How I Wrote..."Undun"

Randy Bachman reveals the influence of Lenny Breau, Bob Dylan and the Zombies in the Guess Who's 1969 hit.

- JOE BOSSO

"IT'S AN UNUSUAL song that doesn't follow the standard template most writers use," guitarist Randy Bachman says about "Undun," the mysterious, jazz-tinged pop-rock track that his former band, the Guess Who, turned into a sleeper hit in the summer of 1969. "It doesn't have the usual intro, verse, pre-chorus and chorus format. On paper, the song shouldn't have worked at all."

Nonetheless, "Undun," released as the B-side to the band's more obvious hit, "Laughing," took on a life of its own and eventually reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Revered by Guess Who fans, "Undun" also ranks high with two of the band's onetime members: Singer-keyboardist Burton Cummings calls it one of Bachman's best compositions, and Bachman himself says it's his favorite track from his time in the group. "It just has a unique quality like no other song," he says.