"I don't need your war machines. I don't need your ghetto scenes." I've always taken this song as a political protest against U.S. Government policies. He's using the term, American Woman, as a metaphor for U.S. culture and policies. This was during Viet Nam. This is how I've always understood the song. Killer guitar riff, too.
You’ve understood it that way because you are correct! It is a metaphor for America. And it is him complaining about the dark side of the America that he was seeing when he wrote the song. 🇨🇦
This song started as "scatting" during a concert. The guitarist broke a string and while he was replacing it, the singer was fooling around singing whatever came to mind. They decided to turn it into a real song. Please react to "So Long Banatyne"
This happened at a concert in the Glenbriar Curling Rink in Waterloo, Ontario (about an hour west of Toronto). It is now a hardware store and there’s a plaque in the store commemorating the writing of this song. They also have a great plumbing section but I digress! Do “These Eyes” next.
To me this song is the perspective of Canadians (The Guess Who is a Canadian band from Winnipeg) to the overwhelming cultural and social influence of the American Empire to the south (coloured lights, war machines, ghetto scenes). For decades Canada has been flooded with American culture, American music, American movies, American news, American symbols and American propaganda. Which is understandable, considering the asymmetrical size, influence and power of the two countries. Still, it must have been difficult for a Canadian band from a relatively small city to deal with touring life down in the States in the late 60s and early 70s, especially with the Vietnam war in full gear, the staggering racial inequalities of the time and the deep political divides in the US. Anyway, that's my interpretation of this song. By the way, the lead singer, Burton Cummings, is in my top 5 rock singers of all time. He had a fantastic voice. And the guitarist, Randy Bachman, went on to form Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO), a band which made it huge in Canada and really big in the US too.
Brad, I believe that the "American Woman" was a reference to America. This group was from Canada, in the 1970's you could go to Canada (and they could come here) by just showing your drivers license, very friendly border crossings. I'm from Michigan and we would cross the border to get the good Canadian beer back in the college days. I believe that this has to do with the Vietnam war, he didn't want Canada to follow us into Vietnam. If you listen again, he talks about your "war machines" in one of the lyrics.
I doubt he was worried about Canada following the US into Vietnam, I don't think anybody has ever been worried about Canada following them into any war zone
This is a great song, so glad you did the full length version. The Guess Who are a Canadian band and this song is about the Vietnam War and the political scene and the social horrors going on the USA at that time and even carrying forward to this very day. So it's a really protest song.
The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band : "Cummings, who composed the lyrics, said in 2013 that they had nothing to do with politics. "What was on my mind was that girls in the States seemed to get older quicker than our girls and that made them, well, dangerous. When I said 'American woman, stay away from me,' I really meant 'Canadian woman, I prefer you." Please do Lenny Kravitz - I Belong To You !
But their guitarist, Randy Bachman (later of Bachman Turner Overdrive BTO) said American Woman was the American war machine (deep in the Vietnam War at the time) that went so far as to try to conscript the Guess Who when they entered the US on tour.
@@cheampeake1680 An AWESOME band...coming from a 53 year old Canadian!!! Great lyrics and songs!!! Brad & Lex should listen to "No Sugar Tonight" next...
I've always heard the "American Woman" is the Statue of Liberty, and the "war machines" and "ghetto scenes" don't track with what you're saying here, IMO.
Actually, (according to lead singer Burton Cummings on a radio interview I remeber hearing back in the seventies) the song was a kind of a shout out to Canadian girls at the time (the band is Canadian) letting them know that they preferred their natural, down to earth style rather than the streamlined, Marilyn Monroe - artificial looks being (allegedly) promulgated by American girls at the time. I am sure a case can be made for the metaphor aspects of the song as well as it was written during the Viet Nam era. (Of course, any such claims made today by him - or anyone - about whose women - or men - are the most wholesome are specious at best!)
As Bachman tells it the band almost slipped into a recruiting trap at the border while going to an American gig. They turned around and wrote this song spontaneity.
I believe this is actually an anti-war protest song and I think it was the first protest song to get regular air play... no one realized it was a protest song.
It’s not the first protest song to get airplay. Lots of protest songs were hits. Loads of Dylan songs were protest songs. “Fortunate Son” by CCR was released a year earlier. “Eve of Destruction” (Barry Maguire version) was released in 1965. As was “Universal Soldier” (Donovan’s version).
From the day in 2015 that Rush finally received its much-belated induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Guess Who became the most glaring omission. Just a cursory look at the catalogue of classic rock music made by Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman (in The Guess Who, in BTO, and in solo work) reveal the exclusionary travesty! Apart from American Woman, their shared catalogue includes: These Eyes Laughing Undone No Sugar Tonight / New Mother Nature Share the Land No Time Takin’ Care of Business You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet Stand Tall I Will Play a Rhapsody
Randy Bachman from the Guess Who referred to The Statue of Liberty as the woman he was mentioning in the song, it was an anti war song from that era of Vietnam War.
@@RSpracticalshooting I agree. Lenny did a great job covering this song but I just love this version, especially the opening of the song. The covers of this song usually skip that part and just jump into the main song itself.
Lenny's version is musically okay but with him being American, it undermines the political content. Unless, of course, one sees it from his view as a non-white minority, in which case it works as an adaptation.
I wore out the 8 track tape of the "Best of the Guess Who", driving to high school on the 47 mile drive daily. My parents had divorced by my senior year. I didn't want to change schools, literally lived across the street from what would have been my original high school, then my family moved to the country (what people called the country then). So my daily commute in my '69 Dodge Charger (yes, the 440, with a turned cam). By about mile 15 I'd be just through this song, No Sugar Tonight and then "These Eyes" would kick in and I'd be pulling into the parking lot. Brings back good times and good memories. Love you guys doing these great songs, when music was played with real instruments.
Home town proud. Thanks for playing the full-length version of this. The song brings me back to being a youngster and hearing this on the radio when it was released. Local boys made it big!
Burton Cummings is from Canada. I believe he's a great singer. These Eyes out a year earlier is my favorite,much different! Had many hits Laughing, Undun, Stand Tall. Keep up the good work!
This is what I found on Wikipedia (didn't vet it out): The inspiration behind “American Woman” wasn’t a broken-hearted band member, longing for his American sweetheart. No, in fact, “American Woman” started with a pushy border crossing guard who tried to sign up the members of The Guess Who to go fight in Vietnam. The peaceful Canadians were on their way to a gig in the US but got freaked out and hightailed it back to the safety of the Great White North.
The first time this song was played was completely improvised. The band was on a break, and the guitarist came back early. He just started noodling around with that riff, and as the other guys finished their beers they just joined in. Burton Cummings made up the lyrics on the spot.
Cummings tells the story that this was just an improvised one-off but some kid in the audience recorded it on a cassette player. He played it for the band after and they said ,according to Cummings, " oh,well,very nice, but you cant record without permisson" they just wanted the tape so they could go back and work on something that was off-the-cuff and turned out to be good. They did not want the tape going elsewhere in case someone else heard it and claimed it. lol
I read that the Guess Who were touring in the US in the late 60’s and they were told they could be subject to the Vietnam War draft because of the time they spent in the US so they immediately left and went back to Canada. This song represented their feelings about the experience.
Guitar player is Randy Bachmann of Bachjmann Turner Overdrive. Guess Who was a Canadian band and American Woman is a metaphor in the second half of the song about America during Vietnam and the race riots. They were my wife and my first concert in Des Moines, Iowa.
I grew up with this song and love it. Thought it was about a woman when I was a kid but it's actually an anti- war song (Vietnam war). You might want to check out "no Sugar tonight" - another great song!
"No Time" - an 80's live concert vid, is one of my favorites by them...when I go back and listen to that era of rock I start with that and "Ventura Highway" by America. 👍
I remember when this song came out in, I think, about 1969. The song seemed pretty weird at the time but the catchy riff made it very popular. The Guess Who were from Canada & this song made us Americans take a look at ourselves which was ok.
America was drafting young men for the Vietnam war an non stop war footage on television when this was written. Dont come knocking around my door , I dont wanna see ur face no more. Song is a very clever war protest song.
The popular conception was that they were talking about rejecting America's excesses and failure to live up to its promise, hence the reference to war machines and ghetto scenes.
The American Woman is the USA, at the time the country was experiencing war, racism and severe economic inequality and many other issues, and at the time there were many disillusioned young people with the USA. Great commentary great voice great song.
"American Women refers to the Statue of Liberty". Final word - Above statement and below story was told to me by the bands lead guitarist at our small local community theatre on Vancouver Island, BC Canada. While performing in the USA under a work visa, they were almost forced to join America's Vietnam War. They quickly returned across our boarder, found a gig to play at, where lead guitarist Randy (BTO fame) broke a string. While re-tuning his guitar he accidentally created that killer riff and in order not to forget it, he got lead singer Burton to sing words to his new riff. Burton still freak about almost being drafted, began singing the lyric "American Women Stay Away From Me". You all really should be checking out Randy Bachman's other band (BTO) Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Songs like -Takin' Care of Business, -You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, -Hey You and -Let it Ride.
I can almost feel the draught created by those eyelashes! 🤣 Looking good 😊 Just started watching your reactions. Come on Brad start feeling that music! All the best from the UK.
This song was about the Statue of Liberty. As the boys were crossing the border from Canada to U.S. to do a concert they were asked to sign up for the draft by the border agents - which apparently was open to Canadians working in the U.S. too. They were shook up by that - made a U-turn back to Canada and Randy Bachmann and the boys came up with this anti-Vietnam war song.
The Guess Who was Canadian. The lead singer, Randy Bachman, had a bad breakup with his girlfriend, who was American. It's said the song is partially venting at her. Of course, this song was also written at the height of the Viet Nam war, and the Guess Who were very anti war.
That whole side of the album, with American Woman, leading into Trucking Off Across the Sky is one amazing jam and one of the best sides of music ever, they are on freaking fire!
Some people say this was actually a anti war song , American woman was related towards the statue of liberty for what it represents , i don't believe the band didn;t deny this
Hurt people hurt people. Well said Sir. And the lady has a good ear. The guitar tones and style sounds like the White Stripes. Attitude too. Thanks for the video.
Guess Who was a Canadian band. They had a lot of hits, lots variation in style. Burton Cummings was singer, one the best rock singers ever. Randy Bachman was one of the guitarists, who later formed Bachman Turner Overdrive (or BTO, made Takin' Care of Business, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, ... ). Lots of talent in the band.
The Guess Who were Canadian. I think I remember reading that the song just kind of happened out of improvisation during a sound check. I wouldn't read too much into the lyrics. Think they just kinda got made up on the spot. Surely, don't think it was precisely a diss on all American women. The two guys who were the band's driving force appear to have widely different perceptions of what the lyrics mean. Burton Cummings claims it's not an insult to American women but his perception that American women (remember this was the late 60s) were different than Canadian women in that they got older (mature?) faster which he said made them more dangerous. Randy Bachman claims it was a Vietnam War protest song which seems less likely to me; although, it does have that line about war machines. Anyway, I'm guessing that it was Cummings who came up with the lyrics for the most part, so maybe his story holds more water. At any rate, it became really popular in America mostly because it had the word American in it and Americans (including women) took it as a message of pride. Also of note is that The Guess Who performed on the White House lawn at the request of the Nixons whose daughter liked the band. They did not, however, perform American Woman, reportedly at the request of the First Lady.
The part about not being asked to perform the song I believe is myth that goes with making for a good story. There is no way Tricky Dick was not going to let Tricia have what she wanted. They were good Canadian boys, I think the story has come out they didn't perform it out of common respect, unlike that classless girl with the Ray Conniff Singers who went rogue trying to get herself over and that's what that is when you do something as selfish as that.
They're a Canadian band reacting to the zeitgeist juggernaut that is the US of A. Cultural and economic "imperialism", consumerism personified as some hypothetical woman. What's NOT to keep some cautious distance from, or at least awareness of one's relative position...or something. lol. I walked into my local in Toronto on jam night about 30 years ago and Guess Who lead singer/keyboardist(and acoustic rhythm guitar here) Burton Cummings was wailing away on some old blues/rock'n'roll classics. Phenomenal voice. I'd wondered who it was as I'd walked through the back parking lot...someone with powerful pipes. Oh, yeah, naturally. He was in town for a United Way telethon, another performer brought him out. Winnipeg, their hometown, has a horrible record with missing or murdered First Nations women in particular and Aboriginal People in general. Canada likes to picture or position itself as some post-racial, or post-prejudice ideal, but the rise in hate-speech and violent incidents with a racial/ethnic or religious component has increased much like elsewhere over the past few years as the rhetoric of populist right-wing "leaders" or candidates trading on fear and xenophobia has mainstreamed the hate. There is some truth, however in that perception borne out by studies showing similar distributions of ideologies and social views, but with a corresponding drift toward more progressive ideals in relation to our US counterparts overall.. We're slightly less inclined to authoritarianism, conformity, religious orthodoxy, slightly more, idk, liberal? Empathetic? Any erosion in such characteristics, anywhere in the world, is symptomatic, imo, of an unfolding human tragedy. Lotsa great requests here...I'd love to hear your reaction to their 'Hand Me Down World', 'Star Baby'.
I heard some Gen X kids listening to Lenny Kravitz cover of this song and they were raving about how good modern artists were. They didn’tbelieve me when I explained that the The Guess Who were the original artists and that the song was from the early 70’s.
I hope by now you have read plenty of posts pointing out that the American Woman is the Statue of Liberty as a icon representation of American Culture & foreign policy. War Machines and Ghetto scenes describes the 60's in the US pretty succinctly. If not, well then, my 1 min of typing didn't go to waste. Great tune, by a great band, and an awesome reaction.
Hey guys, the lyrics were just spontaneously created to have something to go with a great groove, I think it started even onstage to flesh out their time at a live concert. You can imagine also as we Canadians viewed you from afar seeing the Vietnam War, poorer, areas suffering or even burning, rich white people trying to run everything, etc. But all my favorite reactors are black, and there's a lot of good people down there , even though there's still big problems we and other countries manage to avoid.
I was born and raised in Winnipeg! We have the Burton Cummings Theatre here and I was raised on The Guess Who from my Dad! No Sugar Tonight, These Eyes, Albert Flasher, Shakin’ All Over Consider reacting to Bachman-Turner Overdrive or Chilliwack next !
The Guess Who were a Canadian group with quite a few hits back in the day. Burton Cummings is the lead singer and, I think, one of the greatest rock/pop vocalists ever. He does sound a little angry in this one. Randy Bachman, playing that great guitar, later founded Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO) with his brother Robbie on drums and C.F. Turner, the bassist. For some gentler songs, try These Eyes, Laughing, No Sugar Tonight.
I was drafted/ go to jail or into the Army/ this was a Protest Song for the Vietnamese War. I was on the bus to the airport when they were singing “ This Eyes “ . Back in 1970 1/2
This band is from my hometown Winnipeg,Canada and the song was a protest against U.S. policies during the Vietnam war. Lenny Kravitz covered this song and it was a hit for him. The lead vocalist Burton Cummins had nothing against American women, just the government at the time. You should check out other Guess Who songs or songs by Burton when he went solo.
