Oh Woman, Oh Why

From Wikipedia:

“Oh Woman, Oh Why” is a song by the English musician Paul McCartney. It was originally released in February 1971 on the Apple Records label as the B-side of his debut single as a solo artist, “Another Day“. Written by McCartney following instances of fan harassment while out in New York City, the song was recorded between November 1970 and January 1971 during the sessions for the album Ram. The song has been characterised as a blues rock song with a tough drum sound and a gritty, raw vocal performance. The lyrics detail a woman confronting her unfaithful husband with a gun.

As the B-side of “Another Day”, “Oh Woman, Oh Why” peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1971. While it was not originally included on Ram, the song has been included on the special and deluxe editions of the album in 2012. It was also included on The 7″ Singles Box in 2022.

Writing and recording

Paul McCartney wrote “Oh Woman, Oh Why” following instances of fan harassment while he and his family were staying in New York City. Sightings of the McCartneys were posted in fanzines and news publications such as Disc and Music Echo, NME, Melody Maker and Billboard, leading to fans showing up outside restaurants and the recording studio to see them. Linda McCartney recalled: “Twenty kids would follow us wherever we went. Everywhere—hotel, restaurant, studio. After awhile, I asked them to lay off, and one of them turned and said, ‘Well what the hell did you expect?’ I hadn’t expected that.” Wanting to capture his growing frustrations with fans, McCartney wrote “Oh Woman, Oh Why” during a voyage from Le Havre back to New York, envisioning the song as a “gritty rocker”.

“Oh Woman, Oh Why” was recorded during the sessions for Ram at Columbia Studio B in New York City from 2–3 November 1970. On 2 November, McCartney worked on the arrangement with the guitarist Hugh McCracken and the drummer Denny Seiwell, with numerous improvisations, recording it properly the next day. The basic track was recorded first, followed by overdubs. Both McCartney and McCracken played electric guitar, with the former contributing a straightforward part and the latter playing a slide guitar part partly adopted from the Mick Jagger song “Memo from Turner”, from Jagger’s 1970 film Performance. McCartney and McCracken subsequently doubled their guitar parts while Seiwell added shaker and cowbell. Overdubbing sessions for McCartney’s lead vocal took place from 6–11 December 1970, using the same grit utilised for “Monkberry Moon Delight“.

After choosing “Oh Woman, Oh Why” to be the B-side of the “Another Day” single, further overdubbing sessions took place on 26 January 1971 at A&R Recording Studios in New York City. McCartney finished up his lead vocal and added Linda’s backing vocals, which were “bounced down and heavily compressed”. The following day, McCartney decided to record gunshots using a starting pistol and blanks to reinforce the “where’d you get that gun?” line. The gunshots were recorded after hours to avoid raising the alarms at A&R. McCartney and the engineer Dixon Van Winkle attempted to record them in A&R Studio A-1, but its 30-foot high ceiling proved too reverberant to record the sounds. Van Winkle said: “We practiced a lot so that it wouldn’t distort. We tried it in different spots, and with different mics. During the rehearsals, Paul was photographed by Linda holding the gun with his eyes closed. To avoid distortion, the final overdub of seven shots was recorded in the hallway outside Studio A-2 using a Shure SM57 microphone. “Oh Woman, Oh Why” was mixed at A&R on 5 February 1971.

Music and lyrics

The overall style of “Oh Woman, Oh Why” is that of a tense, blues rock song complemented by a fierce vocal delivery. In addition, the song is paced by a drum rhythm which establishes a solid foundation upon which tight guitar lines interweave. The authors Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair note the song’s “tough” drum sound, which Seiwell himself described as “killer”. Beatle biographer John Blaney praised McCartney’s “rip-roaring” vocal performance for its grit and rawness. Blaney also praises McCartney’s “economical” bass line and Denny Seiwell’s “thunderous” drumming. The author Andrew Grant Jackson compares the slide guitar part to the country blues of Led Zeppelin’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” and “Hats Off to (Roy) Harper”. Jackson summarised the song as “‘Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?‘ with lyrics and a full band backing him.”

The song’s lyrics concern a jealous man who murders his unfaithful wife. The woman arrives with a gun to kill him, but he pleads with her to understand what he did wrong. Kozinn and Sinclair note the “obvious” lyrical connections to McCartney’s legal troubles with his former Beatles bandmates, naming the lines “I can’t get by, ‘cos my hands are tied” and “what have I done”. Blaney does criticize the lyrics for “questioning rather than celebrating womanhood,” stating that in this context the aggressiveness of the vocal performance is “particularly notable”.

Release

Apple Records released “Oh Woman, Oh Why” as the B-side of “Another Day” on 19 February 1971 in the United Kingdom and three days later on 22 February in the United States. It was McCartney’s debut single as a solo artist. The single peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1971. On the Cash Box Top 100 chart, which listed sides separately, “Oh Woman, Oh Why” peaked at number 55. The song has been praised for McCartney’s impressive range of vocal pitch. Record World called it “an intense raving side literally packed with dynamite.” Jackson describes the song as “the first in a distinguished tradition of great B-sides by McCartney, which have not been consistently available and are thus overlooked.” In 2022, Pitchfork‘s Jayson Greene said that the song “showcased a hammy Howlin’ Wolf impersonation so unrestrained and cartoony that he resembled a furry green Muppet more than any Delta bluesman.”

Subsequent releases

Although “Another Day” and “Oh Woman, Oh Why” were not originally released on any solo or Wings album, both songs appeared as bonus tracks on later editions of Ram. “Oh Woman, Oh Why” has also been included on the special and deluxe editions of the 2012 remasters of Ram. It was also included on The 7″ Singles Box in 2022. […]

Lyrics

Variations

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Going further

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present

"Oh Woman, Oh Why" is one of the songs featured in the book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present," published in 2021. The book explores Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. It pairs the lyrics of 154 of his songs with his first-person commentary on the circumstances of their creation, the inspirations behind them, and his current thoughts on them.

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Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

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The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969 – 73

In this first of a groundbreaking multivolume set, THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1: 1969-73 captures the life of Paul McCartney in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Beatles, a period in which McCartney recreated himself as both a man and a musician. Informed by hundreds of interviews, extensive ground up research, and thousands of never-before-seen documents THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1 is an in depth, revealing exploration of McCartney’s creative and personal lives beyond the Beatles.

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