Funk-n-Soul

The Pizza Guy Who Wasn’t:

Strange But True

Norman Durkee and Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business”

One of rock’s most recognizable piano parts, a song born out of desperation, and a recording-studio legend involving a pizza box.

There are certain songs that start playing in your head the moment somebody mentions the title.

“Takin’ Care of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive is one of them.

That pounding guitar, the driving rhythm, and that wonderfully rowdy piano part make it nearly impossible to sit still.

But there’s a little-known character in this story who deserves some credit.

His name was Norman Durkee.

And depending on which version of the story you’ve heard, he was either a pizza delivery guy who happened to play piano or a professional musician working in a recording studio next door.

Let’s sort out the pizza from the piano.

🎸 Before There Was BTO, There Was a White Collar Worker

The story actually began years before Bachman-Turner Overdrive recorded the hit.

Randy Bachman originally started writing the song around 1967, while he was still a member of The Guess Who.

Its working title was “White Collar Worker.”

Bachman was trying to write a song about the everyday working man, inspired in part by the morning rush-hour routine. He wanted something with the storytelling feel of The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer.”

The verses were there, but the chorus wasn’t working.

Burton Cummings wasn’t impressed with the original hook, and the song never made it onto a Guess Who album.

Bachman kept it tucked away.

For several years, those lyrics waited for another opportunity.

📻 A Radio DJ Provides the Missing Words

Fast-forward to 1973.

Bachman was driving to a BTO performance when he heard a Vancouver radio DJ named Daryl B use the phrase:

“Takin’ care of business!”

Bachman immediately recognized that it could be the hook he’d been searching for.

He just didn’t know how quickly he’d need it.

When the band arrived at the club, bassist and lead singer C.F. Turner had lost his voice.

That left Bachman in a bit of a predicament. He wasn’t normally the band’s lead vocalist, and they still had a set to finish.

He pulled out the old “White Collar Worker” idea, simplified the music to three chords, and told the band to follow him.

Then he replaced the old chorus with the phrase he’d heard on the radio.

The audience loved it.

According to Bachman’s recollections, the crowd responded so enthusiastically that the band played the new song again.

A song that had been collecting dust for years had finally found its identity.

🍕 Enter Norman Durkee

Now comes the part everybody remembers.

When BTO went into the studio to record “Takin’ Care of Business,” they wanted a piano part to give the track some extra personality.

Enter Norman Durkee.

The popular story, repeated by Bachman over the years, involved a pizza delivery man arriving at the studio, announcing that he could play piano, and somehow getting an opportunity to contribute to the recording.

It’s a wonderful rock-and-roll tale.

There’s just one problem.

Norman Durkee wasn’t a pizza delivery man. He was a professional musician.

Durkee was working in an adjoining studio, recording commercial jingles, when BTO’s engineer Buzz Richmond called him in to play piano.

He had limited time because he was being paid for another session, so he quickly got the chords from Bachman and worked out his part.

The famous detail about the pizza box has a little truth behind it: accounts of the session say Durkee scribbled the chords on a pizza box.

He then played the piano part, reportedly in one take.

And that rolling, barrelhouse-style piano became one of the defining sounds of the finished recording.

🎹 Ninety Dollars and a Rock-and-Roll Legacy

Here’s another detail that makes this story worth telling.

Durkee reportedly received $90 for his contribution.

Think about that.

A professional musician shows up for a brief session, plays a piano part that becomes instantly recognizable, collects his session fee, and goes back to work.

No grand introduction. No spotlight. No lengthy negotiations.

Just a musician doing his job.

And yet that piano part helped give “Takin’ Care of Business” its unmistakable personality.

Without it, the song would still have its guitars, vocals, and driving rhythm. But something very important would be missing.

That little burst of piano is part of what makes the recording so much fun.

📈 From a Club Experiment to a Classic-Rock Staple

“Takin’ Care of Business” appeared on BTO’s second album, Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, released in 1973.

It was issued as a single in January 1974 and climbed to No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song became one of the band’s signature recordings and an enduring classic-rock favorite.

Its title eventually became a phrase used everywhere, from office walls to sports arenas.

And while Randy Bachman deserves the songwriting credit, the recording also owes a little of its character to a pianist who happened to be working down the hall.

💿 The Real Story Is Better Than the Pizza Story

I have to admit, the pizza delivery version is a pretty good tale.

But the real story has its own charm.

Norman Durkee wasn’t some random delivery guy who wandered into rock history. He was a working musician, doing what working musicians do: showing up, reading the music, and making the recording better.

He didn’t write the song. He didn’t sing the chorus. He didn’t become a member of BTO.

He simply added a piano part that helped turn a great rock song into something unforgettable.

And Randy Bachman? He finally found the right chorus for a song he’d been carrying around for years.

So the next time “Takin’ Care of Business” comes blasting through the speakers, listen for that piano.

Raise a glass to Randy Bachman, the boys in BTO, and Norman Durkee.

The pizza may have been folklore, but the piano was the real deal.

The record is spinning. Let’s see where it takes us. 💿🎶

Sources & Further Reading

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