"American Woman" is the title track of Canadian band The Guess Who's 1970 album, American Woman.
The song's origins took the form of a live jam in Kitchener, Ontario. The group was rushing into the second set and began improvising a rhythm to liven up the crowd. Burton Cummings, the lead singer, began improvising lyrics to fit the music.
The song's lyrics have been the matter of some debate, often interpreted as an attack on U.S. politics (especi...
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"American Woman" is the title track of Canadian band The Guess Who's 1970 album, American Woman.
The song's origins took the form of a live jam in Kitchener, Ontario. The group was rushing into the second set and began improvising a rhythm to liven up the crowd. Burton Cummings, the lead singer, began improvising lyrics to fit the music.
The song's lyrics have been the matter of some debate, often interpreted as an attack on U.S. politics (especially the draft). Jim Kale, the group's bassist and the song's co-author, explained his take on the lyrics:
Randy Bachman has claimed that the American woman referred to in the song is in fact the Statue of Liberty, furthering the anti-war theme.
As a single, the track spent three weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (where it was credited as a double sided hit, along with "No Sugar Tonight"), an unprecedented success for a Canadian band; at the time, it competed with singles such as The Jackson 5's "ABC" and the Beatles's "Let it Be".
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