Your Woman

"Your Woman"
Single by White Town
from the album Women in Technology
Released	13 January 1997
Recorded	1996
Genre	Trip hop, electronica, alternative dance
Length	4:20
Label	Chrysalis/EMI
Writer(s)	Jyoti Mishra
Producer(s)	White Town
White Town singles chronology
">Abort, Retry, Fail?_" (1996) "Your Woman" (1997) "Undressed" (1997)
Music sample "Your Woman"

"Your Woman" is a song by British one-man band White Town. It was released on 13 January 1997 as the lead single from the album, Women in Technology. It features a muted trumpet line taken from "My Woman" by Al Bowlly and it peaked at number one in the UK Singles Chart. It also topped the charts in Spain, and peaked at number two in Australia, number four in Canada, Denmark and Finland and number 23 in the United States.^[1]

Background and writing

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".^[2] The lyrics could mean "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."^[2] Many listeners also likened the song to a breakup letter, where the man reading the breakup letter imitates the woman's voice.^[2]

The '>Abort, Retry, Fail?_' message that appeared on some inlay cards is explained by the artist thus: "Well, this cheerful message became a kind of shibboleth for me and sort-of characterizes what's been going on for me the last few years."

Content

The song is a reworking of the 1932 Bing Crosby song "My Woman," composed by Crosby (lyrics), Irving Wallman, and Max Wartell (music and lyrics). Al Bowlly, who was a vocalist in the Ray Noble Orchestra, recorded a version of "My Woman" on 29 November 1932 with the Lew Stone and the Monseigneur Band in London. The Bowlly version was featured in the Pennies from Heaven film and soundtrack, and it was this version that White Town sampled for "Your Woman."

Music video

The music video 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 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 hypnotising of 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 emphasize 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 a very similar scene from Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel's 1928 surrealist film Un chien andalou.

Charts

End of year chart

Tyler James version

"Your Woman"
Single by Tyler James
from the album The Unlikely Lad
Released	22 August 2005
Format	CD, Digital download
Recorded	2004
Genre	Pop
Length	3:45
Label	Island Records
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 album studio album The Unlikely Lad (2005). It was released as a Digital download in the United Kingdom on 22 August 2005. The song peaked to number 60 on the UK Singles Chart.

Track listings

Chart performance

Release history

Other covers

• Production duo Dolby Anol covered the song.
• Wiley featuring Emeli Sandé, sampled the song in "Never Be Your Woman" in 2010
• Cats on Fire, a Finnish band, covered the song in 2010 on their album Dealing in Antiques.^[17]
• New Zealand musician Princess Chelsea (real name Chelsea Nikkel) covered the song in 2009.

See also

• 1997 in British music
• One-hit wonders in the UK
• "Tongue" - another song sung by a man and written from a woman's point of view

References

External links

• White Town at the Keeping it Peel BBC site