Musically, it's boring. Same repetitive chords.
Throw Burton's abrasive vocals in there (mostly improvised, I believe)
add Bachman's Fripp-tone lead

Rockin' !

This is a great song...  it is funny how every single American radio station cuts out the last line of the song, which is "Goodbye American stuff..."

canada ... love it or leave it

I always thought that the singing on this song is a little like early Robert Plant (LZ I & II).

 BasmntMadman wrote: 
I suppose that you can see the situation this way, but I think it is more that music may have a message or meaning for one person and simply be music to another. After all, why would the Small Faces' Itchycoo Park be played over the speakers in a Seven-Eleven if anyone there cared about the lyrics? (I was bemused to hear this once while searching the beer case in such a store, considering that the subject matter is so obviously about buying drugs and consuming them, with apparent pleasure). This is one of the paradoxes of music. One can listen to the words and be moved. One can also enjoy the sound of instruments and completely miss the meaning of the words. This has little to do with the strength of America, or lack thereof. And anyway, the Guess Who was one of a number of bands with hits at the time (the Vietnam War was in the background, among other things) and this is one more of a large number of radio hits of that era. How many lyrics have been broadcast that meant a great deal to the composer and easily slipped into pablum in the minds of the listeners?

What a wonderful follow-up to Randy Newman's Political Science (let's drop the big one now)!

 ThePoose wrote: 
I think synechdoche is correct. The song is about the is using the Statue of Liberty, a part of the U.S., to represent the U.S.

How odd, this being the 4th and all.  Love it anyway.  A 10

EDIT: But seeing the segues, it do make sense.  Go for it, Bill.

 romeotuma wrote: 

Poor usage of ''syndecdoche.'' The precise term is ''metaphor.'' Jimbo Morrison used this device in LA Woman. 

Nice album cover. I had a doo like that.

Nice, I'd never heard the intro of this song before.

 RP has gone AM !

This is a fantastic song...  this Canadian band was actually using the image as a syndecdoche for the USA...

Great tune from one of my one time favorite bands!

Ha, I never thought I'd hear this on RP! I've been listening to RP for a long time and this is the first time I've heard it - that sounds like the proper rotation rate...I mean I like the song but if I never hear it again I won't shed a tear.

This still ROCKS!

 Daveinbawlmer wrote: 

Hilarious!  And here I've been avoiding English Canadian women all my life because they were so 'familiar'.

Besides, American women are so much more interesting.

This is a 9. 'New Mother Nature' is a 10.

 mojoman wrote: 
Sweden and Switzerland, too, practise what is referred to as 'armed neutrality'.  That means that while they don't interfere in other countries internal affairs (unlike, ahem, some other countries), they remain ready, willing and well able to defend themselves against aggressors.  Both have domestic armaments industries that supply their own needs and compulsory national or military service for their adult citizens.  Consequently neither has been at war or been invaded (even the Nazis knew better than to f*ck with them) for over two hundred years, and neither has ever been targeted by al-Qaeda.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_neutrality

Canada could do worse (and is, IMHO)  than follow their example.

Randy Newman to The Guess Who - from the sublime to the ridiculous.

fungus6507 wrote:


As a black man in america, i rather liked freebird

KarimMosna wrote:

Easy, boy! These guys are known worldwide by a limited number of people. Sounds like the US teams winning year after year the baseball "world" championship, knowing nobody else care about it.

Turn on the amps, people! This song always sounds like they're trying to rock out on little plastic-stringed ukeleles.

Glad they followed up the Grateful Dead with some music.
Randy Bachman has a radio show on CBC tonight.

Beanie wrote:

...and a Starbucks in the Forbidden City in Beijing. What were they thinking?

I've loved American Women, Canadian Women, French Women and Puerto Rican Women.

There are some cultural differences, but they were all wonderful.

People are People.

(To be completely honest, I miss the Canadian one the most and the way she used to say, "eh").

:-)

Catalytic wrote:

Lenny Kravitz is a talentless hack. He's never had an original riff in his life, and he butchered this song.