Your Woman

For the album by Sunshine Anderson, or its title track, see Your Woman (album).

"Your Woman"
File:Your Woman single.jpg
Single by White Town
from the album Women in Technology
B-side	"Give Me Some Pain"
Released	13 January 1997
Format	7" 12 CD
Recorded	1996
Genre	Alternative dance trip hop synthpop funktronica
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" noicon

"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. The song peaked at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. Outside the United Kingdom, the single topped the charts in Spain, peaked within the top ten of the charts Australia, Canada, Denmark and Finland and peaked within the top thirty of the charts in the United States.

The song was named the 158th best track of the 1990s by Pitchfork Media.

Background and writing

White Town's sole band member and writer of "Your Woman", Jyoti Prakash 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".

Mishra writes that the themes of the song include: "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."

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."

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 use of hypnosis on 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

Weekly charts

Chart (1997)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	2
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)	23
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)	20
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)	7
Canada Alternative 30 (RPM)	2
Canadian Dance (RPM)	5
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	4
Denmark (IFPI)	4
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)	4
France (SNEP)	5
Germany (Official German Charts)	24
Ireland (IRMA)	5
Italy (FIMI)	3
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)	21
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)	5
Norway (VG-lista)	5
Spain (AFYVE)	1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)	10
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)	19
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	23
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	26
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks	5
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks	16
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	5

Year-end charts

End of year chart (1997)	Position
Canadian RPM Singles Chart	22
Canadian RPM Alternative 30	19
Italian Singles Chart	25
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	65
Australian ARIA Charts	35

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

Digital download
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Your Woman"	3:45
2.	"Temptation"	3:15

Chart performance

Chart (2005)	Peak position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)	60

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
United Kingdom	22 August 2005	Digital download	Island Records
		CD

Princess Chelsea version

"Your Woman"
Single by Princess Chelsea
from the album Your Woman - Single
Released	06 February 2009
Format	Digital download
Recorded	2004
Genre	Pop
Length	4:39
Label	Lil' Chief Records
Producer(s)	Chelsea Nikkel, Jonathan Bree
Princess Chelsea singles chronology
"Your Woman" (2009) "Monkey Eats Bananas" (2009)

New Zealand musician Princess Chelsea released a cover of the song in 2009. It was released as her first single and was a non-album single. It was released as a digital download.

Track listings

Digital download
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Your Woman"	4:39

Other covers

• 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.
• Darren Hayes performed an acoustic version of this song in a BBC 2 live session with Jo Whiley in November 2011
• British India performed a version live on Triple J Like a Version in October 2013

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

Preceded by "Professional Widow" by Tori Amos

UK Singles Chart number-one single 19 January 1997 – 25 January 1997

Succeeded by "Beetlebum" by Blur