The Guess Who
“Unfinished business”. That’s one of the reasons, Burton Cummings (keyboard, vocals) of The Guess Who, says the group’s current “American Woman” reunion tour with the original lineup, is finally performing since 1970, in the U.S.A.. The tour marks the first time that the original lineup of the Canadian rock band, will be performing their classic rock hits in the U.S.A..
The center of the original lineup has always been the Winnipeg natives Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman (guitarist, vocalist), a prolific songwriting duo. In the late ’60’s, into early 1970, the songwriting duo of Bachman and Cummings, along with their band mates Gary Peterson (drums), Donnie McDougall (guitar) and Bill Wallace (bass), The Guess Who had a string of radio hits. Songs such as “American Woman”, “No Time”, “These Eyes”, “Laughing”, “Share the Land” and “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature”, lead to a period of time where the group enjoyed sold multi millions of singles and albums and found significant popularity as live performers.
The U.S.A., dates on the current tour represents, “unfinished business”, for Cummings, because when Bachman left the group to pursue a solo career in July 1970, The Guess Who were at the height of their popularity. And, according to Cummings, the success of the single “American Woman”, was the culmination of of a period of time, where the group had gone through a seemingly endless cycle of songwriting and touring.
So the group’s plans to continue touring with the original lineup ended abruptly with Bachman’s sudden departure.
“The Guess Who were really hot,” Cummings says during a recent interview,”
…because we were consistently writing hit singles and that kept our music fresh. Because all of our idols were great songwriting teams. We had heroes who weren’t just musicians, they were actually songwriters. So we idolized songwriting teams and then we wrote our own music, that excited us. That’s also why The Guess Who’s songs have remained important over the years. Things changed when Randy left the group.” In 1974 the group scored their last hit single with “Clap For The Wolfman”, written as a dedication to legendary USA disc jockey Wolfman Jack. When Bachman formed the hard rock group Bachman- Turner Overdrive, BTO quickly started a roll of hits which instantly overshadowed his former band. With the hit singles such as, “Takin’ Care of Business”, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” and “Let It Ride”, by 1974 BTO was on top of the rock scene. In 1975 Cummings left The Guess Who and began a solo career.
The Guess Who has finally returned to the concert trail with the band’s original lineup.
And, in doing so, the business that Bachman’s departure left unattended three decades ago, is finally getting taken care of. So why is now the time for a reunion? “There’s a real resurgence in interest in our music,” Cummings said,” and we’ve got fans from thirty years ago as well as younger kids who really like group’s radio hits. The songs are new and sound fresh to them.” Another reason, Cummings notes is that he and Bachman are once again on working together. In the past, while the two songwriting partners were one of rock’s more dynamic combinations, there was a volatile side to the relationship. Yet, interestingly enough, a remnant of that volatility, perhaps still remains. When Cummings is asked how he and his old songwriting partner are getting along, the answer is simply, “I guess we’re getting along well.”
A statement which leaves much to be considered. In 1999 the group reunited briefly and eventually in March 2000, they performed a series of concert dates across their Canadian homeland. Then a double-live album, recorded during the tour, titled,” Running Back Through Canada”, followed. The success of the Canadian tour, paved the way for the U.S.A. trek. “It’s a lot of fun,” Cummings says,” performing these songs that people want to hear for an evening. We’ve got about thirty songs to choose from for our play list. So, I think it’ll be a fun night out for everyone.” The title of the tour is interesting. While the single “American Woman’, was a hit, at the time of it’s release in 1970, the song lyrics caused more then a few fiery responses from some people south of the Canadian border. While “American Woman” was in heavy rotation on radio stations across the country, many people were not happy with the lyrical content.
To many Americans at that time, the lyrics of “American Woman” were a bold faced indictment, accusing the U.S.A. of practicing American imperialism. In addition, the single was released during a very volatile time in U.S.A. history. However, Cummings says he never intended to offend any of his neighbors to the north, whenever he conceived the song’s lyrics. Yet, things got so hot that, as Cummings recalls there were even a few folks calling the band “anti-American”. He says the lyrics were nothing more then, “metaphoric in nature” and, “in no way meant as an attack on the U.S.A. by a Canadian.”
“The song “American Woman” is probably the most misunderstood song in our entire catalog,” says Cummings. We had been on a long tour in American and I was back in Ontario Canada, jamming with the band, on-stage one night. I started singing, ‘American Woman, stay a way from me,’, but I was on-stage in Canada, actually looking at these Canadian girls in the front row. My impression at that moment, after having played the States for so long, was that in Canada, the girls grew up just a little bit slower. The American girls I’d just seen on the tour, to me seemed somehow different, more mature, because they wore makeup at an earlier age. Me being a prairie boy from Canada, well that made me a little bit nervous. So, I just started singing the song lyrics and making them up as we jammed. I was actually saying, ‘Canadian woman, I prefer you.’ But, all of the other lyrics, the references to, ‘ghetto scenes’ and, ‘war machines’, I just made up on the spur of the moment.” Cummings says the song was never even intended to be destined for a single. “It would have never been heard by the public, “he says,” but there was kid in the audience, bootlegging the show and we ended up with that tape. It sounded pretty good, so we recorded it as a song. That’s how the whole story began.”