American Woman
The Guess Who’s Finest Hour
1969 was a very good year for the Canadian band “The Guess Who”, and the culmination of much hard work and dedication. By 1967 the group had established their classic lineup of Burton Cummings (lead vocals, keyboards), Randy Bachman (guitar, background vocals), Jim Kale (bass, background vocals) and Garry Peterson (drums, background vocals). This quartet had the experience, musical chops and chemistry necessary to establish them not only as Canada’s premier rock and roll band, but as a rock and roll band that could favourably compete with any of the top English or American acts of the day. The compositions that the talented song-writing team of Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings were creating were perfect vehicles for the band's musical talents and Burton Cummings’ tremendous vocal abilities.
In March 1969, the band released “These Eyes” as a single in the U.S., subsequent to its Canadian debut. It was a major hit, and the band’s first million seller. As a result of the song’s success, the band re-entered the recording studio in the spring of 1969 and recorded their next big hit, “Laughing”, which was released in July. Burton Cummings has said that an A&R (Artist & Repertoire) executive from their record label RCA told him that if the band could come up with another hit like “These Eyes”, they would have it made. “Laughing” was that hit. It also achieved the status of a double sided hit, when disk jockeys began flipping it over and playing the B side, “Undun”. In addition to the singles, the Guess Who also released the albums “Wheatfield Soul” and “Canned Wheat” in March and September of 1969 respectively.
However, these successes would just be the launching ramp to what was to be arguably the band’s finest hour. The story of how the song “American Woman” came about is now fairly well known. The band was playing a gig in Ontario and Randy Bachman had broken a string. The other members took an impromptu break while he put on a new string and tuned up. While tuning, he began fooling around with a riff, and after he began playing it, he noticed the crowd suddenly paying attention. Realizing he was on to something, he called on the rest of the band to the stage to join him. The other musicians jumped in on the groove, with Burton providing an improvised vocal line consisting of “American woman, stay away from me”. In a moment of pure serendipity, a song which would forever define the Guess Who was born.
The band entered RCA’s Mid-American Recording Centre in Chicago, Illinois in mid August of 1969 to start recording their sixth album and the third one for RCA. Although the album was to be called “American Woman”, and would contain a single version of the title track, the first track to be released from these sessions was an updated recording of “No Time”, which in its original form had appeared on their previous album “Canned Wheat”. The band was unhappy with the first version, as it been recorded in an old RCA studio (that the band had been contractually obligated to use) that was not suitable acoustically for modern recording. The band thought the song had the potential to be another hit for them though, so they recorded it again, in a slightly different version. They were right, as it turned out to be their third million selling single, eventually reaching number 1 in Canada and number 5 in the U.S. “No Time” was released in November of 1969 in Canada, and in December of 1969 in the U.S.
In January of 1970, the Guess Who released the album “American Woman”. The album contained 9 tracks, including an instrumental written by Randy Bachman. However, it was the release of the single version of the album’s title track that turned out to be the highest charting song the band would ever record, and the first American number one record for a Canadian rock and roll band. The Guess Who had been going for a grittier sound in their recordings. While they were justifiably proud of their earlier successes, they knew they had the ability to write and record songs that were closer to the way the band sounded live. Burton Cummings unquestionably had one the great voices in modern popular music, capable of bringing a searing intensity and deep sincerity to the lyrical content of the songs he and Randy Bachman were writing. In American Woman, the band had written a song which would be the perfect platform to showcase the harder, more driving sound they were aiming for, including Randy Bachman’s guitar sound, and Burton Cummings’ vocal chops.
The album version of the song begins with a solo acoustic guitar, played with a laid-back, bluesy roots type of feel, along with a vocal by Burton Cummings. This introduction acts as a segue into the actual song (the single version eschews the acoustic intro). The “American Woman” opening guitar riff, the one Randy Bachman composed that evening in the curling rink while tuning his guitar, has become a classic of the rock music genre; instantly identifiable. The rhythm has a funky feel, with a syncopated groove that makes the listener want to move (and in combination with the tempo, made the song a dance floor classic). In addition to the great groove the song has, there were in my opinion two other important musical ingredients that really stood out on this record and made it a hit; Randy Bachman’s guitar sound and Burton Cummings’ impassioned vocal. The guitar sound came from Randy Bachman’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul, played through a unique electronic device built for him called a “Herzog”. This was a tube pre-amplifier designed by a friend of the band named Garnet Gillies, an electronics repair person and musician. Much like Toronto’s Pete Traynor, Garnet Gillies would go on to start his own company and eventually build a line of uniquely Canadian musical instrument amplifiers under the “Garnet” name. The Herzog was designed to provide a deep, warm sustain to the lead guitar lines Randy played. It can be heard to great effect on the guitar solos played throughout the song.
Burton Cummings delivers his vocals with passion and depth, singing with a slightly harder edge than in previous recordings. The song's lyrical content and the conviction with which Burton Cummings sang them gave the song a level of authenticity not normally associated with popular music. The lyrics themselves are an allegory about the turbulent period in history that the Guess Who had found themselves. As proud Canadians plying their trade in America, they were witness to the political unrest and challenges that were day to day occurrences in that country, specifically as a result of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. To the band’s credit, they put their feelings into words and produced a hit single that combined great music and profound social commentary on a crucial topic.
The single version of “American Woman” would go to number 1 on the Billboard charts on May 9, 1970, making it the most popular record in America at that particular time in history, based on radio play and record sales. It was a tremendous achievement.
The Guess Who continues to perform, although the current version of the band has very little to do with the quartet that recorded “American Woman”. Both Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman would leave the group to further their careers on their own terms. The music that the band produced during its heyday has stood the test of time however, and all of the contributors should feel justifiably proud. “American Woman” is certainly proof of that.
