Your Woman

"Your Woman" is a song by British music producer White Town. It was released in January 1997 as the lead single from the album Women in Technology. It features a muted trumpet line taken from a 1932 recording of "My Woman" by Lew Stone and his Monseigneur Band.[1][2] The song peaked at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and also topped the charts of Iceland, Israel and Spain. It peaked within the top 10 of the charts in 12 other countries and reached No. 23 in the United States.

For the album by Sunshine Anderson, or its title track, see Your Woman (album). For the South Korean television series, see Your Lady.

"Your Woman"
Plain slipcase with opening
Single by White Town
from the album Women in Technology
B-side
  • "Give Me Some Pain"
  • "Theme for a Mid-Afternoon Game Show"
  • "Theme for a Late-Night Documentary About the Dangers of Drug Abuse"
Released13 January 1997 (1997-01-13)
Genre
Length4:20
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)White Town
White Town singles chronology
"All She Said"
(1991)		 "Your Woman"
(1997)		 "Undressed"
(1997)
Audio sample
"Your Woman"
  • file
  • help
Music video
"Your Woman" on YouTube

In the booklet of their 1999 album 69 Love Songs, The Magnetic Fields' frontman Stephin Merritt described "Your Woman" as one of his "favourite pop songs of the last few years."[3] In 2010, the song was named the 158th best track of the 1990s by Pitchfork.[4]

Background and writing

Jyoti Prakash Mishra, White Town's sole member and the writer of "Your Woman", had garnered some notoriety within the United Kingdom's underground music scene in the years leading up to the song's mainstream release. In 1997, the song was heard by Mark Radcliffe (a BBC Radio 1 presenter at the time) who played it, helping Mishra gain much recognition in a short time.[2]

Mishra has stated that the lyrics could stem from or be related to multiple situations. He says "When I wrote it, I was trying to write a pop song that had more than one perspective. Although it's written in the first person, the character behind that viewpoint isn't necessarily what the casual listener would expect".[5]

Mishra wrote that the themes of the song include: "Being a member of an orthodox Trotskyist/Marxist movement. Being a straight guy in love with a lesbian. Being a gay guy in love with a straight man. Being a straight girl in love with a lying, two-timing, fake-arse Marxist. The hypocrisy that results when love and lust get mixed up with highbrow ideals."[5] Mishra admitted that being signed to a major label (EMI) did not allow him to express creative control, and the loss of his anonymity due to the song's popularity drove him "mad".[2]

The '>Abort, Retry, Fail?_' message that appeared on some inlay cards was explained by the artist: "Well, this cheerful message became a kind of shibboleth for me and sort-of characterises what's been going on for me the last few years." The song was created using free MIDI sequencing software for the Atari ST and a cheap multitrack cassette tape recorder.[6]

Composition

J'na Jefferson of Billboard summarized the song's production as a juxtaposition of the sampled track's ("My Woman" by Lew Stone), "despondent sound with upbeat, enduring energy", which Mishra said was inspired by the 1970s BBC drama-comedy series Pennies From Heaven. He labeled it "alt-pop", adding that it combines the Bowlly sample with "George Clinton-style funk from the '70s, Depeche Mode-inspired '80s electro pop, and '90s boom-bap hip-hop."[2][7]

The song's lyrics contain various perspectives about love and relationships, and is, according to Mishra, a "flip" of Lew Stone vocalist Al Bowlly's original "anti-woman" theme. Regarding the song's concept and the perspective of which it is sang from, Mishra said "When you love somebody, it's not logical, it's not rational, and you think, 'This is ridiculous, I can never be with you, I can never be the person you need, why am I even feeling these feelings?' So, I was trying to write from all these different sides… I wanted people to go, 'this is catchy,' and sing it, but then be like, 'What the hell?' at the same time".[2]

Critical reception

Larry Flick from Billboard wrote that "the lines dividing electronic dance music and hip-hop are blurred on this instantly infectious ditty, actually, the real creative inspiration here appears to come from "Good Times" and other classic hits by Chic. It's evident in the jangly guitar licks and the bounce of the backbeat." He added that "those with no historical reference will probably find the distorted vocals and mind-numbing horn samples good fun."[8] Stuart Millar from The Guardian described the song as "a blend of indie-pop, with an introduction from a trumpet piece taken from a 1920s record."[9] A reviewer from Music Week rated it five out of five, picking it as Single of the Week. The reviewer noted that it has already won Radio One support "and it's easy to see why. With a vocal reverberating somewhere between The Buggles and Stephen Duffy, this instantly catchy pop synth dance track is simplicity at its irresistible best."[10] Dave Fawbert from ShortList said, "It’s one of those classic, not-quite-sure-why-it-works-but-it-definitely-does tunes, so lo-fi that the song was actually mixed [sic] on an Atari ST."[11] Gina Morris from Smash Hits commented that "what's cool is that he recorded his debut single in his own room and then watched it go to number one."[12]

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Your Woman" was produced in black and white silent film style. Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed in Derby.

In the video, there are numerous elements of acting, cinematography and editing that suggest an old fashioned film style. The exaggerated gestures of Chloé Treend, the hat wearing woman, helpless and fearful, and those of her quick tempered lover hint at the acting style from 1920s expressionist films. The ostensive metaphors, such as the use of hypnosis on the woman by the man or the recurring shots of crossroad signs bearing names of romantic relationship related attitudes, remind of the 1920s and 1930s efforts to express subjectivism in film.

The use of circular masks, as to emphasise focal points or for a mere elegant look, also belongs to the aforementioned period. At the point where the woman first enters the man's bedroom and in the final rope scene, match cuts are used in a manner resemblant of that from silent experimental films. Mishra can be seen for brief moments on television screens in the background.

There is also a scene where the woman closes the door on the man's arm, as she tries to escape from his advances. This is a direct reference to scene from Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel's surrealist film Un chien andalou (1928).

Abort, Retry, Fail?_
>Abort, Retry, Fail?_
EP by
White Town
Released1996
Length17:37
LabelParasol, Chrysalis
White Town chronology
Socialism, Sexism & Sexuality
(1994)		 >Abort, Retry, Fail?_
(1996)		 Women in Technology
(1997)
White Town EP chronology
Fairweather Friend
(1992)		 >Abort, Retry, Fail?_
(1996)		 The Barren Seas
(2015)

The song was released as a four-track single CD or EP called >Abort, Retry, Fail?_. The title of the EP was taken from the DOS error message "Abort, Retry, Fail?". This referred to the problems White Town's sole member, Jyoti Mishra, had when a computer crashed during the production of the track. Mishra's liner notes and associated blog post of the single explain this with "I got the title for this single from the weekend I mixed the tracks. My hard drive went bonkers and I spent 72 hours reformatting the dang thing".[13] As an EP, it reached 40 in New Zealand.[14]

Influence and legacy

In the booklet of their 1999 album 69 Love Songs, The Magnetic Fields' frontman Stephin Merritt described "Your Woman" as one of his "favourite pop songs of the last few years."[3] Q magazine featured the song in their list of "The 1010 Songs You Must Own" in 2004. Pitchfork named it the 158th best track of the 1990s in 2010.[4] Slant Magazine listed it at No. 72 in their ranking of "The 100 Best Singles of the 1990s" in 2011, writing, "A one-hit wonder whose other material totally justifies that status, White Town stumbled into a moment of sheer brilliance on "Your Woman", a single that married a fucked-up horn sample to a funk rhythm section straight out of Prince's playbook. The sheer catchiness of the song's arrangement got some adventurous radio programmers on board, but it was the say-what-now gender politics of the song's lyrics that proved to be most compelling. Hearing Jyoti Mishra's plaintive tenor croon, "I guess what they say is true/I could never be the right kind of girl for you/I could never be your woman", remains one of the most subversive moments in '90s pop."[15]

Track listings
  1. "Your Woman" – 4:18
  2. "Give Me Some Pain" – 4:23
  3. "Theme for a Mid-Afternoon Game Show" – 2:48
  4. "Theme for a Late-Night Documentary About the Dangers of Drug Abuse" – 6:08
  • UK cassette single and European CD single[18][19]
  1. "Your Woman" – 4:18
  2. "Give Me Some Pain" – 4:23
  • Italian 12-inch single[20]
A1. "Your Woman" (The Fights 2000 mix)
B1. "Your Woman"
B2. "Give Me Some Pain"
  1. "Your Woman" – 4:18
  2. "Theme for a Late-Night Documentary About the Dangers of Drug Abuse" – 6:08
  • The trumpet on "Your Woman" is sampled from "My Woman" by Lew Stone and the Monseigneur Band. Mishra discovered the song via the 1978 BBC television series Pennies From Heaven.[23]

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[66] Platinum 70,000^
France (SNEP)[67] Gold 250,000*
New Zealand (RMNZ)[68] Gold 5,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[69] Gold 400,000‡

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United Kingdom 13 January 1997
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
[70]
United States 14 January 1997 Modern rock radio
[71]
25 February 1997
[72]
11 March 1997
  • CD
  • cassette
 [73]
Japan 26 March 1997 CD Chrysalis [74]

Tyler James version
"Your Woman"
Single by Tyler James
from the album The Unlikely Lad
Released22 August 2005
Length3:45
LabelIsland
Producer(s)Jony Rockstar
Tyler James singles chronology
"Foolish"
(2005)		 "Your Woman"
(2005)		 "Single Tear"
(2012)

British singer songwriter Tyler James released a cover of the song. It was released as the third and final single from his debut studio album, The Unlikely Lad (2005). It was released as a digital download in the United Kingdom on 22 August 2005. The song peaked at No. 60 on the UK Singles Chart.

Track listings
Digital download
No.TitleLength
1."Your Woman"3:45
2."Temptation"3:15

Charts
Chart (2005) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC)[75] 61

Release history
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United Kingdom 22 August 2005 Digital download Island [76]
CD [77]

Princess Chelsea version
"Your Woman"
Single by Princess Chelsea
Released6 February 2009
Length4:39
LabelLil' Chief
Producer(s)
  • Chelsea Nikkel
  • Jonathan Bree
Princess Chelsea singles chronology
"Your Woman"
(2009)		 "Monkey Eats Bananas"
(2009)

New Zealand musician Princess Chelsea released a cover of the song in 2009. It was released as her debut, non-album single through digital download.[78]

Other covers
  • Finnish band Cats on Fire covered the song in 2010, on their album Dealing in Antiques.[79]
  • Australian singer songwriter Darren Hayes performed an acoustic version of the song, in a BBC Radio 2 live session with Jo Whiley in November 2011.
  • Australian indie rock band British India performed a version live on radio station Triple J's weekly segment Like a Version in October 2013.[80]
  • French electronic act GYM released a cover in 2014.
  • German electronic duo Kush Kush sampled the song in "Fight Back With Love Tonight" in 2017, which peaked at No. 1 on the Russian music charts on 23 October 2017.[81]
  • White Town released a new version of the song on its twentieth anniversary named "Your Woman 1917", which is recorded with instruments common in 1917.[82]
  • Canadian freak pop band Fake Shark released a version in November 2020.
  • Australian darkwave/electrocore artist DAMIEN released a version on his debut album Girl in 2021.

Sampling

See also

References
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  2. Jefferson, J'na (30 March 2020). "White Town's Jyoti Mishra on Dua Lipa Lifting 'Your Woman' Hook For 'Love Again': 'There's Magic in Old Samples'". Billboard. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  3. Ewing, Tom (15 January 2000). "An Interview With White Town's Jyoti Mishra". Freaky Trigger. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  4. "The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s: 200-151 - Page 5". Pitchfork. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  5. "White Town – Your Questions Answered!". Whitetown.co.uk. 28 May 2005. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  6. Pemberton, Daniel. "Bedroom to Big Time". Wired – via www.wired.com.
  7. Songfacts. "Your Woman by White Town - Songfacts". www.songfacts.com. Retrieved 1 July 2021. Jefferson refers to the original recording by Al Bowlly, but Bowlly's vocals on the Lew Stone track are not sampled.
  8. Flick, Larry (1 March 1997). "Single Reviews: New & Noteworthy" (PDF). Billboard. p. 60. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  9. "Bedroom angst takes unknown straight to top of the pop charts." The Guardian [London, England], 20 January 1997, p. 1.
  10. "Reviews: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 28 December 1996. p. 17. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  11. Fawbert, Dave (19 July 2017). "29 classic songs that are somehow 20 years old this year". ShortList. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  12. Morris, Gina (26 February 1997). "Review: Albums". Smash Hits. No. 476. p. 60. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
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  17. Your Woman (Australian CD single liner notes). White Town. Chrysalis Records, Brilliant! Records. 1997. 724388376921.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. Your Woman (UK cassette single sleeve). White Town. Chrysalis Records, Brilliant! Records. 1997. TCCHS 5052, 7243 8 83629 4 8.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  19. Your Woman (European CD single liner notes). White Town. Chrysalis Records, Brilliant! Records. 1997. 07243 8 83753 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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