I Got a Woman

Infobox Single
Name =I Got a Woman


Cover size =
Caption =
Artist =Ray Charles
from Album = Ray Charles (or, Hallelujah I Love Her So)
A-side ="I Got a Woman"
B-side ="Come Back Baby"
Released =December 1954
Format =
Recorded =
Genre =
Length =
Label =Atlantic 45-1050
Writer =Ray Charles
Producer =
Certification =
Chart position =* #1 USA R&B
Last single =
This single ="I Got a Woman"
(1954)
Next single = "This Little Girl of Mine"
Misc ="I Got a Woman" was a career-defining song for American R&B musician Ray Charles when released as a single in December of 1954. Atlantic 45-1050 b/w Come Back Baby. Both sides later appeared on his 1956 album "Ray Charles (or, Hallelujah I Love Her So)".

Built on a gospel hymn, "Jesus Is All the World to Me", Ray was listening to on the radio while on the road with his band, he and his band member, trumpeter Renald Richard penned a song which was built among a gospel frenetic pace with secular lyrics. The mixture of gospel and rhythm and blues in "I Got a Woman" eventually led to what would become known as soul music making Charles its heralded creator.

The song was recorded late 1954 in an Atlanta studio and was Charles' first #1 R&B hit in January 1955. The song would lead to more hits for Charles during this period when he was on Atlantic. It was later ranked #235 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, one of Charles' five songs on the list.

Fifty years later, rapper Kanye West would sample "I Got a Woman" for his #1 US hit, "Gold Digger", in 2005, bringing Charles back into the charts (with help from Jamie Foxx, who also played Charles in the biopic, "Ray", and imitated him in the intro), only this time credited as a songwriter of his own #1 hit posthumously after his death in June 2004. Two years later, reggae legends Toots and the Maytals covered the song on their album 'Light Your Light'.

Cover versions

The song has been covered by many artists, including:
*Anneke van Giersbergen
*Bobby Darin
*Elvis Presley
*Jimmy McGriff
*Booker T. & the M.G.'s
*The Beatles
*Roy Orbison
*Al Kooper
*The Honeydrippers
*The Monkees
*Stevie Wonder
*Johnny Cash and June Carter
*Jerry Lee Lewis
*Them
*John Hammond
*Bill Haley & His Comets
*Jamie Cullum
*Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
*Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
*The Gibson Brothers
*Kanye West- See above, but it's not technically a cover, but instead a sample.
*Andrew Wild
*Kermit Ruffins & Rebirth Brass Band
*Bryan Adams
*John Mayer Trio
*Ramblin' Jack Elliott
*Sammy Davis Jr.
*Toots and the Maytals
*Jimmy Smith
*Pink Anderson
*Alonzo Pennington

References