"She's Always a Woman" is a song by Billy Joel from his 1977 album, The Stranger. The single peaked at No. 17 in the U.S. in Oct. 1978, [2] and at No. 53 in the UK in 1986, when it was released as a double A-side with "Just the Way You Are". It re-entered the UK chart in 2010, reaching No. 29.
Background
It is a love song about a woman whom the singer has fallen totally in love with to the extent of falling for her endearing quirks as well as her flaws.
Joel wrote the song for his then-wife, Elizabeth Weber. Weber 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.[3] The two eventually divorced in 1982.
Composition
Joel has said that he was influenced by Gordon Lightfoot and his mellow acoustic guitar ballads. He stated in an interview that he was attempting to replicate the fingerpicking common in folk guitar music.[4] 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 of the song is 6/8. This splits each measure into two full triad ascending arpeggios. The song is in the key of E♭ 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 of E♭ major, which is C minor. In the second part of each chorus Joel switches to the parallel minor of E♭ minor before returning to verse. The song features mellotron flutes, the only time Joel used this instrument in his career.
Reception
Billboard described "She's Always a Woman" as a "dramatic ballad."[5]Billboard particularly praised the "subtle orchestration" and "sophisticated melody," which it found comparable to ballads by Bob Dylan and Paul Simon.[5]Cash Box said that "the tune is melodic and flows sweetly; the lyric is precise and has something to say" and praised Joel's singing.[6]Record World said that "it is much like a [natural] progression of the message in 'Just the Way You Are' and should pick up immediate pop and adult airplay."[7]
Jack Taliercio footage
A Muzak version of "She's Always a Woman" can be heard playing in the background of a video recorded by a WNYW news crew with camera operator Jack Taliercio in the Austin J. Tobin Plaza of the World Trade Center complex in New York City on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, after two commercial airliners hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists were deliberately flown into each of the Twin Towers as part of a large-scale terrorist attack. The soundtrack dissonance of the song playing amidst falling debris and the noise of the blaze in the environment of the two burning skyscrapers was viewed as "surreal".[8]
Fyfe Dangerfield, 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.[16] Subsequently, the Billy Joel original re-entered the UK Singles Chart 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 over 570,000 times (collectively from the top 3 results) since it aired on TV.[17]
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.
