‘American Woman’ is a song by Canadian rock band the Guess Who, released January 1970, from the album of the same name. It was later released in March 1970 as a single backed with "No Sugar Tonight", and it reached number one for three weeks commencing May 9 on both the United States' Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian singles chart. Billboard magazine placed the single at number three on the Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1970 list, and it was listed as number five for 1970 on the RPM Year-End Chart. On May 22, 1970, the single was certified as gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also reached the top ten in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria, and the top twenty in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
The music and lyrics of the song were improvised on stage during a concert in Southern Ontario (the guitarist, Randy Bachman, recalled it being at a concert in Kitchener, although Burton Cummings, the lead singer, said it was at the Broom and Stone, a curling rink in Scarborough). Bachman was playing notes while tuning his guitar after replacing a broken string, and he realized he was playing a new riff that he wanted to remember. He continued playing it and the other band members returned to the stage and joined in, creating a jam session in which Cummings improvised the lyrics. They noticed a kid with a cassette recorder making a bootleg recording and asked him for the tape. They listened to the tape and noted down the words that Cummings had extemporized, and which he later revised.
The song's lyrics have been the matter of debate, often interpreted as an attack on U.S. politics (especially the draft). 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.' It was all a happy accident."
Bachman expressed the view in 2014 that it was "an anti-war protest song", explaining that when they came up with it on stage, the band and the audience had a problem with the Vietnam War. Said Bachman: "We had been touring the States. This was the late '60s, one time at the US/Canada border in North Dakota they tried to draft us and send us to Vietnam. We were back in Canada, playing in the safety of Canada where the dance is full of draft dodgers who've all left the States". The Guess Who were invited to play at the White House on July 17, 1970, shortly after the song's release. Because of its perceived anti-American lyrics, Pat Nixon, the wife of President Richard Nixon, asked that they not play ‘American Woman’.
‘American Woman’ was the first song by a Canadian band to hit #1 in America. Next to do it was another Randy Bachman act: Bachman-Turner Overdrive with ‘You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet’ in 1974.
Label – RCA Victor
Songwriters – Burton Cummings, Garry Peterson, Jim Kale, Randy Bachman
Producer – Jack Richardson
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]American woman gonna mess your mind
American woman, she gonna mess your mind
Mm, American woman gonna mess your mind
Mm, American woman gonna mess your mind
Say A
Say M
Say E
Say R
Say I
You C
Say A
N, mmm
American woman gonna mess your mind
Mmm, American woman gonna mess your mind
Uh, American woman gonna mess your mind
Uh!
[Verse 1]
American woman
Stay away from me
American woman
Mama, let me be
Don't come a-hangin' around my door
I don't wanna see your face no more
I got more important things to do
Than spend my time growin' old with you
Now, woman
I said stay away
American woman
Listen what I say
[Verse 2]
American woman
Get away from me
American woman
Mama, let me be
Don't come a-knockin' around my door
Don't wanna see your shadow no more
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now, woman
I said get away
American woman
Listen what I say, hey
[Instrumental Break 02:51-03:42]
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
American woman
Said get away
American woman
Listen what I say
Don't come a-hangin' around my door
Don't wanna see your face no more
I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now, woman
Get away from me
American woman
Mama, let me be
[Outro]
Go, gotta get away
Gotta get away now, go, go, go
I'm gonna leave you, woman
Gonna leave you, woman
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
You're no good for me, I'm no good for you
Gonna look you right in the eye, tell you what I'm gonna do
You know I'm gonna leave
You know I'm gonna go, you know I'm gonna leave
You know I'm gonna go, woman
I'm gonna leave, woman
Goodbye, American woman
Goodbye, American chick