Some of you will still remember the song, “American Woman,” that still gets some play on classic rock stations. I like the song fine, though it’s not one of my favorites. (I prefer the version with the acoustic guitar lead in that then breaks into a harder, electric rock.) It’s been running through my head for the last several days. Knowing that we all read into what songs and poems and stories mean from how they connect in our own minds to our own lives, I’ve always heard this as a song about not settling for the standard work hard (at any job that pays well), care for your family and retire well thing that seems to run in American culture. What’s important is being successful and comfortable. Very possibly, that’s just me.
I think, if you’d asked me during my college days what the most important thing in my life was, I might have answered ending the (Vietnam) war. Or I might have answered finding the meaning of life (I was a philosophy major) or figuring out God (I did become an Episcopal priest). Or I might have answered my writing. It would have depended when and in what context you asked me.
Did I want a real relationship with a woman? Sure. You bet! But it might well not have been on my list of most important things. And, in the context of making some woman happy by supporting her living the American dream, it was certainly not on my list of vital things to do with my life. (more…)
