Guess Who: American Woman Meaning

Song Released: 1970

American Woman Lyrics

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...

1. anonymous

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   May 8th 2017 !⃝

   if is was not for America u would be living like some south America country
2. anonymous

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   Apr 30th 2017 !⃝

   When I first heard "American Woman" while serving in the U.S. Navy I believed and still believe the lyrics are anti-American. Yes, we have our faults, but many good people do good works to alleviate social injustice in this country.
   If an American band performed this song in Canada substituting "Canadian" for "American" in the lyrics they would be booed across the border. We don't need the Guess Who lecturing us. Go home Canucks!
3. anonymous

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   Dec 5th 2016 !⃝

   Nonsense. It's virulently anti-American. Nothing to do with nukes. It's a slap at the US in general, which is kind of funny because the band was willing to accept all the cash they got from Americans who bought the record. More Americans should have paid attention to the words. To this day I won't listen to anything by this group.
4. anonymous

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   Apr 4th 2016 !⃝

   Believe this song was not meant to be about ore against the average good decent AMERICAN WOMEN that they are. To me ''American Woman'' was basically about the downside brought by ''The Femenists'' movements that got into the acts of protests during the times of the Vietnam War. They were not necessarily against the war, but supposedly ran, walked and protest for power under the equal rights act to empower themselves against the establishment of men who held power in their guns. Mostly within their family, government and The Church that ''The Femenists'' wanted to break through and steal their guns, which ultimately gave more power to them, especially by having more so called lesbians,perverts and homo-sexuality that influenced more irresponsible sexual freedom that led to to many abortions. This on the overall has been coming and turning into the ''BAAL TEMPLE'' worshipers to party in orgies that '' unfortunately'' broke and still wanna brake families apart that left and will leave their children as a sacrifice to be raised by the streets of our cities that did and are still ''feeling the burn'' of what these Femenists caused and still wanna cause our children pain that are always hoping for a better future.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. anonymous

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   Sep 6th 2014 !⃝

   well iam dissappointed i thought there no connotation means behind the lyrics , i have seen a lot whining and complain about american women nowadays..

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
6. anonymous

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   Jun 4th 2014 !⃝

   ghetto schemes- government approved slums
7. sidewinder

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   May 3rd 2013 !⃝

   DrWinston Oboogie should come up with a new name. It is not cool to rip off a dead man.
   John Lennon used that name throughout the 1970's till his murder.
   
   Also using this name while commenting on a song that has such implications as war and women, two things Lennon had problems with all his life, shows no taste. I have been a fan of Lennon's music all my life, but his physical bouts with fighting especially hitting women was terrible. He even confessed to his favorite guitarist Jessie Ed Davis that feared his fighting past would lead to a violent death,
8. anonymous

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   Nov 30th 2012 !⃝

   The American Woman they are talking about is Don Henley's bubbleheaded bleach blonde who comes on at 5. Canadians on the border watched a lot of American news telling them about the war and the ghetto scenes. Guess Who wanted to push back against the American culture encroaching on Canada.
9. anonymous

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   Jun 19th 2012 !⃝

   But the meaning of a song changes with time and situation. Nowadays, it has a very anti-feminist meaning to it, and that's what I like about. :)

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
10. anonymous

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    Mar 29th 2012 !⃝

    American Woman was a favorite of the Muslim students in the 1970's and 1980's. I'm glad they played it so much. It showed us what jerks they were and so many of us are still non-Muslim, proud, independent, alive, and American Women!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. anonymous

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    Mar 20th 2012 !⃝

    I'm from overseas, and I always thought of American woman as America the Nation, and I always connected it in regards to war and all of it's ugliness that comes with it.
    My american friends never had a clue what the song was about. Apparentely I was not the only one who shared my opinion.
    God bless all of us
12. anonymous

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    Mar 20th 2012 !⃝

    I'm from overseas, and I always thought of American woman as America the Nation, and I always connected it in regards to war and all of it's ugliness that comes with it.
    My american friends never had a clue what the song was about. Apparentely I was not the only one who shared my opinion.
    God bless all of us
13. anonymous

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    Mar 20th 2012 !⃝

    I'm from overseas, and I always thought of American woman as America the Nation, and I always connected it in regards to war and all of it's ugliness that comes with it.
    My american friends never had a clue what the song was about. Apparentely I was not the only one who shared my opinion.
    God bless all of us
14. anonymous

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    Nov 24th 2011 !⃝

    No interpretation but Randy Bachman telling the story...See interview link:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2AJNs-4v7k&feature=youtu.be
15. Winnipegger

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    Sep 16th 2009 !⃝

    Actually, Dr. Winston is almost right on.
    
    The song was more or less improv on the spot, and was "created" at a concert in Kingston, Ontario. I'm not sure that Burton was necessarily mingling with some chicks, but he was at least observing some, and (according to him) in his mind, he was saying, "Canadian Woman, I prefer you". The band was onstage waiting for him and was playing filler music including the guitar riff that defined this song.
    
    Instead of singing something positive about preferring Canadian girls, he instead started singing lyrics that were negative toward American girls. What he actually sang on that occasion is lost in the mists of time, and it is possible that they bore no resemblence to the final lyrics.
    
    According to Jim Kale, the Guess Who's bassist, and co-author of the song:
    
    "The popular misconception was that it was a chauvinistic tune, which was anything but the case. The fact was, we came from a very strait-laced, conservative, laid-back country, and all of a sudden, there we were in Chicago, Detroit, New York — all these horrendously large places with their big city problems. After that one particularly grinding 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 terribly unpopular. We didn't have a draft system in Canada, and we were grateful for that. A lot of people called it anti-American, but it wasn't really. We weren't anti-anything."
    
    Randy Bachman has claimed that the American woman referred to in the song is in fact the Statue of Liberty, furthering the anti-war theme."

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