Failing to get arrested at the White House destroyed The Guess Who: “I would’ve!”
The hippie counterculture movement was in full swing at the beginning of 1970 and nowhere feared it more than The White House.
The symbol of American politics had become the symbol of a conservative regime, hellbent on plunging further into a bloody Vietnam War and warding off the subsequent economic decay. The relationship between the government and the public had eroded so badly, thanks to the horrific Kent State Massacre that took place in May of that year, leaving four students dead after peacefully protesting against their regime.
Musicians were firmly a part of the liberal cause at that point, writing songs that articulated the tense mood among those in opposition to the government. One such band was The Guess who, whose proto-metal anti-Vietnam war song ‘American Woman’ stormed the charts and swiftly went to number one.
A track, then, that would have surely put the Canadian band on the American government blacklist? Apparently not it seems, as some bizarre twist of fate, the band found themselves on The White House lawn at the invitation of Prince Charles and Princess Anne. During their tour of the commonwealth, the Canadian band performed for them on their home turf before then getting flown to Washington, to back it up on the front lawn of The White House where Nixon awaited.
The architect of the movement they were rebelling against stood in plain sight, greeting the band for a performance when he and his authorities swiftly realised the danger they presented and what song they could potentially perform.
Jim Kale remembered, “One of our guitarists snuck off into a bush to have a pee, but was followed by the secret service guys. It was right out of a Kevin Kline movie [Dave]. So there was ourselves and a navy band and Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. And we were asked through channels not to play ‘American Woman’.”
The band obliged, under the crippling intimidation of the secret service and the genuine fear of reprehension. It’s, of course, a moment that many who weren’t there have cast judgment on, labelling The Guess Who as cowards in the resistance for not taking the opportunity to play their protest song right in front of the people they were protesting.
One such critic was Randy Bachman, the band’s original guitarist who had left the band that year to get a grip on his health. He said, “If I was there I would’ve launched into ‘American Woman’ and got arrested and thrown off the White House lawn. It would’ve been monstrous! It would’ve been great! Burton Cummings has said that that was their greatest mistake, to not play it there. They lost their credibility with all the hippies and all the anti-war protesters and became another band that was manipulated and controlled by the government.”
In a year of tension between the hippie movement and the government, The Guess Who defying orders and ripping into a rendition of ‘American Woman’ on the lawn of The White House, could have been the spark to ignite an all out revolution. I guess we’ll never know.
