10 Greatest Rock Music Cover Songs Of The 1990s
5. American Woman - Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz put so much of his own personality into his version of American Woman that it sounds wrong to hear it performed by anyone else. Sadly, this is a list about cover versions, so…
The original American Woman was put out by The Guess Who in 1970 and was a far more subdued affair. Beginning with soft blues-style guitar, the song sounds more like something you’d sing round the campfire, until it kicks into another gear and the band’s full force is unleashed.
Kravitz got his immaculately-dressed hands on the song as part of the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, which might explain why the song is dripping in sex appeal. Zoe’s dad is full of his usual swagger and je ne sais quoi, backed by a crunching funk-rock guitar riff that is impossible not to bounce to.
The song was later put out as part of Kravitz’s album 5 and he even won a Grammy for it in the year 2000. The Guess Who’s version is fun, but this one is just so cool and somehow sounds more authentic, despite not being the original.
Lenny works in mysterious ways.