The Accidental Origin of the Hit Song ‘American Woman’
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- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2024
- The song “American Woman” by The Guess Who wasn't ever supposed to happen. It wasn't planned, staged or pre-meditated. But you all know the iconic riff. Sometimes all it takes for a hit song to form is an accident, a bit of luck and a whole lot of inspiration. For Randy Bachman and The Guess Who, that's exactly what happened.
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Love the story. Bachman deserves credit for the riff but Burton Cummings is the hero. Making a song off the cuff takes real talent.
Well, he revised the lyrics later.
That's only half of the story. A fan in the audience recorded the show. He came backstage after the show and played them the recording. It was when they heard the jam on the tape, that they realized there was something there.
makes you wonder if the tape still exists.
BadfingerBoogieBarb , Bloxarator Games, I heard Cummings tell this story in a interview on The King Biscuit Power Hour in the 80's and he talked about the kid with the cassette recording and the cassette player was confiscated by the band.
do you have the tape?
Can you imagine that ? One of the greatest Rock songs ever. A spur of the moment thing.
@@thomassmith2248 One would hope that they paid for the tape and the recorder, otherwise that is theft and the fan could sue them and take royalties from the song as compensation. Now wouldn't that hurt a lot more than the cost of the tape and recorder?
That curling rink in Waterloo, Ontario is Glenbriar Curling Rink, which is now Glenbriar Home Hardware on 262 Weber Street North. There is a plaque on the outer wall of the building commemorating The Guess Who event in Canadian music History.
Thank God for that weird officer and the broken guitar!
Guitar string
serendipity
What if the officer was god
I've watched this video 20 times. It never gets old. 🎸
Can’t find the old live performance of it anymore, does anyone have a link to it? Would be much appreciated
A great story on a monumental rock and roll song. The song "American Woman" ranks right up there with "Satisfaction" "Light my fire" "London Calling" ect... as far as I'm concerned.
the beauty of creation is that inspiration can come from anywhere, music as a whole is one of the greatest creations of humanity 🤘
The rift was important but it was Burton Cummings lead vocals that was the driving force behind this song becoming popular.
Glenbriar Home hardware in Waterloo Ontario has a sign that says all this.
Funny that he says it was staunchly anti war song but almost every story that my uncle has told me from Vietnam has included the fact that they used to LOVE blasting this song through their mic system in his tank every time they would get into intense fire fights… anytime we listen to this song, he stills feels the adrenaline boost/high from getting opened up on by NVA troops with AKs and RPGs in Cambodia..
Regardless of it being anti war or not, most soldiers/particularly drafted soldiers, were anti war and against the entire thing, only fighting for themselves and friends.
Very similar to the origin of "Rumble" by Link Wray, which was also improvised on the spot.
Whoa, whoa, whoa ... a group of CANADIAN lads should get drifted to Vietnam, a US conflict?! Hope the guy was just screwing around with them, cuz that doesn’t sound legal at all!
When it comes to fighting wars, the USA doesn't give a fuck about what's legal.
when you have a Green card to live and or work in the USA, Legally you could've and would get Drafted into the US Military.
My dad did 4 tours of Duty in Vietnam, and He met all type Of Europeans whilst in Vietnam. Ranging from riflemen to cooks and Engineers.
once you are living on US Soil, You can get Drafted, especially in 1970 when the Draft became mandatory...
@@SteveRood1 Damn that is crazy, I never knew that.
still cant believe that song was birthed in my hometown
I don't think they were in North Dakota at the Canadian border because it's over 24 hours driving time to get to Waterloo travelling through Canada. I believe they were in either Windsor or Port Huron trying to cross. It's a really cool story though!
They’re from Winnipeg so they had crossed directly south to ND. When they went back to Winnipeg they drove to Waterloo to get to the gig
@@tyguyrocks It's still a long haul from Manitoba to Scarborough (Toronto suburb) Ontario since there are no direct roads from point A to point B. Many hours drive time.
Yes.....a 36 hour drive from Winnipeg to Waterloo (Toronto area)
Wow, I thought I knew this story but had never heard the green card/draft aspect -- I think all I knew was that Randy broke a string and Burton started imrovising lyrics. Makes a profound and iconic song even more profound and iconic! For me, at least. Thanks for this.
It actually doesn't matter because its still bloody AWESOME in this day AND age ...
Kind of like when The Doors were waiting for Jim Morrison to show up at a L.A concert. The band was just filling in time on stage and just jamming waiting for Jim Morrison's flight to arrive. He just walked on stage and from the top of hid head started to sing L.A Woman. It was a lucky thing that performance had been recorded.
what a great story!
Actually, the curling rink was located in Scarborough, Ontario... a place called The Broome & Stone... not Kitchener.. Burton Cummings version is correct
You're wrong the curling rink is in Waterloo ... and how do I know this was the site for the creation of that song, simple I was there that night.
and then Sam Beckett, finally, was able to leap. Oh boy.
Actually, the curling rink was a place called The Broome & Stone, located in Scarborough (not Waterloo). It was located in the corner of Midland and Lawrence Avenue.
Woo! Long live rock n’ roll 🤟🏻
I really like this song
Man, that is just awesome!
This was on NPR like 2 months ago...
NPR?
Nick Calus national public radio
I've always wondered why no one plays the song all the way thru, it is always faded down before it gets to the end. That's where you get the clue that it's a protest song, at the end in the lyrics you never hear any more.
Hmm I have the Guess Who 2 disc anthology and didn't notice anything past "Goodbye American Woman" at the fade out. Guess I have to keep an eye out for the vinyl now.
@@1978garfield The lyric sheet on the original LP has "Goodbye American woman, goodbye American chick, goodbye American broad." I've only heard up to the last "good-" at which point it has faded out completely.
Listen ruclips.net/video/J8uANfdxRt0/видео.html
some songs take years and years to make BUT THEY MADE ONE IN 5 SECS
I've never heard of this
You may heard different version like a cover from Lenny Kravitz
Chevy Chelios wasn’t there an acoustic version as well?
I'm from Waterloo !!!!!
Hahaha me too
I was there. When Randy said sing something I thought he was pissed because Burton had come in late from the break having a smoke and talking with fans out front.These guys don't even have their shit together. Fall of 69. I had recently returned from The Atlantic City Pop Festival. It was 2 weeks before Woodstock. When it hit the airwaves I was living in Detroit and every time it came on the radio my buddies girlfriend would sing "Canadian Boy stay away from me"
So was this song about the officer or The statue of liberty?? I love this song, and I'm an American.
the American woman represents the USA
AWESOMENESS!
Muse music ! Fantastic....
American Woman was released in 1970
The Guess Who couldn't be drafted... They were a Canadian band.. Didn't that stupid border guard know this?
He apparently didn't care. He was just some yokel who fancied himself because he wore a government uniform.
They had green cards to work in the states, by having green cards they could have by law been drafted. Some question weither the officer was joking with them or if she was serious though
thats the most canadian story ive ever heard
Awesome
Nice story
Killer story
wow this is cool
hello everybody
NEVER HEARD OF IT BUT IT COOL
The only reason I know this song is because it was in a Austin Powers movie.
Pause at 2:31, You’ve got gnomed!
Why only tell half the story?
The real question is why I'd he say American women
It's the Statue of Liberty. The lyrics are all they had seen travelling around America doing gigs and it all got poured into this song spurred by how close they had come to being drafted not realizing what that work permit actually meant.
Waterloo Canada.....like which province?? Ontario has a Waterloo...
Randy has said it was Waterloo in this video, another time he said it was Kitchener. It was infact in Scarborough, Ontario at a curling hall called the Broome & Stone
“It was a big hit in the 60’s.” Really, the song was released in 1970. 😒
Even back then, I don't think they could draft Canadian citizens.
You might want to listen more carefully. They had green cards. Made them eligible to work in the US and that also made them draft eligible.
Wut is dis song?
How would they draft Canadian citizens? I do not understand.
Listen to the story. They had green cards. This allowed them to work in the US and made them draft eligible.
666 Likes
WOW SO AMAZING
Let me stop 😔
I did *NOT* recognize that song
The greatest MGTOW song ever made.
I never thought of this as an anti-war song. I always interpreted it as criticism of the newly formed American Feminist movement with its "gender warfare" rhetoric and pretentious propaganda tactics claiming to be victimized at a time when men were being drafted into the Army to defend their rights from gangsters with no respect for them.
well you were wrong
AaronThePerson haha best comment
Truth be told the song itself can have multiple meanings to the listeners
The woman being referred to is the statue of liberty. That's not my opinion either but what the band members previously said.
"you know this riff"
i really don't...
"It changed the world, it changed radio." Really, Randy? Just a bit over the top, eh,?
pacificnorthwester it did if under you were to understand what happened in that line time
pacificnorthwester Go get some coffee hipster.
So did the condom broke
100th comment
They weren't going to get drafted, and it became a theme for bada$$ women.
Randy Bachman never misses a chance to blah blah blah.
First
Such bullshit. This was NOT a big hit in the sixties. It came out in 1970. It was NOT an iconic anti-war song. It has nothing to do with war. It did NOT change radio and the world. One thing it did do was demonstrate that a song could have such a great groove, musically, that the public would ignore the idiotic lyrics. Of course, there had been plenty of idiotic lyrics in hit songs prior to "American Woman," but I've got this give the Guess Who credit for a really killer groove.
No, I actually didn't know that riff or the song Llamao.
Euro B. Get educated
Second
never heard that riff?
third