinatra” and took something away from the record. So they went with the original recording.
No single had been selected, and when ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ started getting ample radio play as an album cut, the decision was ultimately made to release it. And that’s how a throwaway joke song written to kid a stuttering sibling became a #1 hit.
I met a devil woman
She took my heart away
She said, I’ve had it comin’ to me
But I wanted it that way
[Pre-Chorus]
I think that any love is good lovin’
So I took what I could get
Mmh, mmh, mmh
She looked at me with big brown eyes
And said
[Chorus]
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet
B-b-b-baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-n-nothin’ yet
Here’s something that you’re never gonna forget
B-b-b-baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-n-nothin’ yet
“Nothin’ yet, you ain’t been around”
That’s what she told me
[Verse 2]
And now I’m feelin’ better
‘Cause I found out for sure
She took me to her doctor
And he told me of a cure
[Pre-Chorus]
He said that any love is good love
So I took what I could get
Yes, I took what I could get
And then she looked at me with them big brown eyes
And said
[Chorus]
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet
B-b-b-baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-n-nothin’ yet
Here’s something, here’s something you’re never gonna fff-forget, baby
You know, you know, you know, you just ain’t seen nothin’ yet
You need an education
Got to go to school
[Pre-Chorus]
Any lovin’ is good lovin’
So I took what I could get
Yes, I took what I could get
And then, and then, and then she looked at me with them big brown eyes
And said
[Chorus]
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet
Baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-n-nothin’ yet
Here’s something, here’s something
Here’s a lover you’re never forget, baby
Baby, baby, baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-n-nothin’ yet
You ain’t been around
[Outro]
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, that’s what she told me
She said I need an education
Go to school
I know I ain’t seen nothin’ yet
I know I ain’t seen nothin’ yet, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh
You got something for me when I get home
Better be good
I been everywhere
But I ain’t seen nothin’ yet
But I deserve it one of these days
Woo-ooh, but I ain’t seen nothin’ yet
I ain’t seen nothin’ yet
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I ain’t seen nothin’ yet
I’ll wait, I’ll wait, I’ll wait
If you want to show me what I ain’t seen, where I ain’t been
La-la-la-la-la-la
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh
Meet Me In Montauk 
Now THAT’S the kind of backstory I count on from your blog! I may never hear the song again without thinking of Bachman’s brother. Hope he got some royalties!
and I will never forget they discarded a version because it “sounded too much like Frank Sinatra without the stutter “ Really?? Give me a break!