She's a Woman

"She's a Woman" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on a non-album single in November 1964 as the B-side to " I Feel Fine", except in North America, where it also appeared on the album '' Beatles '65'', released in December 1964. Though it was the B-side, it charted in the US, reaching number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number eight on the ''Cash Box'' Top 100. The song originated in McCartney's attempt to write a song in the style of Little Richard. The lyrics include the first reference to drugs in a Beatles song, with the line "turn(s) me on" referring to marijuana.

The Beatles recorded "She's a Woman" in October 1964, during the sessions for their album ''Beatles for Sale''. McCartney composed it quickly, writing much of the song at EMI Recording Studios shortly before recording. With a sparse arrangement, John Lennon's rhythm guitar hits on the offbeats, allowing room for the bass to be the centre of the recording. McCartney's prominent bass was to that point the loudest heard on a Beatles recording, anticipating his high-profile bass lines in later songs. His vocal extends near the top of his register, heard especially as he strains near the song's opening. The song has subsequently appeared on compilation albums such as the UK edition of '' Rarities''; '' Past Masters, Volume One'' and '' Mono Masters''.

"She's a Woman" has received praise from several music critics and musicologists for McCartney's strong vocal and the band's loud backing, though some have criticised its lyrics as weak. In addition to recording the song twice for BBC radio, the Beatles regularly performed the song during their 1965 and 1966 tours. An August 1965 performance appeared on the 1977 live album ''The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl'' while one from June 1966 was included on the 1996 compilation ''Anthology 2''. In his post-Beatles career, McCartney has occasionally performed the song in concert, including an acoustic version that appeared on his 1991 live album ''Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)''. Charles River Valley Boys, Jeff Beck and Scritti Politti are among the artists who have covered the track.

Background and composition

Paul McCartney began composing the lyrics and melody to "She's a Woman" on 8 October 1964, the same day that it was recorded, and finished it quickly. Appearing on the radio programme '' Top Gear'' on 17 November 1964, he explained that he only had "about one verse" ready on the morning of the session, finishing the rest of the song once in the studio. In his authorised biography, ''Many Years from Now'', he recalls that the initial idea came to him while walking around the streets of St John's Wood, but is unsure whether he finished the song at home, on his way to the studio, or once actually there. Comparing it to his earlier composition "Can't Buy Me Love", he further recalls the song as an attempt to write "a bluesy thing" in the style of one of his favourite singers, Little Richard. In a 1972 interview, John Lennon identifies the song as McCartney's, but suggests that he may have helped with the middle. In a 1980 interview with ''Playboy'', he again identifies the composition as McCartney's, but suggests he likely contributed some lyrics., quoted in .

"She's a Woman" is mainly in the key of A major, with brief shifts to C-sharp minor, and is in 4/4 time. Besides its two short bridge sections, the song only uses the chords I, IV and V. Music scholar Thomas MacFarlane characterises the song as a "synthesis of rock and blues inflections with elements derived from country and western or folk styles". Variously described as rock and roll, pop rock, R&B, or "perky pop-blues", the song is a long-form blues number with a four-bar bridge. Musicologist Walter Everett characterises the format as structurally similar to "Can't Buy Me Love", joining a minor pentatonic verse with a major mode bridge. Similar to Cliff Richard's song "Move It", the verse is twenty four- bars rather than the more typical twelve-bar format, making the four-bar bridge sound especially short. Everett suggests the short bridge quickly returning to the verse creates a "formal ambiguity".

Comparing its beginning to "I Want to Hold Your Hand", Everett writes that before the song's beat has been established, the "sneaky accenting" of offbeats results in an "off-center introduction". For the first four bars, the rhythm guitar and piano are the only instruments heard, with the "heavily accented backbeat" not heard as such until the bass and drums begin playing, "proving' the correct metrical accent". Music critic Tim Riley writes the "clipped guitar yelps" of the opening "tease the ear in a simpler way than the fade-in to ' I Want to Tell You' will". Rather than playing a typical rhythm guitar section, Lennon provides a distinct sound to the track by only hitting the off-beats, adding a reggae accent to the song, and which McCartney later explained, "left a lot of space for the rest of the stuff". Musicologist Ian MacDonald calls McCartney's legato bass line the "structural centrepiece" of the song and that "without it, the other elements in this stark arrangement would make no sense". Everett suggests it is instructive to compare "the simple form and involved melodicism" of the song against "the opposite emphases" heard on Ray Charles's " I Got a Woman". Pollack contends that the song pairs well with " I Feel Fine", in particular the "euphoric subtext of the words", its stylised blues and the similar V–IV–I intros. MacDonald characterises it as the second single by the Beatles to be based on blues changes, the first being the March 1964 release "Can't Buy Me Love"/" You Can't Do That".

McCartney sings the song near the top of his vocal register, straining in the opening to hit a high A. The singer explains that though his lover does not give him presents they each still love each other. Several lines rhyme with the second-to-last word, as in "lonely" with "only ooling and "jealous" with "well as oving