Behind The Vinyl: "Painted Ladies" with Ian Thomas 

All your songs Ian are awesome eh! Stay well Ian and family ❤

Great 70's song

I had thought this song was done by America when it 1st came out. Great s so ng just the same.

Love you bud

What a class act he is

Amen brother

Saw Ian for years at the Coronet in Kitchener ON, in the 70's + 80 's.

Was about 12 years old when I first heard this song. Loved it ever since

I found an Ian Thomas compilation called Looking Back. At a Thrift Store every song is great.

I am in for a real treat cause I am going to start searching for his music cause this is "ALL" new to me. I must be living under a rock. I was a huge SCTV fan and never made the connection from the Ian Thomas who sang on that show back in 1981 to "Dougie Franklin" monster truck guru on Red Green. I knew from Red Green that he and Dave Thomas were brothers but had no clue of his music career. WOW. Dougie Franklin still rocks in my world and you cannot have Red Green without Dougie and Hap and Garth and Harold and Winston and Dalton and Buzz and Ranger Gord and Bill but mostly Dougie. Thanks for posting and sharing.

Went to # 34 (Billboard Hot 100) in January of 1974, # 27 (Cashbox) & at # 28 (Billboard's Adult Contemporary)!! Ian Thomas only charted song in the U.S.. The self - titled album went to # 203 (Billboard's Bubbling Under The Top 200 Album Charts) in December of 1973.

I remember this being played a lot on AM radio as a kid, catchy track that caught my attention.

Love it! Remember lan from the Tranquillity Base days. Brilliant artist!! ❤ phenomenal songwriter. ❤

Great Music Ian. Thanks for you inspiration. Great to sing along on those long road trips, all of your songs.

Good stuff

a beauty of a song eh!

Holy cow, blast from the past. This was/is such a good. He painted the picture so well.

How cool is this series. First time viewer, but I will be back, for sure! Thank you for sharing.

May have only gone to 27 but in upstate N.Y . WAS A BIG HIT.

Quality tune and great stories Ian!

1977 - Black Hawk Motor Inn Richmond Hill Ontario CANADA - live Thanks Ian for the memories!

Very talented artist with an incredible sense of humour. As down to earth as they get.

So engrained in my brain, Ian. Love you to death. Thanks so much for everything. Wish I still had the 8-track for you to sign.

So incredibly true. Thanks for sharing.

Still an awesome song like the many others Ian💜🙏🏼🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

Yet another fantastic, and highly informative episode!!

❤

Ian; do you remember performing at the Maples inn in Pointe Claire Quebec? If I remember correctly 😃 i think it was the Glider Album tour Funny since my stroke 5 years ago my short term memory is F'd but my long-term memory is intact so i know all your songs and always sing along 😃

i did't know boom 97.3 had a youtube channel

His voice reminds me of my own quite a bit!! Holy smokes! 🤩😇❤️‍🔥

IAN THOMAS FUCKIN' ROCKS!!!!! ALWAYS HAS; ALWAYS WILL!!!!!

Wonderful content. I gotta subscribe after seeing this

IAN THOMAS = ENTERTAINMENT ROYALTY!!!! DON'T EVER FUCKIN' 4GET THAT!!!!

This is really interesting.

Ian was fresh off Tranquility Base when he recorded this song in 1973.

"Sharing dressing rooms with strippers and some of them were turning tricks on the side, so it wasn't all bad" What a hilarious quote. I love his music.

The TC630 he's referring to is a reel to reel made by Sony

Totally, underrated"......

There was no one greasier than Dick Clark.

and don't forget "Liars" the song which Ian expresses about dishonesty in the recording industry, and as Ian mentioned, "Money changes Hands". Ian is such a genuine and modest artist.

I have no idea how many times I purposely went to see Ian in bars when through the week .... Ian is just as funny as hell between songs with That GReat Canadian humor . I think the last time I caught him was at the Tillsonburg , Ont. Royal Hotel - which closed about ? 5 years ago and is now partly The Tillsonburg Newspaper , Plus a food bank . I mobile DJ's and performed live from 1975 to 2005 all over Ontario , and I'll tell you Ian - I promoted the hell out of your and Many other GReat male and female Canadian musicians also !! 60's to 90's was Fantastic . . but WOW has music Ever Gone for a complete shit starting around 2000 . . I went to the music stores and right from the musicians sometimes , and I BOUGHT ALL MY MUSIC !! I didn't steal it as I am a L.T. Musician and singer also . . I didn't want to play all the Crap coming out Especially after 2005 , so I sure as hell wasn't gonna buy it anymore . . So I quit . From thousands of past purchases , I've only bought 3 Classic Rock cd's since 2005 .

The LP cover in America didn't look anything like the one sitting on the floor in this video. Ian had lots of hair back then, but didn't we all.

I love this song . Had that song sounds like George Harrison

What I had always suspected about the "American" pop music industry and the "Billboard Charts". When Ian speaks about why this song didn't chart higher than the posted Billboard chart from about 3:25. He mentions a book named "The Hitmen" (Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business). Thanks for confirming what I always knew. There was, and still is, a pop music Cabal! You and many other Canadian artists were screwed over because they couldn't come up with $250,000 of bribe money, which explains all the crap that I heard on the Billboard Top 20 during the days when AM radio ruled the waves! Thank goodness for the CRTC (*back then), where it was mandated that Canadian radio stations must play 35% Canadian content on the air waves. Sure, there were some stinkers played as well, but then I harken back to the argument of those other "stinkers" that rose up the charts because they came up with the bribe money! We'd never have heard the likes of Ian Thomas, Guess Who, Trooper and a long list of Canadian bands who were stifled by the "The Hitmen" 'cuz they couldn't come up with the bribe money. To your credit Ian, and your fans, you managed to get Painted Ladies to chart at 26 without having to "bribe" anyone for a higher chart placing. That, in itself, makes you #1 with me! Rock On!

Playing hotels w/strippers. Ian obviously played the Montebello Hotel in St Catharines.

Dougie Franklin.

I was all ready to make some witty comments about how much he's like his brother, but I just see an individual without any obvious connections to him.

Ian Thomas; in proving our point, "Painted Ladies" was #1 in Detroit yet #26 nationally. Ian Thomas; u DEFINITELY GOT ROYALLY FUCKED OVR!!!!! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!!!! "Painted Ladies" got more airplay than Debby Boone's "You Light My Life" (which spent 10 consecutive weeks @ #1 in 1977 yet "Painted Ladies " got TONS MORE AIRPLAY THAN DEBBY BOONE!!!!! IAN THOMAS GOT COMPLETELY FUCKED OVR!!!!! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!!!!

Classic payola story. People went to jail over it.

"General Recorded Tape"?!?!?!?! I thought it meant "Good Rockin' Tonight"

I thought this was America.....wow I am full of crap sometimes.....not my fav song....but not that bad either I assumed this was America for the past 30 years lol

Ian Thomas; DON'T EVER SELL URSELF SHORT, BUDDY!!!!!! U (& UR BROTHER DAVE) R MY MAJOR INSPIRATIONS IN MY LIFE!!!!! SO MUCH SO THAT I CONSIDER U (& DAVE) AS MY COUSINS!!!!! IAN THOMAS; U GOT THE BIGGEST FUCKIN' SCREWJOB WVER!!!!! U KNOW U DID (& I'M COMPLETELY OFFENDED BY IT). MR. IAN THOMAS; PLEASE REPKY 2 ME & REASSURE 2 ME THAT U R THE MAN!!!! PLEASE & THANKS UN ADVANCE!!!!

If John Malkovich was a musician.