Why The Guess Who Weren’t Allowed to Play ‘American Woman’ When They Visited the White House

TL;DR:

• The Guess Who’s “American Woman” isn’t about American women.
• A member of the band had a theory why the group was asked to perform at the White House.
• Two versions of “American Woman” became hits.

One of the most famous classic rock songs of the early 1970s is The Guess Who’s “American Woman.” The band was asked to perform at the White House for a very specific reason. Subsequently, members of The Guess Who all had the same reaction when they couldn’t perform “American Woman.”

President Richard Nixon’s daughter may have been a fan of The Guess Who

In the 2014 book Vinyl Dialogues: Stories Behind Memorable Albums of the ’70s as Told by the Artists, The Guess Who’s Garry Peterson discussed performing at the White House. “I think Tricia Nixon [the President’s daughter] was a fan, but I never got to talk to her,” said Peterson. “We were no different than the security staff. We were hired and did our thing.”

The performance was controversial. “I think someone in the White House — and you can be assured that it wasn’t Mrs. Nixon — pointed out, and they were right, that ‘American Woman’ was a bit controversial because it wasn’t about American women, it was about commentary,” Peterson revealed.

First Lady Pat Nixon reacted negatively to The Guess Who’s ‘American Woman’ after someone told her it was controversial

First Lady Pat Nixon didn’t want to hear “American Woman” at the performance. “But I guess Mrs. Nixon found out, and she said, ‘Well, this is not appropriate, we can’t have this,'” Peterson recalled. “So they came to our people and said, ‘We would rather you not play this song.'”

The members of The Guess Who reacted the same to this request. “And our attitude was, ‘Fine. We’re here to entertain people and make them feel good. We’re not here to cause problems. So if you’re hiring us and paying us and you don’t want us to play our biggest hit, that’s up to you,'” Peterson remembered.

How ‘American Woman’ and Lenny Kravitz’s cover of it performed on the charts in the United States

According to The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, “American Woman” became a huge hit in the United States. The track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It topped the chart for three weeks.

Subsequently, Lenny Kravitz covered “American Woman” in the 1990s for the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The cover hit No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 21 weeks. Kravitz released the track on his album 5. The album hit No. 28 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 110 weeks.

“American Woman” became a huge hit even if a First Lady didn’t want to hear it at the White House.