Released during the height of the Vietnam War era, “American Woman” climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-May 1970, becoming the Canadian band’s biggest crossover success in the United States.
Speaking to Songfacts, Bachman recalled breaking a guitar string during a concert and being forced to retune his instrument alone onstage while the rest of the band stepped away.
As the jam continued, Bachman called the rest of the band back onstage, including singer Burton Cummings.
But according to Bachman, the song’s meaning quickly became much deeper than a catchy hook.
Bachman later described the song as “basically an antiwar protest song,” pointing specifically to lyrics including “We don't want your war machines, we don't want your ghetto scenes.”
“‘American Woman’ is not the woman on the street,” Bachman said. “It's the Statue of Liberty and that poster of Uncle Sam with the stars and stripes top hat where he has a finger pointing to you, ‘Uncle Sam Wants You.’”
“And then it went to No. 1 in Billboard before they realized it was an antiwar protest song, because they weren't allowed to play protest songs on the radio," Bachman explained. "The government outlawed it. ... They only played 'Fighting Men of the Green Berets,' the Sergeant Barry Sadler of the Green Berets kind of thing."
The song found a new generation of fans in 1999 when Lenny Kravitz recorded a cover version for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Kravitz’s version became a major hit of its own and won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
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