"She's Always a Woman" is a song by

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

from his 1977 album, '' The Stranger''. It is a love song about a modern woman whom the singer has fallen totally in love with to the extent of falling for her endearing quirks as well as her flaws. The single peaked at No. 17 in the U.S. in Oct. 1978, and at No. 53 in the UK in 1986, when it was released as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

with " Just the Way You Are". It re-entered the UK chart in 2010, reaching No. 29. The song is played in the compound time signature of 6/8.

Origin and meaning

The song was released as a single in 1978, following several other hits from '' The Stranger'' including " Just the Way You Are", "

Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" is a song written and recorded by Billy Joel originally appeared on his 1977 album '' The Stranger''. The track details the singer's disgust with the upwardly mobile bourgeois aspirations of working- and lower-middle- ...

" and "

Only the Good Die Young "Only the Good Die Young" is a song from Billy Joel's 1977 rock album '' The Stranger''. It was the third of four singles released from the album. Song information "Only the Good Die Young" was controversial for its time, with the lyrics written ...

". The song entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on August 12, 1978, and peaked at #17 on October 14 of that year. Musically, Joel has said that he was influenced by

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

and his mellow acoustic guitar ballads. It is a love song that Joel wrote for his then wife, Elizabeth Weber. Elizabeth had taken over management of Joel's career, and was able to put his financial affairs in order after Joel had signed some bad deals and contracts. She was a tough and savvy negotiator who could "wound with her eyes" or "steal like a thief", but would "never give in". Because of her tough-as-nails negotiating style, many business adversaries thought she was "unfeminine," but to Joel, she was always a woman. The two eventually divorced in 1982.

Composition

Joel stated in an interview that he was attempting to replicate the

fingerpicking Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of guitar picking, playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with ...

common in

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

guitar music. He accomplishes this by playing arpeggiated triads in the right hand. He also notes that the production was purposely minimal to capture the purity of the tune as a folk song. Joel claims that the

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

of the song is 6/8. This splits each measure into two full triad ascending arpeggios. The song is in the key of Eb major. It begins with singing over the chords each played without the arpeggio in the first verse, each chord lasting a full measure. In the second verse he begins arpeggiating, with each chord again lasting a full measure. The choruses are in the

relative minor In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures (enharmonically equivalent), meaning that they share all the same notes but are arranged in a different order of whole steps and half steps. A pair of major an ...

of Eb major, which is C minor. In the second part of each chorus Joel switches to the

parallel minor In music theory, a major scale and a minor scale that have the same tonic note are called parallel keys and are said to be in a parallel relationship. Forte, Allen (1979). ''Tonal Harmony'', p.9. 3rd edition. Holt, Rinehart, and Wilson. . "When ...

of Eb minor before returning to verse.

Reception

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

'' described "She's Always a Woman" as a "dramatic ballad." ''Billboard'' particularly praised the "subtle orchestration" and "sophisticated melody," which it found comparable to ballads by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "the tune is melodic and flows sweetly; the lyric is precise and has something to say" and praised Joel's singing. Of historical note, an

instrumental version A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of the song was heard playing on the plaza of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, just before the collapse of both towers
Captured by a cameraman filming nearby
the playing of the song was viewed as "surreal" against the backdrop of carnage and destruction.

Track listing

7" single (1977)

# "She's Always a Woman" # "

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Single (CBS)

# "She's Always a Woman" # "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)"

Japanese 7" single (CBS 06SP 248)

# "She's Always a Woman" # "Only the Good Die Young"

Charts

Certifications

Fyfe Dangerfield cover

Fyfe Dangerfield Fyfe Antony Dangerfield Hutchins (born 7 July 1980) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the founding member of the indie rock band Guillemots. Early life Born in Moseley, Birmingham, in 1980, he moved to Bromsgrove at the ag ...

, lead singer of the band Guillemots, recorded a version of this song in 2010 which was used in an advertisement for the British department store

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

. Subsequently, the Billy Joel original re-entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at No. 29 on May 1, 2010. On May 1, 2010, a new version of the advert aired; which shows more of the song cover. In the annual ITV poll for 2010 advert of the year; "John Lewis – She's always a Woman" ranked fourth. The advert has been viewed on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

over 570,000 times (collectively from the top 3 results) since it aired on TV.

Chart performance

"She's Always a Woman" debuted on the UK Singles Chart on May 2, 2010, at No. 99. On its second week in the chart, the single climbed 85 places to No. 14, marking Dangerfield's most successful single to date. On May 16, 2010, the single climbed seven places to its peak of No. 7 before falling to No. 9 in its second week within the top 10.

Track listing

Digital download # "She's Always a Woman" – 3:14

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:She's Always A Woman 1970s ballads 1977 singles 1978 singles Billy Joel songs Songs written by Billy Joel Song recordings produced by Phil Ramone Columbia Records singles Polydor Records singles 1977 songs Rock ballads Pop ballads