Natural Woman
T he more Gerry and I traveled back and forth between coasts, the less happy I became about being away from our children so much. I thought we should look for opportunities closer to home. One of the most successful New York–based record companies was Atlantic Records. Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun had continued to be diligent in looking for songs for their R&B and soul artists whose strength lay more in performing than in writing. Ironically, their top artist, who wrote her own songs, would save our bacon by recording a song she didn’t write.
One afternoon Gerry and I were walking down Broadway to retrieve our car when a long black limousine with dark windows pulled up alongside us. The rear window rolled down and revealed Jerry Wexler. He got right to the point.
“I’m looking for a really big hit for Aretha.”
He didn’t need to say her last name. Miss Franklin had already enjoyed several top 10 hits. We moved closer to the car to hear what else he had to say.
“How about writing a song called ‘ Natural Woman ’?”
Gerry and I looked at each other. What a great title! We coulddo that. Wexler saw our look and nodded. Then he pressed the button to roll up his window, Gerry and I stepped back onto the sidewalk, and Wexler’s face disappeared into the darkness. We watched the limo ease back into the flow of traffic down Broadway, then Gerry and I began walking again.
“Oh my God, he wants us to write for Aretha!”
“I think we can do it.”
“Of course we can!”
“Yeah… I think I already got an idea.”
With me bubbling over and Gerry thinking out loud in his thick Brooklyn accent, we continued to reaffirm our ability to deliver the requested song all the way to the lot where our car was parked.
Having a specific assignment that we had every reason to believe would lead to a cover by a top-selling artist was highly motivating. As soon as we came out on the Jersey side of the tunnel, Gerry put on WNJR to inspire the right musical mood. Arriving home, we parked in the driveway, went into the house, and found Willa Mae presiding over the children’s after-dinner playtime. We spent some time with the girls, but we were chomping at the bit. We kissed them good night and headed up to the red room. I sat down at the piano, put my hands on the keys, and played a few chords. It was unbelievable how right they were, and we both knew it.
Four decades later Gerry remembered it this way in a phone call as we reminisced about writing this song:
“You sat down at the piano and out came some gospel chords in 6/8 tempo. Those chords were exactly where I thought the song should go. You made it really easy for me to come out with the lyrics. You made it effortless.”
I don’t know that I would have called it effortless. Our preparation and discussion on the way home had been an importantpart of the process. It put me in the right place to be a conduit for those chords. And then, once we had a verse and a chorus, effort was involved in thinking of a slightly different lyrical direction for the second verse that fit with the music already set up by the first verse. If Gerry thought my chords were exactly right, I was blown away by his lyrical imagery. A soul in the lost-and-found… a lover with a claim check… How did Gerry come up with these things??
The next day we recorded a piano-vocal demo and brought it to Jerry Wexler. He loved the song and said he’d get back to us after he played it for Ahmet and Aretha. As soon as we left, Wexler took our demo into the other room and played it for Ahmet, who also loved it. Then they had to play it for their engineer, Tom Dowd, the arranger, Arif Mardin, and then, of course, the song had to be approved by Aretha herself. Evidently she liked it enough to give it the final and most essential thumbs-up.
We didn’t know about any of these interim steps until after the song had been recorded. We remained in limbo for days. Most conversations between
T he more Gerry and I traveled back and forth between coasts, the less happy I became about being away from our children so much. I thought we should look for opportunities closer to home. One of the most successful New York–based record companies was Atlantic Records. Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun had continued to be diligent in looking for songs for their R&B and soul artists whose strength lay more in performing than in writing. Ironically, their top artist, who wrote her own songs, would save our bacon by recording a song she didn’t write.
One afternoon Gerry and I were walking down Broadway to retrieve our car when a long black limousine with dark windows pulled up alongside us. The rear window rolled down and revealed Jerry Wexler. He got right to the point.
“I’m looking for a really big hit for Aretha.”
He didn’t need to say her last name. Miss Franklin had already enjoyed several top 10 hits. We moved closer to the car to hear what else he had to say.
“How about writing a song called ‘ Natural Woman ’?”
Gerry and I looked at each other. What a great title! We coulddo that. Wexler saw our look and nodded. Then he pressed the button to roll up his window, Gerry and I stepped back onto the sidewalk, and Wexler’s face disappeared into the darkness. We watched the limo ease back into the flow of traffic down Broadway, then Gerry and I began walking again.
“Oh my God, he wants us to write for Aretha!”
“I think we can do it.”
“Of course we can!”
“Yeah… I think I already got an idea.”
With me bubbling over and Gerry thinking out loud in his thick Brooklyn accent, we continued to reaffirm our ability to deliver the requested song all the way to the lot where our car was parked.
Having a specific assignment that we had every reason to believe would lead to a cover by a top-selling artist was highly motivating. As soon as we came out on the Jersey side of the tunnel, Gerry put on WNJR to inspire the right musical mood. Arriving home, we parked in the driveway, went into the house, and found Willa Mae presiding over the children’s after-dinner playtime. We spent some time with the girls, but we were chomping at the bit. We kissed them good night and headed up to the red room. I sat down at the piano, put my hands on the keys, and played a few chords. It was unbelievable how right they were, and we both knew it.
Four decades later Gerry remembered it this way in a phone call as we reminisced about writing this song:
“You sat down at the piano and out came some gospel chords in 6/8 tempo. Those chords were exactly where I thought the song should go. You made it really easy for me to come out with the lyrics. You made it effortless.”
I don’t know that I would have called it effortless. Our preparation and discussion on the way home had been an importantpart of the process. It put me in the right place to be a conduit for those chords. And then, once we had a verse and a chorus, effort was involved in thinking of a slightly different lyrical direction for the second verse that fit with the music already set up by the first verse. If Gerry thought my chords were exactly right, I was blown away by his lyrical imagery. A soul in the lost-and-found… a lover with a claim check… How did Gerry come up with these things??
The next day we recorded a piano-vocal demo and brought it to Jerry Wexler. He loved the song and said he’d get back to us after he played it for Ahmet and Aretha. As soon as we left, Wexler took our demo into the other room and played it for Ahmet, who also loved it. Then they had to play it for their engineer, Tom Dowd, the arranger, Arif Mardin, and then, of course, the song had to be approved by Aretha herself. Evidently she liked it enough to give it the final and most essential thumbs-up.
We didn’t know about any of these interim steps until after the song had been recorded. We remained in limbo for days. Most conversations between
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