I Am Woman
"I Am Woman" is a song written by Australian musicians Helen Reddy and Ray Burton. Performed by Reddy, the first recording of "I Am Woman" appeared on her debut album I Don't Know How to Love Him, released in May 1971, and was heard during the closing credits for the 1972 film Stand Up and Be Counted. A new recording of the song was released as a single in May 1972 and became a number-one hit later that year, eventually selling over one million copies. The song came near the apex of the counterculture era[1] and, by celebrating female empowerment, became an enduring feminist anthem for the women's liberation movement. Following Reddy's death in September 2020, the song peaked at number 2 on the Australian digital sales chart.[2]
For other uses, see I Am Woman (disambiguation)."I Am Woman"
"More Than You Could Take"
May 1972
1971 (original)
23 April 1972 (re-release)
3:24
Jay Senter
Reddy had no expectations for the track. "It clearly was not hit-single material and got no airplay at all. I used it as an opening song whenever I performed live, and it was always well received: I also noticed that the song was being singled out for mention in fan mail."[5] But more than a year later, the song was picked to run behind the opening credits of Stand Up and Be Counted, a lightweight Hollywood women's lib comedy starring Jacqueline Bisset, Loretta Swit and Steve Lawrence. "The decision-makers at Capitol Records thought that, in case the film was a hit, they should release 'I Am Woman' as a single."[6] In its initial form, the original version ran to little more than two minutes, so Reddy was asked to write an additional verse and chorus. The extra verse inserted the song's only reference to men ("Until I make my brother understand").
The recording session for this new version took place on 23 April 1972.[7] Reddy told Sunday Magazine she remembered nothing about it and did not know which musicians played on the song.
In fact, she had some of the best LA session musicians backing her:[3]
Producer Jay Senter assembled the rhythm section at SunWest Studios for a 7:00 p.m. downbeat (start) but since he had planned on tracking without Reddy, she was not told to arrive until 9:00 p.m. Reddy and (then) husband Jeff Wald arrived thinking they were going to track (record) live with the band, but Senter and the band had already recorded the track as well as its intended B-side, "Don't Mess with a Woman". Wald and Reddy were furious in the control room. Senter was clearly not happy, either, and voices were raised, but he did not quit the project. Reddy put her voice on the track that Senter produced, and she and Wald left the studio. That release triggered a five-figure payment to Reddy, which at the time was sorely needed, according to Wald.
Immediately after that, guitarist Deasy played the riff on his 12-string electric guitar that became the signature sound for the song. Senter then asked friend and sax man Jim Horn to write string and horn charts to be recorded the following week, while Senter went into the studio with Clydie King, Venetta Fields and Shirley Matthews (the Blossoms) and layered the background vocals.
Success[edit]
As it turned out, "it was the original recording of 'I Am Woman' that was featured on the soundtrack" of the film, which "opened and closed the same week"[5] in May 1972.[8]
The new recording of the song was released as a single on the 22nd of the month,[9] and Wald – who had worked the phones for 18 hours a day urging radio stations to play "I Don't Know How to Love Him" – again put his promotional skills to use. He lined up gigs for Reddy – by now heavily pregnant with son Jordan – to sing on 19 TV talk and variety shows, and "women began calling radio stations and requesting the song, thereby forcing airplay."[10]
Despite the chord it was striking with television viewers, the song's trek to the top of the charts was still a long, hard climb. It first entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 99 in the issue of the magazine dated 24 June 1972,[11] peaked at number 97 two weeks later,[12] fell off the Hot 100, re-entered at number 87 two months later in the 16 September issue,[13] and reached number one three months later, in the 9 December issue.[14]
Upon the release of the single, Record World called it a "typically sensitive, professional performance from the fine Australian songstress."[15]
"I Am Woman" was the first number one single for Capitol Records since "Ode to Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry five years earlier, in 1967.[16] It was the first number one hit on the Billboard chart by an Australian-born artist and the first Australian-penned song to win a Grammy Award (in her acceptance speech for Best Female Performance, Reddy thanked "God, because She makes everything possible"). It also became the second Helen Reddy hit – after "I Don't Know How to Love Him" – to peak at number two in her native Australia. Overlooked in its original UK release, "I Am Woman" was given a 1975 reissue to serve as the follow-up to Reddy's number five UK hit "Angie Baby" but did not gain enough momentum to reach the UK Top 50.
Fallout with Burton[edit]
Expelled from the US in 1971 because of work-permit problems, Ray Burton watched the song's rise in the US from a distance. Burton ended up living on unemployment benefits. "It could have been the launching pad for a writing and singing career," he said. "They took advantage of the fact I wasn't there."
He claimed he was forced to take legal action against the singer in 1998 to recover a portion of songwriter royalties that had been withheld from him since 1972. He said: "I got some money out of it, but nothing like it would have been in the '70s when it was riding high."
Reddy disputes Burton's claims. "There was a buyout 25 or 30 years ago," she told Sunday Magazine. "Neither of us had any idea the song would become what it became. About 10 years ago he got in touch with me because he was in financial difficulties. I felt sorry for him and reinstated his songwriter royalties. His passport problems ended any hope he had of a career in the States and somehow that bitterness got transferred to me. I wish him well. I bear him no animosity."[3]
Today he performs again in venues on the Queensland Gold Coast, where he lives. Sometimes he includes it in his set, raising a laugh from audiences by saying, "Here's a song I wrote in the '70s, with a twist." He sings it as, "She is woman, hear her roar".
In popular culture[edit]
Reddy's description of the "typical DJ reaction" to the song is quoted in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits: 'I can't stand this record! I hate this song! But you know, it's a funny thing, my wife loves it!'[30]
During the Audience Talent Show Night segment of the episode of Late Show with David Letterman dated 20 April 1995, Reddy was seated in the back of the audience and asked by Letterman what her talent was. She replied, "Hit it, Paul," as she took the mic from Letterman's hand and began singing "I Am Woman." The audience responded enthusiastically as the host cut to a commercial, but Reddy interrupted at several points throughout the show in different locations to break into her signature song: first in the window behind Letterman's desk and then during an interview with Nicolas Cage, a supposed commercial, and a performance by Blues Traveler. Whenever the music cut off and she was dismissed from the stage, she would always smile, wave and say, "Thank you."[31]
In 2006, Burger King released an ad campaign titled "Manthem" featuring "I Am Man", a parody of Helen Reddy's song, to promote its Texas Double Whopper hamburger.[32]
Other versions[edit]
"I Am Woman" was a minor C&W hit for Bobbie Roy who like Reddy was on the Capitol Records roster; Roy's version of "I Am Woman" reached #51 on the US C&W chart and #85 in Canada in February 1973.
An instrumental arrangement of the song was played at the 82nd Academy Awards as the exit music for Kathryn Bigelow after she won the Best Director Oscar for the 2009 film The Hurt Locker,[41] the first time a woman won the award.[42]