No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature

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"No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature"
Single by The Guess Who
from the album American Woman
A-side	"American Woman"
Released	March 1970 (1970-03)
Recorded	1969
Studio	RCA Mid-America Recording Center, Studio B, Chicago
Genre	Blues rock, psychedelic rock
Length	4:52 (album version with "New Mother Nature") 2:04 (single w/o "New Mother Nature")
Label	RCA Victor
Songwriter(s)	Burton Cummings Randy Bachman
Producer(s)	Jack Richardson
The Guess Who singles chronology
"No Time" (1969) "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" (1970) "Hand Me Down World" (1970)

"No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" is a medley by the

, which at the time ranked sides of singles independently, "No Sugar Tonight" reached #39.

According to Randy Bachman, the inspiration for the song arose after an incident when he was visiting California. He was walking down the street with a stack of records under his arm, when he saw three "tough-looking biker guys" approaching. He felt threatened and was looking for a way to cross the street onto the other sidewalk when a little car pulled up to the men. A woman about 5 feet (150 cm) tall got out of the car, shouting at one of them, asking where he'd been all day, that he had left her alone with the kids, didn't take out the trash, and was down here watching the girls. The man was suddenly alone when his buddies walked away. Chastened, he got in the car as the woman told him before pulling away: "And one more thing, you ain't getting no sugar tonight". The words stuck in Bachman's memory.^[3]

Bachman then wrote a short song in the key of F♯ called "No Sugar Tonight". When he presented the song to Burton Cummings and RCA, he was told that the song was too short. Bachman and Cummings expanded the song by adding to it a song Cummings had written that was also in the key of F♯, "New Mother Nature".

Cover versions

"No Sugar Tonight" was covered by

.

"New Mother Nature" was covered by The Friends of Distinction on their Whatever LP released in 1970. It was used as the B-side of their hit, "Time Waits for No One" (US #60, Canada #37).

Reggae singer Nicky Thomas released a cover version under the title "Lonely Feelin'" on his 1970 album 'Love of the Common People'. ^[4]

Certifications

Certifications for "No Sugar Tonight"

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[5]	Gold	40,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

References