"Woman" | ||||
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Single by John Lennon | ||||
from the album Double Fantasy | ||||
B-side | "Beautiful Boys" (Yoko Ono) | |||
Released | 12 January 1981 | |||
Recorded | 5 August, 27 August, 8 September, 22 September 1980 | |||
Genre | Soft rock, pop rock | |||
Length | 3:32 | |||
Label | Geffen | |||
Songwriter(s) | John Lennon | |||
Producer(s) |
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John Lennon singles chronology | ||||
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Double Fantasy track listing | ||||
14 tracks
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Music video | ||||
"Woman" on YouTube |
"Woman" is a song written and performed by English singer John Lennon from his 1980 album Double Fantasy . The track was chosen by Lennon to be the second single released from the Double Fantasy album,and it was the first Lennon single issued after his murder on 8 December 1980. [1] The B-side of the single is Yoko Ono's song "Beautiful Boys". [1]
Lennon wrote "Woman" as an ode to Ono and to all women. [2] The track begins with Lennon whispering,"For the other half of the sky",a paraphrase of a Chinese proverb,once used by Mao Zedong.
In an interview for Rolling Stone magazine on 5 December 1980,three days before his murder,John Lennon said that the song "came about because,one sunny afternoon in Bermuda,it suddenly hit me what women do for us. Not just what my Yoko does for me,although I was thinking in those personal terms ... but any truth is universal. What dawned on me was everything I was taking for granted. Women really are the other half of the sky,as I whisper at the beginning of the song. It's a 'we' or it ain't anything." In that same interview,Lennon said that "Woman" was his most Beatlesque song on Double Fantasy and that the track is a "grown-up version" of his Beatles song "Girl". [3]
On 5 June 1981,Geffen re-released "Woman" as a single as part of their "Back to Back Hits" series,with the B-side "(Just Like) Starting Over". [1] In the United Kingdom,"Woman" replaced Lennon's 1971 track "Imagine" at number 1.
A promotional film for the song was created by Yoko Ono in January 1981. Throughout most of the video,Lennon and Ono are seen walking through Central Park near what would become Strawberry Fields across from The Dakota. This footage was directed by photographer Ethan Russell on 26 November 1980. [4] Other footage of Ono alone,along with photos and newspaper coverage of Lennon's murder,were also included.
Record World described it as a "simple,introspective love song" and said that the power its last line −"I love you now and forever" −magnifies the song's impact. [5]
Ultimate Classic Rock critic Stephen Lewis rated it as Lennon's greatest solo love song. [6]
The single debuted at number three in Lennon's native UK,then moving to number two and finally reaching number one,where it spent two weeks,knocking off the top spot his own re-released "Imagine". In the US the single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 (kept out of the top spot by REO Speedwagon's hit "Keep On Loving You" and Blondie's hit "Rapture") while reaching number one on the Cashbox Top 100. [7]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
All-time charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
New Zealand (RMNZ) [22] | Gold | 10,000* |
United Kingdom (BPI) [23] | Silver | 250,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [24] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Double Fantasy is the fifth studio album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and the final one before his death. Released in November 1980 on Geffen Records, the album marked Lennon's return to recording music full-time, following his five-year hiatus to raise his son Sean. Recording sessions took place at the Hit Factory in New York City between August and October 1980. The final album features songs from both Lennon and Ono, largely alternating between the two in its track listing. Other tracks recorded by Lennon from the sessions were compiled by Ono for release on Milk and Honey in 1984.
Shaved Fish is a compilation album by English rock musician John Lennon with the Plastic Ono Band, issued in October 1975 on Apple Records. It contains all of the singles that he had issued up to that point in the United States as a solo artist, with the exception of "Stand by Me", which had been released earlier that year. The only compilation of Lennon's non-Beatles recordings released during his lifetime, the album peaked at number 8 in the UK and number 12 in the US. It was also Lennon's final album released on Apple Records before it was shut down in 1975, to be revived in the 1990s.
"Give Peace a Chance" is an anti-war song written by John Lennon, and recorded with the participation of a small group of friends in a performance with Yoko Ono in a hotel room in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Released as a single in July 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, it is the first solo single issued by Lennon, released while he was still a member of the Beatles, and became an anthem of the American anti-war movement during the 1970s. It peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the British singles chart.
"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is a Christmas song released in 1971 as a single by John & Yoko/The Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir. It was the seventh single released by John Lennon outside his work with the Beatles. The song reached number four in the UK, where its release was delayed until November 1972, and has occasionally re-emerged on the UK Singles Chart, most notably after Lennon's murder in December 1980, when it peaked at number two.
"(Just Like) Starting Over" is a song written and performed by John Lennon from the 1980 album, Double Fantasy. It was released as a single on 24 October 1980 in the United Kingdom, with Yoko Ono's "Kiss Kiss Kiss" as the B-side. It reached number one in both the US and UK after Lennon was murdered on 8 December 1980. It was Lennon's final single released in his lifetime.
The John Lennon Collection is a 1982 posthumous compilation album of music from John Lennon's solo career.
John Lennon was a British singer-songwriter and peace activist, best known as the co-founder of the Beatles. After three experimental albums with Yoko Ono, using tape loops, interviews, musique concrète, and other avant-garde performance techniques, Lennon's solo career properly began with the 1969 single "Give Peace a Chance". Lennon then released two more singles, "Cold Turkey" (1969) and "Instant Karma!" (1970), and a live album, Live Peace in Toronto (1969), before the official break-up of the Beatles.
"Cold Turkey" is a song written by English singer-songwriter John Lennon, released as a single in 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, catalogue Apples 1001 in the United Kingdom, Apple 1813 in the United States. It is the second solo single issued by Lennon and it peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The song's first appearance on an album was Live Peace in Toronto 1969 where the song had been performed live on 13 September 1969 with Lennon reading the lyrics off a clip-board.
"Walking on Thin Ice" is a song by Yoko Ono, released in 1981. She and John Lennon concluded the recording of the song on December 8, 1980. It was upon their return from the recording studio to The Dakota that Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman. Lennon was clutching a tape of a final mix of the song before it was mastered when he was shot. The song was both a critical and commercial success for Ono.
"Whatever Gets You thru the Night" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1974 on Apple Records, catalogue number Apple 1874 in the United States and Apple R5998 in the United Kingdom. In the U.S. it peaked at No. 1 on all three record charts: Billboard Hot 100, Cashbox, and Record World, and at No. 36 in the UK. It was the lead single for Lennon's album Walls and Bridges; in the UK the single was released on the same day as the album. "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" was Lennon's only solo No. 1 single in the United States during his lifetime, making him the last member of the Beatles to finally reach the top of the charts. In Canada, the single spent two weeks at No. 2, and became the 30th biggest hit of 1974.
"Woman Is the Nigger of the World" is a song by John Lennon and Yoko Ono with Elephant's Memory from their 1972 album Some Time in New York City. The song was produced by Lennon, Ono and Phil Spector. Released as the only single from the album in the United States, the song sparked controversy at the time due to the use of the word nigger in the title, and many radio stations refused to play the song as a result.
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"#9 Dream" is a song written by John Lennon and first issued on his 1974 album Walls and Bridges. It was released as the second single from that album months later, on Apple Records catalogue Apple 1878 in the United States and Apple R6003 in the United Kingdom. It peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it hit number 23 on the British singles chart. A video for the song was made in 2003.
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