American woman, said get away
American woman, listen what I say
Don’t come hangin’ around my door
Don’t wanna see your face no more
I don’t need your war machines
I don’t need your ghetto scenes
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else’s eyes
Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be.
Go, gotta get away, gotta get away
Now go go go
Gonna leave you, woman
Gonna leave you, woman
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
You’re no good for me
I’m no good for you
Gonna look you right in the eye.
Tell you what I’m gonna do
You know I’m gonna leave
You know I’m gonna go
You know I’m gonna leave
You know I’m gonna go, woman
I’m gonna leave, woman
Goodbye, American woman
Goodbye, American chick
Goodbye, American broad ...
MORE: Is Burton Cummings the greatest singer ever? This video is just too awesome ... captures the vocals but also reveals something about what was going on at the time. And, yes, I do think it is analogous to what we are experiencing today.
OMG- you all have to listen to the PUMAPAC radio show they did tonight with Gloria Allred. HAHAHAHAHHAHA. Please go listen- this cannot be what DaraghBlah was hoping for- hahahha. She is such an idiot. I am not finished listening yet but you have to listen!
Comment by WTFisHappening? on 09/07/08 at 12:15 AM
You forgot ELO’s <a href = “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xphpdgQSOQ">"Evil Woman"</a>. Though the lyrics don’t quit fit, I think the sentiment is right on.
Slightly OT, but can we make a New Rule that people who don’t believe in evolution can’t claim that they understand oil policy, inasumuch as the dinosaurs didn’t actually die and decompose into petroleum 6000 years ago?
Comment by Kerry Reid on 09/07/08 at 01:31 PM
ALWAYS hated this song - sexist dog-shit.
Why must America be a woman? I mean, Dick Nixon was the President when Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman unleashed this swill and Dick fucked our country without ever owning a vah-jay-jay.
We should be beating on Sarah Appallin’ for her perceived STRENGTHS, not the perceived weakness of her gender.
Suburban/Exurban “folksy-folks” are all atwitter about her “rugged lifestyle” and “fierce outsider attitude” - can’t we tear her a new one about that bullshit?
Slightly OT, but can we make a New Rule that people who don’t believe in evolution can’t claim that they understand oil policy, inasumuch as the dinosaurs didn’t actually die and decompose into petroleum 6000 years ago?
lol
Also, I would suggest anyone who doesn’t believe that global warming is caused by humans shouldn’t be allowed to breath the air in the earth’s atmosphere. Just a suggestions like.
Comment by iceberg wedge on 09/07/08 at 01:51 PM
I would suggest anyone who doesn’t believe that global warming is caused by humans shouldn’t be allowed to breath the air in the earth’s atmosphere. Just a suggestions like.
I like the way you think!
Comment by Kerry Reid on 09/07/08 at 02:27 PM
Why must America be a woman?
Don’t blame me, blame France for sending us a statue of a lady. The song meaning is certainly ambiguous but to me it is saying that America had come to be defined by external war and internal poverty. Thus the lines: “I don’t need your war machines - I don’t need your ghetto scenes.” Cummings was simply rejecting the notion of American exceptionalism during this time of Vietnam and conservative rule. I think only someone who wasn’t very bright would miss the real meaning and would think the song was sexist in the traditional sense. Duh.
Sorry Poputonian - I AM bright! I spent nearly a hundred grand on this veterinarian’s assistant degree from Bryman!
Look, I ain’t buyin’ the “It’s a metaphor” defense. To compare America to a raging, diseased whore is sexist in the traditional sense.
If it had been titled “American Faggot” and had used Roy Cohn as a metaphor for the US foreign policy, trading in anti-gay stereotypes about the corruption of youth by a dirty old man, would it THEN be “offensive”?
OK, I’ll get off the PC high-horse. My feet barely reached the stirrups anyways…
Let me return to my original point, the one about the election - her prospective voters don’t love Palin because she’s a woman - they see some strengths as off-setting that perceived weakness. When we attack her on that weakness, we make her more sympathetic and they will rally around her.
The Clintons and Karl Rove are right (as nauseating as that is to type...). Wanna beat the opposition? Target their perceived strengths.
Make her phony, useless, hypocritical - the “she’s such a bitch” strategy won’t fly with voters…
The meaning of almost any song is ambiguous, and interpretation is left to the individual. However, wikipedia says this:
The song’s origins took the form of a live jam in Kitchener, Ontario. The group was rushing into the second set and began improvising a rhythm to liven up the crowd. Burton Cummings, the lead singer, began improvising lyrics to fit the music.
The song’s lyrics have been the matter of some debate, often interpreted as an attack on U.S. politics (especially the draft). Jim Kale, the group’s bassist and the song’s co-author, explained his take on the lyrics:
“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. John Lennon once said that the meanings of all songs come after they are recorded. Someone else has to interpret them.”
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.
Not saying this makes my interpretation correct, and not even saying it determines whether sexism is involved. Just saying I was taking it as an attack against the symbol of America, the Statue of Liberty.
As to the strategy for dealing with Palin, I have a different idea, which I will post about later.
