I Got a Woman
{{Short description|Song written and composed by Ray Charles and Renald Richard}}
{{about|the song by Ray Charles|the album by Jimmy McGriff|I've Got a Woman (album)}}
{{Infobox song
| name = I Got a Woman
| cover =
| caption = Side A of the Original 1954 single
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Ray Charles
| album = Ray Charles
| B-side = Come Back Baby
| released = December 1954
| recorded = November 18, 1954
| studio = WGST studios, Atlanta, Georgia
| genre = Rhythm and blues, soul
| length = 2:51
| label = Atlantic (45-1050)
| writer = Ray Charles, Renald Richard
| producer = Jerry Wexler
| prev_title = Losing Hand
| prev_year = 1954
| next_title = This Little Girl of Mine"
| next_year = 1955
}}
"I Got a Woman" (originally titled "I've Got a Woman"){{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=74}} is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B and soul musician Ray Charles. Atlantic Records released the song as a single in December 1954, with "Come Back Baby" as the B-side. Both songs later appeared on the 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, as well as a bridge inspired by Big Bill Broonzy's "Living on Easy Street". He and a member of his band, trumpeter Renald Richard, wrote 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2007/04/19/ray_charles_turned_gospel_song_into_classic_author.html|title=Ray Charles turned gospel song into classic: Author|last=Gerome|first=John|date=19 April 2007|work=Toronto Star|access-date=29 September 2018}}
Charles version
The song was recorded on November 18, 1954, in the Atlanta studios of Georgia Tech radio station WGST. It was a hit—Charles' first—climbing quickly to number one on the R&B charts in January 1955.{{Cite web|last=Dahl |first=Bill |url={{AllMusic|class=song|id=t2562634|pure_url=yes}} |title=Ray Charles : I Got a Woman |website=AllMusic|date=1954-11-18 |access-date=2010-09-13}} Charles told the Pop Chronicles that he performed this song for about a year before he recorded it.{{Cite web|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19764/m1/ |title=Show 15 - The Soul Reformation: More on the evolution of rhythm and blues. [Part 1] : UNT Digital Library |publisher=Digital.library.unt.edu |access-date=2010-09-13}} The song would lead to more hits for Charles during this period when he was with 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.{{cite magazine |title=Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/ray-charles-i-got-a-woman-20110527 |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=April 7, 2011 |access-date=November 3, 2015 |archive-date=October 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016075630/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/ray-charles-i-got-a-woman-20110527 |url-status=dead }} A re-recorded version by Ray Charles, entitled "I Gotta Woman" (ABC-Paramount 10649) reached No. 79 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965.{{cite book|first=Joel|last=Whitburn|year=2003|title=Top Pop Singles 1955-2002|edition=1st|publisher=Record Research Inc.|location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin|isbn=0-89820-155-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/847 847]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/847}}
In 1990, the 1954 recording of the song by Ray Charles on Atlantic Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award|title=GRAMMY Hall Of Fame | Hall of Fame Artists | GRAMMY.com|website=grammy.com}}
=Certifications=
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=single|artist=Ray Charles|title=I've Got a Woman|award=Gold|relyear=1954|certyear=2019|access-date=May 13, 2022|id=7360}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Ray Charles|title=I Got a Woman|award=Gold|relyear=1954|certyear=2022|access-date=January 13, 2025|source=radioscope}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Spain|type=single|artist=Ray Charles|title=I've Got a Woman|award=Gold|relyear=1954|certyear=2025|access-date=4 January 2025}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Ray Charles|title=I've Got a Woman|award=Silver|relyear=2005|certyear=2022|id=18055-2088-1|access-date=May 13, 2022}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}
Elvis Presley version
{{Infobox song
| name = I Got a Woman
| cover =
| caption =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Elvis Presley
| album =
| B-side = I'm Counting on You
| released = August 31, 1956
| recorded = January 10, 1956
| studio =
| genre = Rock and roll, rockabilly
| length = 2:22
| label = RCA Victor (47-6637)
| writer = Ray Charles, Renald Richard
| producer = Steve Sholes
| prev_title = Blue Suede Shoes
| prev_year = 1956
| next_title = I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')
| next_year = 1956
}}
Elvis Presley recorded his versions of the song on January 10, 1956, at RCA's studio in Nashville, Tennessee.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Elvis version|url=https://www.elvisthemusic.com/music/i-got-a-woman/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Elvisthemusic.com}} The single did not chart, although it was a staple in most of Presley's shows during the 1950s and when he returned to perform live in 1969 all the way through 1977.
Johnny Hallyday version
{{Infobox song
| name = I Got a Woman
| cover =
| caption =
| artist = Johnny Hallyday
| alt =
| type = single
| album = Sings America's Rockin' Hits
| B-side = Be-Bop-a-Lula
| released = March 30, 1962
| recorded = February 1962
| studio = Bradley Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
| genre = Rock and roll
| length = 3:10
| label = Philips
| writer = Ray Charles, Renald Richard
| producer = Shelby Singleton
| prev_title = Retiens la Nuit
| prev_year = 1961
| next_title = Serre la main d'un fou
| next_year = 1962
}}
From February 17 to 20, 1962, French musician Johnny Hallyday (who is considered the French version of Presley), for the first time in Nashville, at the Bradley Studios, recorded sixteen songs performed entirely in English, which would result in Hallyday's foreign-language and English-language debut and seventh studio album overall, Sings America's Rockin' Hits (1962),{{Cite web |title=Discographie 1962 |url=https://hallyday.com/Son/Disco/disco62.html |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=hallyday.com}} produced by legendary producer Shelby Singleton. These sessions included "I Got a Woman", which would be released as the album's only single in March 1962,{{Cite web |title=Johnny Hallyday - I Got A Woman - ultratop.be |url=https://www.ultratop.be/fr/song/7b614/Johnny-Hallyday-I-Got-A-Woman |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=www.ultratop.be}} with the album being released one month later.{{Cite web |title=Discographie 1962 |url=https://hallyday.com/Son/Disco/disco62.html |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=hallyday.com}} Hallyday's version peaked at Number 31 on the French Belgian charts in July 1962 and did not chart in any anglophone markets.{{Cite web |title=Johnny Hallyday - I Got A Woman - ultratop.be |url=https://www.ultratop.be/fr/song/7b614/Johnny-Hallyday-I-Got-A-Woman |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=www.ultratop.be}}
=Track listings=
=Charts=
| class="wikitable"
!align="left"|Chart (1962) !align="center"|Peak |
| align="left"|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia){{Cite web |title=Johnny Hallyday - I Got A Woman - ultratop.be |url=https://www.ultratop.be/fr/song/7b614/Johnny-Hallyday-I-Got-A-Woman |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=www.ultratop.be}}
|align="center"|31 |
The Beatles versions
The Beatles recorded two versions of the song for BBC Radio. The first version was recorded on 16 July 1963 at the BBC Paris Theatre in London for the Pop Go the Beatles radio show. This version was first released in 1994 on the Live at the BBC compilation.
The second version the band recorded was recorded on 31 March 1964 at the Playhouse Theatre in London for the Saturday Club radio show. This version was released in 2013 for the On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2 compilation and is shorter than the Live at the BBC version.{{Cite web|url=https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/i-got-a-woman/|title=I Got A Woman {{!}} The Beatles Bible|website=www.beatlesbible.com|date=15 March 2008 |access-date=2016-08-28}}
Cover versions, references and samples
Other versions that have made the pop or R&B charts in the US are those by Jimmy McGriff from his album I've Got a Woman (#20 pop, #5 R&B, 1962), Freddie Scott from his album Freddie Scott Sings (#48 pop, 1963), and Ricky Nelson from his album For Your Sweet Love (#49 pop, 1963).
Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash covered the song on their duet album Carryin' On with Johnny Cash & June Carter in 1967. And again, in 1968 on Cash's infamous prison concert album At Folsom Prison.
The rock band Dire Straits mention the song in their song "Walk of Life", from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms at 2:44.
Kanye West's song "Gold Digger" from his 2005 album Late Registration contains samples of "I Got a Woman"; one particular line is repeated throughout the song in the background. An interpolation by Jamie Foxx, who portrayed Charles in the 2004 biopic Ray, of "I Got a Woman" serves as the introduction to "Gold Digger".
The John Mayer Trio covered the song in their 2005 live album Try!.{{Citation |title=John Mayer, John Mayer Trio - Try! John Mayer Trio Live in Concert Album Reviews, Songs & More {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/try!-john-mayer-trio-live-in-concert-mw0000358063 |access-date=2023-03-15 |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Ray Charles}}
{{Elvis Presley singles}}
{{Toots and the Maytals}}
{{Freddie Scott}}
{{Bill Haley & His Comets}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:I Got A Woman}}
Category:Songs written by Ray Charles
Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients