Blog 3A - Cover Songs

"American Woman" - The Guess Who

"American Woman" - Lenny Kravitz

For my song, I chose “American Woman,” as performed by both The Guess Who and Lenny Kravitz. Of course, the song was originally written and performed by Canadian rock band, The Guess who, in 1970. The cover version came out in 1999, when Lenny Kravitz recorded the song for the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack.

  The Guess Who is one of my favorite, less-known bands of the 70’s. While they were fairly successful, compared to popularity of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and other bands of that time period, well… there’s no comparison. 

Ironically, while “American Woman” is one of my favorite songs of theirs, the first time I actually heard the song was the Lenny Kravitz cover in the 90’s.

I chose this song because, outside of me simply enjoying both versions, the two also stand as a wonderful example of how different covers can truly be.

Lyrically, the two songs are very different. While the first halves of the songs run near identically, word for word, the second half of Kravitz’s cover strays quite a bit form the original piece. 

Part of this is undoubtedly to change the overall meaning and feel of the song. While the original song had been written for political purposes, the remake replaced those themes with sex appeal. Again, this was most likely, largely due to it being the theme for an Austin Powers movie, but the change is noteworthy, nonetheless.

Weirdly enough, when I played the two songs side by side, it seems as though the newer, supposedly more “rocked out” version that Kravitz did actually has a slower rhythm than its 70’s counterpart. Though they are fairly close, I’m sure the second was slowed down a bit more intentionally to give that “sexier,” more seductive, slow feel. If you pay attention to the use of drums and base in both songs, this change becomes all the more apparent.

The most noticeable difference in the songs absolutely comes from the two distinct timbres of the songs. Most noticeable, the artists use two very different guitars. While the basic arrangement of notes may be the same, through different techniques and editing (I noticed quite a bit of reverb in the Kravitz version), there’s an obvious distinction between the end products. 

Mr. Kravitz’s voice seemed to have been touched up a bit, as well, in addition to being a different individual than Randy Bachman of The Guess Who.

While there isn’t TOO great a distinction between the two in pitch, the Kravitz version of “American Woman” does seem to have a slightly lower pitch than The Guess Who original. Again, this is probably to add to the sultry connotation of the remake.

Of the six binary terms, I think “Tension and Release” and “Active and Didactic” can be exemplified the easiest. 

Most obviously and most frequently, Tension and Release can be seen in the Lenny Kravitz version. Several times in his version of “American Woman,” Kravitz drops the classic, infamous guitar rhythm of the song. This heightens to focus of the listener both into the beat of the song as well as the lyrics. This added tension also makes the following guitar riffs all the more powerful when that release comes.

The Active and Didactic element of the song can be seen in the lyrics of the two songs. As previously stated, they run very similarly. The slight differences in wording, though, and how those words are sung alters one’s perception from the Active listening of The Guess Who, where you’re left to interpret the presented metaphor, to the Didactic listening of Kravitz where he actually means a female who he no longer wants to be around.

In comparing the two, my preference still lies in the original. This isn’t to say that the Kravitz version is bad, I actually do find it enjoyable to listen to, but I can’t help it.  The heart wants what it wants, and while The Guess Who may not have earned a spot next to The Beatles in the Rock and Roll history books, I cannot shake my love for the feel and style of the oldies