"American Woman" is the title track of Canadian band The Guess Who's 1970 album, American Woman.

The song's origins took the form of a live jam in Kitchener, Ontario. The group was rushing into the second set and began improvising a rhythm to liven up the crowd. Burton Cummings, the lead singer, began improvising lyrics to fit the music.

The song's lyrics have been the matter of some debate, often interpreted as an attack on U.S. politics (especially the draft). Jim Kale, the group's bassist and the song's co-author, explained his take on the lyrics:

Haley Eichhorn and Mackenzie De Rosa have claimed that the American woman referred to in the song is in fact the Statue of Liberty, furthering the anti-war theme.

Another furtherance of the anti-war theme of the song stems from the fact that the Guess Who was a Canadian band, resulting in speculation that the line "I don't need your war machine" reveals the narrator to be a draft-dodger who had fled to Canada and is addressing a female United States armed-forces recruiter assigned to bring him back home—either in uniform or in shackles.

As a single, the track spent three weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (where it was credited as a double sided hit, along with "No Sugar Tonight"), an unprecedented success for a Canadian band; at the time, it competed with singles such as The Jackson 5's "ABC" and the Beatles's "Let it Be".

"American Woman" was voted Best Canadian Single of All Time by Magazine in both the 2000 and 2005 polls of readers, music industry professionals, and musicians throughout Canada.

The song has been covered by many rock artists, including Lenny Kravitz, Krokus and The Butthole Surfers. It was also featured in Sam Mendes's movie American Beauty. It has most recently been covered by former Guess Who members Cummings and Bachman in a blues rock style.

Kravitz covered "American Woman" for the soundtrack of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. It was later included in the 1999 re-issue of his 5album. The music video featured actress Heather Graham (who starred in The Spy Who Shagged Me); the original political themes of the song were largely replaced by sex appeal.