If You Graduated From High School In 1970, This Rock Song Will Stir Up Major Nostalgia

In the mid and late 1960s, Winnipeg, Manitoba's The Guess Who scored a string of hits down in the United States, such as "Shakin' All Over," "These Eyes," and "No Time." The Guess Who went on to become the first Canadian rock band — and the third of any Canadian act — to top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In March 1970, the crunchy, fuzzy, riff-propelled, and lightly psychedelic "American Woman" began its chart ascent, eventually hitting No. 1 in America in May, right before graduation season. Backed with the B-side "No Sugar Tonight," which also received extensive airplay and helped drive sales of the 45, "American Woman" was certified gold for sales of half a million copies at right around the same time.

In other words, the soundtrack of the spring and summer that year was The Guess Who's "American Woman." Here's the story behind the nostalgic and frequently misunderstood smash hit that will likely forever be linked with the graduating class of 1970.

In the '60s, years before it rocked the White House, The Guess Who played a show at a curling rink in Scarborough, Ontario, when guitarist Randy Bachman busted a string. Singer Burton Cummings took a rest while Bachman remained on stage to install a new string. While tuning and winding, he wound up playing a repetitive riff that circled back around. Liking the riff, Bachman kept playing it, and the rest of the band improvised with him.

Cummings took notice from backstage. "I heard Randy and the boys start this great riff to bring me back in," Cummings recalled to the Toronto Star. "I just raced onto the stage and sang whatever came into my head." What popped into Cummings' brain at that moment were some cultural observations, which happen to be the hidden meaning behind the song "American Woman." As Cummings explained, "What was on my mind was that girls in the States seemed to get older quicker than our girls and that made them, well, dangerous. When I said, 'American woman, stay away from me,' I really meant, 'Canadian woman, I prefer you.'"

Such fleeting music and spontaneously generated lyrics could've been lost forever. But Cummings noticed that someone in the audience was recording the show on a tape recorder. The Guess Who asked for the cassette of their jam session, which was used as a demo for when they recorded "American Woman" for real in a studio, and went on to become one of the rock songs from 1970 that sounds even cooler today.