No Longer Out Of “Wack”

Have you ever had a song in your head that you just couldn’t remember the exact title or what album it was on? But you desperately wanted to hear it again! Well, I had that very dilemma recently. It was a song by a Canadian group from the ‘70s. All I had to go by was what I thought was the name of the band – Chilliwack.

After pulling my head out of my considerable derriere, I remembered I had a thing called the Worldwide Web available to me at my fingertips. Bright boy, aren’t I?

Googling “Chilliwack” confirmed my suspicions – such a band did indeed exist. Wikipedia provided me with valuable information, with the following paragraph being the most beneficial.

Chilliwack effectively began with the departure of vocalist Howie Vickers from the Collectors in 1969; however, the band didn't change its name until 1970, to Chilliwack, a Salish term meaning "going back up" and the name of a city east of Vancouver in the Fraser River valley. With lead guitarist Bill Henderson now providing most of the vocals and doing most of the composing, the band released several records that were moderately successful in Canada. Hit singles in Canada included "Lonesome Mary", "Crazy Talk" and "Fly at Night".

Eureka! That was it! Those last three words were literally music to my ears. “Fly at Night” had to be the song that I was thinking of. Now all I had to do was find a recording of it. Somewhere, some how.

This would verify that it was definitely the tune that I longed to hear again. Scrolling down the Wikipedia page I found a discography along with a list of Chilliwack’s top singles.

I was a bit astonished to find that this group from British Columbia had more than a dozen albums to their credit. In the list of singles I found "Fly at Night". It was released in 1977 and rose to #7 in Canada and #75 in the U.S.

Having put my previously mentioned brain cramp behind me I quickly went to my local iTunes store and found not one, but three versions of my elusive ditty. I quickly plunked down 99 cents and it was mine and I was no longer out of “wack’.

Now as I write this blog, I am enjoying "Fly at Night" by Chilliwack. If you would like to take a quick listen, click here for a clip from YouTube. Until next time…from the booth.