Joined: 25 Aug 2013 Age: 67 Gender: Male Posts: 38,085 Location: Long Island, New York
21 Feb 2024, 12:45 pm
_________________ Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013 DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Joined: 25 Aug 2013 Age: 67 Gender: Male Posts: 38,085 Location: Long Island, New York
09 Mar 2024, 9:38 am
This song went to number one and was constantly played on the radio in America which looking back from a 2024 prospective is mind blowing. If it was released today a lot of radio stations would be scared to play it, there would be campaign to not let this band into the United States. There would be your face demonstrations at their concerts, their websites would be hacked. Since the band was from Canada there would be anti Canadian sentiment expressed.
One cannot say we were more mellow then. This hit number one in May 1970 at height of internal divisions over the Vietnam War, yet I don’t recall anything more then a little bit of consternation about an anti American/anti Vietnam war protest song*.
*From Songfacts One of the most misinterpreted songs ever, this is often heard as a patriotic ode or a tribute to American women. It's usually American listeners who arrive at the jingoistic conclusions, ignoring a very clear lyric: "American Woman, get away from me."
The Guess Who are Canadian, and Burton Cummings (the song's lyricist) insists it has nothing to do with American pride. "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," Cummings told the Toronto Star in 2014. "When I said 'American woman, stay away from me,' I really meant 'Canadian woman, I prefer you.' It was all a happy accident."
Speaking with Songfacts, Randy Bachman called "American Woman" an "antiwar protest song," explaining that when they came up with it on stage, both 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, they tried to draft us, 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 lines where the anti-Vietnam sentiment are most apparent are "I don't want your war machines, I don't want your ghetto scenes."
My 12 year old self certainly thought of it as an anti American song. The first time I heard about it being interpreted as a jingoistic song was when I read about in songfacts. I am befuddled, I have no clue where the jingoistic interpretation would come from. At the time it was a really good song and still is “Classic Rock” in every sense of the term.
Extended version
GenX members may be more familiar with the Lenny Kravitz cover.
_________________ Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013 DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
04 Feb 2024, 3:41 am
