I Am Woman
-Artist: Helen Reddy from “Helen Reddy’s Greatest Hits”: EMI ST 11467
-peak Billboard position # 1 for 1 week in 1972
-Words and Music by Helen Reddy and Ray Burton
I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an’ pretend
’cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
No one’s ever gonna keep me down again
CHORUS
Oh yes I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
You can bend but never break me
’cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
’cause you’ve deepened the conviction in my soul
CHORUS
I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin’ arms across the land
But I’m still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand
Oh yes I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
FADE
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman
History of the song:
“I am Woman” reached #1 on the Billboard charts in December 1972. The song was the first #1 hit on the Billboard chart by an Australian-born artist and the first Australian-penned song to win a Grammy Award .In her acceptance speech for Best Female Performance, Reddy famously thanked “God, because She makes everything possible”.
It sold more than a million copies, and has been played more than a million times on US radio.
National Organization for Women founder Betty Friedan was later to write that in 1973, a gala entertainment night in Washington DC at the NOW annual convention closed with the playing of “I Am Woman”. “Suddenly,” she said, “women got out of their seats and started dancing around the hotel ballroom and joining hands in a circle that got larger and larger until maybe a thousand of us were dancing and singing, ‘I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman.’ It was a spontaneous, beautiful expression of the exhilaration we all felt in those years, women really moving as women.”
To Reddy, the song’s message reaches beyond feminism. “It’s not just for women. It’s a general empowerment song about feeling good about yourself, believing in yourself. When my former brother-in-law, a doctor, was going to medical school he played it every morning just to get him going.”
Comments on: "I am a Woman~by Helen Reddy~Music without borders" (4)
I grew up with this tune! Now I must snag this! My sister used to sing Delta Dawn as we gave neighborhood plays. You go Ilmana!
Yes Sue this was my earliest lesson, that my Dad gave me 🙂
I so needed this today! Every day! Thank you.
[…] No to Domestic Violence. Anywhere. To anyone. I Am Woman -Artist: Helen Reddy from "Helen Reddy's Greatest Hits": EMI ST 11467 -peak Billboard position # 1 for 1 week in 1972 -Words and Music by Helen Reddy and Ray Burton I am woman, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore And I know too much to go back an' pretend 'cause I've heard it all before And I've been down there on the floor No one's ever gonna … Read More […]