“Of War Machines and Ghetto Scenes”: English-Canadian Nationalism and The Guess Who's “American Woman”

Abstract

Woman, stay away from me. (1) Grungy and over-driven, The Guess Who's 1970 title track acted as a Canadian call-to-arms, unofficial national anthem, and became the most popular song in Canadian rock 'n' roll history. Canadian popular culture authors Geoff Pevere and Greig Dymond call probably the most blatant dis of our southern neighbor in recording history, while Chart magazine columnist Aaron Brophy notes that it has become an anthem of sorts, with us Canadians thumbing our noses at those damn Yankees across the border. (2) Two recent rankings have affirmed its place in Canadiana: Chart magazine's July-August 2000 Top 50 Canadian Songs of All Time, and a reader-selected list tallied by Sun Media (publisher of the Toronto Sun and other Canadian newspapers), both placed it as No.1. (3) Shaped by their experiences touring the United States and the nationalist period in which the song was produced, The Guess Who constructed American straw man (or, in this case, a straw woman) of oppressive, militaristic, ghettoized, superficial society, ready for a lyrical gutting. In return, the song was nationally embraced as a vocal manifestation of communal anti-Americanism. is important cultural artifact, highlighting the ferocity of a tremendously nationalistic period. It also illustrates the reciprocal relationship between social climate and the production and reception of cultural goods. As a historian, I will not delve too far into ethnomusicologist's realm of musical aesthetics and audio signifiers--instead, this article will contextualize the lyrics as a textual document created and interpreted within a specific and contentious period of English-Canadian cultural and national consciousness. Rockin' on Guard for Thee: The Guess Who's Vocalist Burton Cummings, guitarist Randy Bachman, bassist Jim Kale, and drummer Gary Peterson out of Winnipeg and rocked both the Canadian and American music scenes. They achieved tremendous success with 1968's Wheatfield Soul single These Eyes and in 1969 with Canned Wheat's Laughing and Undone, but it was the title track to their 1970 American Woman release which ensured their position as one of Canada's greatest rock 'n' roll groups. The song was improvised during a show and almost forgotten, though. Returning to Canada from a tour of the United States, The Guess Who played a gig in a very Canadian location: a hockey arena. (4) Bachman replaced a guitar string during a set break, and in the process of re-tuning he worked out Woman's fuzz-laced riff. Kale and Peterson returned to the stage and jammed while Cummings mingled outside in the arena's parking lot. Told of the band's return to the stage, Cummings rushed back and joined the jam with his harmonica and flute. Exhausting his instrumental selection, he stepped to the microphone and improvised the lyrics to what would become the band's most popular song. According to Cummings, the lyrics came through looking over a Canadian audience after touring through the Southern U.S.A. and just thinking how that Canadian girls looked so much fresher and more alive. (5) The song, however, was almost relegated to a one-time jam. There was a kid in the audience with a cassette recorder, Cummings explained. He backstage afterward and played the song to us, and we thought 'maybe there's something there.' If that kid hadn't brought the tape backstage, the song would have just been another jam that would have been forgotten. (6) Developed and refined for album release, the lyrics reflected several years of touring and traveling in the United States. In 1965 the band--at that time known as Chad Allan and the Expressions--released Shakin' All Over under the guise of the Guess Who?, a marketing trick in which the radio audience was to guess the band's identity. (7) Shakin' All Over's success landed them a tour through the U. …