I Got a Woman

"I Got a Woman"
Single by Ray Charles
from the album Ray Charles
A-side "I've Got a Woman"[1][2]
B-side "Come Back Baby"
Released 1954
Format 7" single
Recorded Atlanta, Georgia, 1954
Genre Jump blues, rhythm and blues
Length 2:31
Label Atlantic 45-1050
Writer(s) Ray Charles and Renald Richard
Producer(s) Jerry Wexler
Ray Charles singles chronology
"Losing Hand" "I Got a Woman"
(1954)		 "This Little Girl of Mine""
(1955)

"I Got a Woman" (originally titled "I've Got a Woman")[1][2] is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B/soul musician Ray Charles and released as a single in December 1954 on the Atlantic label as Atlantic 45-1050 b/w "Come Back Baby." Both sides later appeared on his 1957 album Ray Charles (subsequently reissued as Hallelujah I Love Her So).

Origin

The song builds on "It Must Be Jesus" by the Southern Tones, which Ray Charles was listening to on the radio while on the road with his band in the summer of 1954. He and a member of his band, trumpeter Renald Richard, penned a song that was built along a gospel-frenetic pace with secular lyrics and a jazz-inspired rhythm and blues (R&B) 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 the Atlanta studios of Georgia Tech radio station WGST. It was a hit—Charles' first—climbing quickly to #1 R&B in January 1955.[3] Charles told the Pop Chronicles that he performed this song for about a year before he recorded it on November 18, 1954.[4] The song would lead to more hits for Charles during this period when he was on Atlantic. It was later ranked No. 239 on Rolling Stone′s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, one of Charles' five songs on the list.[5] A re-recorded version by Ray Charles, entitled "I Gotta Woman" (ABC-Paramount 10649) reached No. 79 on the Billboard pop chart in 1965.[6]

Cover versions

Other versions that have made the pop or R&B charts in the US are those by Jimmy McGriff (#20 pop, #5 R&B, 1962), Freddie Scott (#48 pop, 1963), and Ricky Nelson (#49 pop, 1963).[6]

The song has also been covered by many other artists, including:

The band Dire Straits mentions the song in their song "Walk of Life", from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms in 2:44.

Kanye West's song "Gold Digger" contains samples (as well as an interpolation during the introduction) of the song. The chorus of "I Got a Woman" is sung throughout the song by Jamie Foxx, who portrayed Charles himself in the 2004 biopic Ray.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 74.
  2. 1 2 Label shot, Atlantic 1050
  3. ↑ Dahl, Bill (1954-11-18). "Allmusic.com". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  4. ↑ "Show 15 - The Soul Reformation: More on the evolution of rhythm and blues. [Part 1] : UNT Digital Library". Digital.library.unt.edu. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  5. ↑ "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time". Rolling Stone. April 7, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (1st ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 847. ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
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