Video ID not provided: Please check your shortcode.{"id":132,"date":"2010-10-20T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T04:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/?p=132"},"modified":"2010-10-14T14:02:25","modified_gmt":"2010-10-14T18:02:25","slug":"american-woman-by-the-guess-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/132\/american-woman-by-the-guess-who\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAmerican Woman\u201d by The Guess Who"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cAmer\u00adi\u00adcan woman, get away from me
\nAmer\u00adi\u00adcan woman, mama let me be
\nDon\u2019t come knock\u00ading around my door
\nI don\u2019t want to see your shad\u00adow no more
\nCol\u00adored lights can hypnotize
\nSparkle some\u00adone else\u2019s eyes
\nNow woman, get away
\nAmer\u00adi\u00adcan woman, lis\u00adten what I say\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n\n

Descrip\u00adtion:<\/em> \u201cAmer\u00adi\u00adcan Woman\u201d<\/a> by the Cana\u00addi\u00adan rock band The Guess Who<\/a> start\u00aded out at as jam in Kitch\u00adn\u00ader, Ontario, in July, 1969, with Bur\u00adton Cum\u00admings impro\u00advis\u00ading the lyrics with Randy Bach\u00adman back\u00ading on gui\u00adtar. The band was rush\u00ading to begin their sec\u00adond set and began impro\u00advis\u00ading to warm up the crowd.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt start\u00aded as a jam,\u201d said co-writer Kale. \u201cWe were play\u00ading in Ontario after being on the road in the States, try\u00ading to solid\u00adi\u00adfy our hold in the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan mar\u00adket\u00adplace with \u2018These Eyes.\u2019 We were play\u00ading a two-set sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion, and for one rea\u00adson or anoth\u00ader we were late get\u00adting back onstage for the sec\u00adond set. In order to dis\u00adpel the omi\u00adnous air that was hang\u00ading over the place \u2014 as we raced on the stage, one by one we picked up on just this sim\u00adple rhythm. Cum\u00admings came up, ad-libbed some lyrics, and it worked. We record\u00aded it just like that. It was an acci\u00addent \u2014 com\u00adplete\u00adly spontaneous.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2018Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Woman\u2019 was also con\u00adtro\u00adver\u00adsial. The pop\u00adu\u00adlar mis\u00adcon\u00adcep\u00adtion was that it was a chau\u00advin\u00adis\u00adtic tune, which was any\u00adthing but the case. The fact was, we came from a very strait-laced, con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive, laid-back coun\u00adtry, and all of a sud\u00adden, there we were in Chica\u00adgo, Detroit, New York \u2014 all these hor\u00adren\u00addous\u00adly large places with their big city prob\u00adlems. After that one par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly grind\u00ading tour, it was just a real treat to go home and see the girls we had grown up with. Also, the war was going on, and that was ter\u00adri\u00adbly unpop\u00adu\u00adlar. We did\u00adn\u2019t have a draft sys\u00adtem in Cana\u00adda, and we were grate\u00adful for that. A lot of peo\u00adple called in anti-Amer\u00adi\u00adcan, but it was\u00adn\u2019t real\u00adly. We weren\u2019t anti-any\u00adthing. John Lennon once said that the mean\u00adings of all songs come after they are record\u00aded. Some\u00adone else has to inter\u00adpret them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Com\u00admen\u00adtary:<\/em> In the tur\u00adbu\u00adlent times of the Six\u00adties and ear\u00adly Sev\u00aden\u00adties, rela\u00adtions between Cana\u00adda and the Unit\u00aded States were some\u00adwhat strained. Canada\u2019s accep\u00adtance of draft-dodgers (Cana\u00adda had no mil\u00adi\u00adtary draft) seek\u00ading to avoid the Viet\u00adnam War and their gen\u00ader\u00adal dis\u00adtaste for the War itself, and their refusal to coop\u00ader\u00adate with the nuclear expan\u00adsion pro\u00adgram of the Nixon Admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion all con\u00adtributed to feel\u00adings of dis\u00adcon\u00adtent between two coun\u00adtries with a long-stand\u00ading tra\u00addi\u00adtion of coop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion (and, some would way, benign indif\u00adfer\u00adence on the part of the US.) US pres\u00adsure on Cana\u00adda, in sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtions such as draft-dodg\u00ading, was seen as unac\u00adcept\u00adable inter\u00adfer\u00adence in Cana\u00addi\u00adan affairs.<\/p>\n

All this comes out in Bur\u00adton\u2019s lyrics: the seduc\u00adtive abil\u00adi\u00adty of the more pow\u00ader\u00adful Unit\u00aded States over its ally and neigh\u00adbor, the resis\u00adtance by the Cana\u00addi\u00adans, the desire, the need on the part of the Cana\u00addi\u00adans to be heard. And they were heard. \u201cAmer\u00adi\u00adcan Woman\u201d hit #1 on the Bill\u00adboard Top 100 chart and was part of a rare \u201cdou\u00adble-gold\u201d with \u201cNo Sug\u00adar Tonight\/New Moth\u00ader Nature\u201d<\/a> (both sides of the sin\u00adgle hit\u00adting #1.) At the time, it com\u00adpet\u00aded with \u201cABC\u201d by The Jack\u00adson 5 and \u201cLet It Be\u201d by the Bea\u00adt\u00adles, two very pop\u00adu\u00adlar songs in their own right, mak\u00ading \u201cAmer\u00adi\u00adcan Woman\u201c \u2018s accom\u00adplish\u00adment all that much more impressive.<\/p>\n

Triv\u00adia:<\/em><\/p>\n