We're an American Band (song)
| "We're an American Band" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "The Railroad" |
"We're an American Band" (from the album of the same name) became Grand Funk Railroad's first #1 single[1] on 29 September 1973, Mark Farner's 25th birthday. Written by Don Brewer and produced by Todd Rundgren, its huge chart success broadened Grand Funk's appeal. It was sung by Brewer rather than Farner, who usually took lead vocals.
It is the 99th song on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs.[2]
Lyrics
Brewer's lyrics are somewhat autobiographical, detailing the band's recent tour and their energetic live performances. In the song, the band mentions traveling through Little Rock, Arkansas, as well as stopping to party with four groupies that sneak into their hotel in Omaha, Nebraska. The lyrics also mention "sweet sweet Connie", which is a reference to legendary groupie Connie Hamzy.
According to rock critic/writer Dave Marsh in his book, The Heart of Rock and Soul, Grand Funk was touring with the British group Humble Pie in early 1973. After one performance, the two groups were drinking in a bar when they began arguing over the merits of British versus American rock. Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer stood up and after bragging about American rock heroes such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley, proudly announced, "We're an American band!". Thus inspired, he wrote the song the next morning; by late 1973, it was the top-selling song in the world . A video was also made, showing the band playing the song as well as engaging in activities such as basketball, dirtbike riding, and watersports.
The original single was released on gold transparent vinyl.
In film
It is played as backdrop music during a high school football game in the film Radio.
It is played near the beginning of the movie Sahara when the characters are aboard the NUMA ship.
In television
- It was used on ABC's Life on Mars with Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) impersonating Michael Jackson while dancing to it.
- In an episode of Supernatural, it was being played out of Dean's 1967 Chevrolet Impala as they drove by the wannabe ghost- hunters.
- It is featured in a General Motors commercial.
- It is featured in an episode of The Simpsons called "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" as Otto plays the song on his cassette player while ignoring Lisa.
In video gaming
It was used in the basic rhythm video game Guitar Hero 5.
It was made available to download on April 5, 2011 for use in the Rock Band 3 music gaming platform for both Basic rhythm, and PRO mode which utilizes real guitar/bass guitar, and MIDI compatible electronic drum kits / keyboards in addition to vocals.
Subsequent versions
| "We're an American Band" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
The band Americade covered it for their 1982 album release American Metal and the corresponding video won "Best New Video" (one of six nominated summer rock videos) on MTV (July 3 and 4, 1983---announced by Lindsay Buckingham and VJ Alan Hunter).
Electronic rocker Nash the Slash recorded it as the implied title track of his 1984 album, American Band-ages, which consisted of cover versions of classic rock songs---also issued it as a single. It begins with a 1950s jazz-pop arrangement of the theme song from American Bandstand with a pop vocal group singing the chorus lyrics of "We're an American Band" to that tune, before it abruptly turns into a full electronic rock version of the Grand Funk song. Since Nash plays all the instruments on his records, the lyrics are changed to: "I'm an American band, I come into your town, I'm gonna burn it down." (Nash was Canadian.)
Autograph covered it in November 1985 and had it added to their second album That’s the Stuff in early 1986, replacing track No. 6 in the original October 1985 release. The "Up all night with Freddie King, I got to tell you poker's his thing" portion early in the song is replaced by "Up all night, sleep all day, I got to tell you that's how we play" for unknown reasons, possibly because of King's death ten years earlier.
Poison (who also recorded for Capitol) covered it and released it as a single with a music video for their The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock compilation which peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200.[3] It was slightly changed, replacing the line "And we proceeded to tear that hotel down" with the line "And Poison tore that hotel down". It was also on the Poison cover album Poison'd.
Kid Rock covered it during the MTV Video Music Awards, substituting "We'll help you party down" with "We'll take your panties down".
Accordion-based rock band Those Darn Accordions parodied it as "We're An Accordion Band", substituting many of the lyrics with references to famous accordion players such as Myron Florin and Flaco "The King" Jimenez". They replace "We'll help you party down" with "We'll help you polka down".
Jackyl covered it for their 1998 compilation release Choice Cuts, utilizing Jesse Dupree's unique vocal style.
The Village People and Phish cover it as part of their live repertoire.
The Hardcore Punk Band Verbal Abuse covered it on their Just An American Band LP in 1983.
Singers Aly & AJ have covered it for Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1.
The German band Spider Murphy Gang published a musically identical German (Bavarian) version as a single in 1983. The song was also featured on their 1983 album Live! as well as on their Greatest Hits (1986).
Rob Zombie covered it for his 2013 album, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor. In this version, the reference to Freddie King is changed to refer to Slayer guitarist Kerry King.
The country trio Rascal Flatts used this song to close out their Farmers Insurance presents Changed Tour 2012-2013 every night with the help of their opening acts Little Big Town, Eli Young Band, Edens Edge, The Band Perry, and Kristen Kelly.
The band Dain Bramage which featured Dave Grohl, covered the song on their second demo tape in 1986.
References
- ^ Grand Funk Railroad, "We're an American Band" Chart Position Retrieved March 21, 2015
- ^ "VH1 Top 100 Hard Rock Songs". Retrieved 2009-02-04.
- ^ Billboard 200. Retrieved 2008.