1970 Rock Anthem, a Sneaky Anti-War Protest Song, Was No. 1 56 Years Ago Today
In 1970, by the time The Guess Who released "American Woman," the band was already on a remarkable run of hits. But few listeners realized one of the decade's most recognizable rock songs was also carrying a pointed anti-war message beneath its snarling guitar riff.
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.
Years later, guitarist Randy Bachman revealed the song was born completely by accident during an improvised onstage jam session in Kitchener, Ontario.
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.
"I started to play that riff on stage, and I look at the audience, who are now milling about and talking amongst themselves," Bachman explained. "And all their heads snapped back. Suddenly I realize I'm playing a riff I don't want to forget, and I have to keep playing it."
As the jam continued, Bachman called the rest of the band back onstage, including singer Burton Cummings.
"I yell out, ‘Sing something!'" Bachman remembered. "And the first words out of his mouth were, ‘American woman, stay away from me.'"
But according to Bachman, the song's meaning quickly became much deeper than a catchy hook.
"We had been touring the States," he explained. "This was the late '60s, they tried to draft us, send us to Vietnam. We were back in Canada, playing in the safety of Canada where the dance is full of draft dodgers who've all left the States."
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."
He also clarified that the title itself was symbolic.
"‘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.'"
Ironically, Bachman said radio stations initially embraced the song before fully recognizing its political undertones.
"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."
Despite its controversial subtext, "American Woman" became one of the defining rock songs of the 1970s and remains The Guess Who's signature hit more than five decades later.
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.
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 7:24 AM.