american woman

The Guess Who were on the way to better things with the hypnotizing mind-messing sparkle of the new mother nature taking over.    The Canadian band originally formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba as Allan and the Silvertones before changing their name to Chad Allan and the Reflections and then Chad Allan and the Expressions.  In the US, their first single "Shakin' All Over" was released by Quality Records with the name as "Guess Who?" as a marketing ploy.  The name stuck and keyboardist Bob Ashley left to be replaced by Burton Cummings who shared lead vocals for a few months before Chad Allan quit too.   

The group struggled for a couple of years before signing to RCA Records to record Wheatfield Soul in 1969 with the million-selling hit single "These Eyes".  That same year they released Canned Wheat with two more hits "Laughing" and "Undun" and returned to RCA Mid-America Recording Center in Chicago to record 'American Woman'.  Jack Richardson produced all three albums with engineer Brian Christian.  The sessions featured Burton Cummings on lead vocals, guitar, piano, organ, flute, keyboards, and harmonica;   Randy Bachman on guitar, tambourine, and backing vocals;  Jim Kale on bass and backing vocals;   and Garry Peterson on drums, percussion, and backing vocals.  

Cummings says:   "Because we were contracted to RCA and we had to record in RCA Studios and they had a wonderful studio in downtown Chicago. Right on North Wacker Drive across from the opera house. It was a wonderful studio and we spent a lot of time there. We did the American Woman album there, we did Share The Land album there, we did So Long, Bannatyne; all those singles came out of there – “No Time,” “American Woman,” “No Sugar Tonight,” “Hand Me Down World,” “Share The Land,” “Rain Dance.” It was great. We felt very comfortable there...[Jack Richardson] arranged a lot of the vocals. He gave us great suggestions all along. Had he not been the right guy, we would have made a move to get somebody else. But as it was, he did all sixteen albums we did for RCA. Same engineer and the same producer. And you know sixteen albums, good God, that’s like four careers these days."








http://www.theguesswho.com/









"American Woman" became the biggest hit of their career, going to number nineteen in the UK, seven in Austria, four in the Netherlands and Switzerland, and number one in Canada and the US.   Cummings reveals the origin of the song:    “Alright here are the true goods …it was jammed onstage one night in Mississauga, Ontario, we were playing at a club called the Broom & Stone which was actually a curling rink and doing two shows that night. I guess we hadn’t gotten that big yet. Between the two shows, I was outside bartering with this kid, he had some old Gene Vincent records that I wanted to get for my collection and tried to strike-up a deal with this guy. The next thing I know, it’s time to start the second show and the other three guys have gone back onstage and I hear them start this riff … (Burton began mimicking the opening riff to “American Woman.”) I said to this guy … Oh my God; I’m supposed to be onstage man, I’ve got to run, I’ll see you later about these Gene Vincent records.   I run inside and run up onto the stage and just grab a microphone and started singing whatever came into my head; it was all stream of consciousness at the moment stuff … all that stuff about war machines and ghetto scenes, colored lights can hypnotize …it was all just spur- of- the- moment. And nobody would have ever heard it again but there happened to be a kid bootlegging the show that night. This was way back in the 60’s and he had a cassette machine, and those machines were a relatively new invention at that time. But this was 1968, forty-five years ago. We noticed this onstage as the night went on and he still kept recording. So we motioned to our road manager… go get that tape-go get that tape! He got the cassette tape and we listened to it later and heard this jam about American Woman stay away from me. So we actually kind of learned it from that tape, otherwise nobody would have ever heard it again. So talk about a Cinderella story. And that was a monstrous hit record for us; it was number one on Billboard for three weeks. So it was all an accident, I guess the music Gods were smiling on us. The music Gods probably sent that kid with the cassette machine.    When RCA heard “American Woman,” the guy that was head of A&R was listening and he threw up his newspaper in the air and said, 'That’s a number one record!' He immediately new it was going to be big.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl4GWOkvDeM


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
C
Say A
N, mm
American woman gonna mess your mind
Mm, American woman gonna mess your mind
Uh, American woman gonna mess your mind

Uh!

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

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

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

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 ya, woman
Goodbye, American woman...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkqfpkTTy2w






"No Time" went to number five in the US and number one in Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPX48NpSRvo

original version from Canned Wheat 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqeSUAlI5uI








"No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature"  went to the top of the charts in Canada and the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFNsvTlu6cA

"No Sugar Tonight" single edit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmeUCGQ0xnM





'American Woman'
side one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnpXi-FCYTg









'American Woman'
full album:




All songs written by Randy Bachman/Burton Cummings except noted

"American Woman" (The Guess Who) - 5:11
"No Time" - 3:50
"Talisman" - 5:10
"No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" - 4:55
"969 (The Oldest Man) (Instrumental)" (Bachman) - 3:00
"When Friends Fall Out" - 3:04
"8:15" - 3:31
"Proper Stranger" - 4:06
"Humpty's Blues/American Woman (Epilogue)" (The Guess Who) - 6:12
bonus track
"Got to Find Another Way" - 2:51