The Accidental Origin of The Hit Song ‘american Woman’
The song “American Woman” by The Guess Who wasn't ever supposed to happen. It wasn't planned, staged or pre-meditated. Yet you all know the iconic riff. Sometimes all it takes for a hit song to form is an accident, a bit of luck and a whole lot of inspiration. For Randy Bachman and The Guess Who, that's exactly what happened. SUBSCRIBE: ****** Follow us behind the scenes on Instagram: ****** Make our acquaintance on Facebook: ****** Give us a shout on Twitter: ****** Come hang with us on Vimeo: ****** Visit our world directly: ****** Great Big Story is a video network dedicated to the untold, overlooked & flat-out amazing. Humans are capable of incredible things & we're here to tell their stories. When a rocket lands in your backyard, you get in.
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- [Voiceover] You know this riff.
(guitar riff)
It's the song, "American Woman," originally created
by this guy.
- Hi, my name is Randy Bachman.
I'm within the band, The Guess Who.
- [Voiceover] It was a big hit in the '60s
and became one of the most iconic anti-war songs
of the Vietnam era.
- When you look back in time and go,
"Wow, that absolutely changed our life."
That didn't change our life.
It changed everybody's life.
It changed the world.
It changed radio.
- [Voiceover] But here's the thing.
That song that changed radio, it wasn't born
in some recording studio, but by accident,
live on stage, in a Canadian curling arena.
(drum music)
So it's a cold February day in North Dakota.
Randy and the rest of The Guess Who
just crossed the Canadian border
with the intention of playing a showdown in Texas.
While filling up their truck at a local gas station,
a U.S. border patrol officer was calling out to them.
- [Randy] He kept saying, "Hey, boy, you've got to go
"to that building over there, boy.
"You've got to go to do something."
And it was some sort of service building.
I'm not sure what he was saying.
- [Voiceover] Because of their green cards,
the officer was telling them to enter
the Selective Service building to be drafted
and sent to Vietnam.
- [Randy] So we were like terribly frightened.
We got into our car, drove a couple of hundred miles
back to Canada, and we're in Canada without a gig.
- [Voiceover] So Randy made a call to a booking agency,
and because of a last-minute cancellation,
he was able to find a gig at a curling arena in Waterloo.
- [Randy] And we were playing a three-hour dance.
And in the middle of one song, I broke a string.
And our lead singer Burton Cummings said,
"Well, Randy's broken a string.
"We don't have a spare guitar.
"He's going to change the string so we're going
"to take a break."
So everybody was kind of sitting around talking,
so I had to get that guitar in tune.
So as I was onstage playing that E chord,
I play an E chord, a B chord, a D chord,
and another E chord with the strings ringing,
and suddenly I get,
♫ Dun, dun, dududududun dudun
♫ Dun, dun, dududududun du ♫
And I'm going, "Oh, my God.
"I don't want to forget this riff."
And so I stand up and I start playing,
and I turn my guitar and I'm playing it louder.
And I look into the audience
and came running up was Burton Cummings.
Finally, I yelled out, "Sing something.
"Sing anything."
The first thing he sang was,
♫ American woman
♫ Stay away from me
♫ American woman
♫ Listen what I say ♫
- [Randy] When you're a songwriter, you hope
for inspiration from somewhere.
You don't know where it's going to come from.
You don't know how minuscule or how gigantic
that little moment is going to be.
Take that little inspiration and put some dry fuel on it,
some dry paper, and see if you can build a bonfire.
You never really know where it's going to come from.
You never know how far it is going
to go, where it's going to take you.
(upbeat music)
