"Can the Can" is the second solo single by American singer-songwriter Suzi Quatro and her first to reach number one in the UK, spending a single week at the top of the chart in June 1973. It also reached number one on the European and Australian charts; Quatro achieved her most consistent success throughout her career in these markets. The single belatedly became a hit in the US peaking at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. It was re-released as a single in the UK, with "Devil Gate Drive" as the B-side, in 1984, but failed to chart.[citation needed] The single made the charts again in 1987 in the UK at number 87,[citation needed] it also appeared on her 1995 album What Goes Around.[6]
This single made Quatro the first female bass guitar player to become a major rock star and therefore broke a barrier to women's participation in rock music.[7][8][9]
Background
This, Quatro's second solo single, was released after she moved from the United States to Britain. In the United States, she had already released two singles with the all-female band The Pleasure Seekers.[10] Her first solo single, "Rolling Stone," was recorded with session players. "Rolling Stone" only achieved popularity in Portugal, where it went to number one.[11]
For "Can the Can," Quatro had organized her own band, which had toured the United Kingdom as the warm-up act for Slade and Thin Lizzy, and they had new songwriters/producers Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn.[11]
The song "Can the Can" was written, composed, and produced by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn.[11][12] It has the refrain :
Make a stand for your man, honey, try to can the can
Put your man in the can, honey, get him while you can
Can the can, can the can, if you can, well can the can
— – Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn
According to songwriter Nicky Chinn, the phrase "can the can" means "... something that is pretty impossible, you can't get one can inside another if they are the same size, so we're saying you can't put your man in the can if he is out there and not willing to commit."[13]
The song "Ain't Ya Something Honey," with which "Can the Can" was backed, was written and composed by Quatro and produced by Mickie Most.[11][12]
Accolades
Year
Publisher
Country
Accolade
Rank
2005
Bruce Pollock
United States
"The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944-2000"[citation needed]
^Larkin, Colin (2002). The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s music. Virgin Books. p. 348. ISBN978-1-8522-7947-9. a second RAK single, 1973's 'Can the Can', topped hit parades throughout the world at the zenith of the glam-rock craze
^Williams, Andrew (5 August 2007). "60 Seconds: Suzi Quatro". Metro. Retrieved 19 July 2013. Suzi Quatro was one of the biggest female pop stars of the 1970s – notching up No.1 hits with glam rock classics Can The Can and Devil Gate Drive.
^"Teenager Pop Factory". Teenager. Vol. 4. M.M. Ahmed. 1973. p. 30. The only lady to get in top twenty and at number one, with a solo number was the English Suzy Quatro, with her hard rock and noisy number 'Can the Can'..
