Written by Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman and lead singer Burton Cummings. Bachman explained that musically, the song was inspired by two tracks on the Buffalo Springfield Again album: "Rock & Roll Woman" and "Hung Upside Down." Neil Young of Buffalo Springfield (a fellow Canadian) played an acetate of the album for Cummings and Bachman when his travels took him to Winnipeg. The they heard it, they loved the country-rock sound and set out to write something like it. "That was our country-rock song," Bachman said. "Me and Burton trying to be like Neil and Stephen Stills."