"Your Woman" is a single released in 1997 by British one-man band White Town, also known as Jyoti Mishra.^[1] It features a muted trumpet line taken from "My Woman" by Al Bowlly and it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1997. It also hit number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Your Woman" also peaked at number 26 on the dance charts.^[2]

The song is often known by the title of the EP on which it originally appeared — >Abort, Retry, Fail?_. The song later also appeared on White Town's full-length album Women in Technology.

The artist has reported 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".^[3] 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-ass Marxist. The hypocrisy that results when love and lust get mixed up with highbrow ideals."^[3] Many listeners also likened the song to a breakup letter, where the man reading the breakup letter imitates the woman's voice.^[3]

Music video [link]

The music video was produced in black-and-white silent film style. Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed in Derby City Centre (UK).

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 [link]

Remixes [link]

Aside from the 'Fitch Brothers Down-town Dance Mix', most promo 12" vinyl singles for "Your Woman" feature remixes wherein "Your Woman" is rendered nearly unrecognizable in comparison to its album counterpart. For example, the 11-minute 'Fitch Brothers Dub House Mix' features little more than hypnotic bass looping.

In popular culture [link]

The 2007 film I Could Never Be Your Woman takes its title from the lyrics of the song, and the song is included on the soundtrack.^[10] The song appears on the animated television show Daria in the episode "Malled".^[11]

Cover versions [link]

• The song was covered by Tyler James in July 2005.
• 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.^[12]

See also [link]

• 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 [link]

External links [link]

• White Town at the Keeping it Peel BBC site