| "I Got a Woman" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Ray Charles | ||||
| from the album Ray Charles (or, Hallelujah I Love Her So) | ||||
| A-side | "I Got a Woman" | |||
| B-side | "Come Back Baby" | |||
| Released | 1954 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | Atlanta, Georgia, 1954 | |||
| Genre | Rhythm and blues | |||
| Length | 2:31 | |||
| Label | Atlantic 45-1050 | |||
| Writer(s) | Ray Charles and Renald Richard | |||
| Producer | Jerry Wexler | |||
| Ray Charles singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"I Got a Woman" is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B/soul musician Ray Charles and released as a single in December of 1954 on the Atlantic label as Atlantic 45-1050 b/w "Come Back Baby." Both sides later appeared on his 1957 album Ray Charles (or, Hallelujah I Love Her So).
Contents |
Origin
Built on a gospel hymn, "Jesus Is All the World to Me", Ray was listening to on the radio while on the road with his band, he and his band member, trumpeter Renald Richard penned a song which was built among a gospel frenetic pace with secular lyrics and a jazz-inspired rhythm and blues background, the song would be one of the prototypes for what later became termed as "soul music" after Charles released "What'd I Say" nearly five years later.
Recording
The song was recorded late 1954 in an Atlanta studio and was Charles' first #1 R&B hit in January 1955. The song would lead to more hits for Charles during this period when he was on Atlantic. It was later ranked #235 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, one of Charles' five songs on the list.
Kanye West version
Fifty years later, rapper Kanye West would sample "I Got a Woman" for his #1 US hit, "Gold Digger", in 2005, bringing Charles back into the charts (with help from Jamie Foxx, who also played Charles in the biopic, Ray, and imitated him in the intro), only this time credited as a songwriter of his own #1 hit posthumously after his death in June 2004. Two years later, reggae legends Toots & the Maytals covered the song on their album 'Light Your Light'. An a cappella version of this song was also recorded for Overboard's 2006 album, "Shipwrecked".
Cover versions
The song has been covered by many artists, including:
- The Beatles
- Anneke van Giersbergen
- Baby Face Willette
- Fred McDowell
- Bobby Darin
- Elvis Presley
- Jimmy McGriff
- Booker T. & the M.G.'s
- Roy Orbison
- Al Kooper
- The Honeydrippers
- The Monkees
- Stevie Wonder
- Snooks Eaglin
- Johnny Cash and June Carter
- John Mayer Trio
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- Them
- John Hammond
- Bill Haley & His Comets
- Jamie Cullum
- Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
- The Gibson Brothers
- Andrew Wild
- Kermit Ruffins & Rebirth Brass Band
- Bryan Adams
- Ramblin' Jack Elliott
- Sammy Davis Jr.
- Toots & the Maytals
- Jimmy Smith
- Pink Anderson
- Alonzo Pennington
- Freddie Scott 1963 chart single, ballad version
- Johnny Hallyday
- John Scofield
- John Mayer
References
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2007) |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
