RAY CHARLES - I GOT A WOMAN

I GOT A WOMAN

RAY CHARLES

SONGWRITERS: RAY CHARLES & RENALD RICHARD

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: RAY CHARLES

LABEL: ATLANTIC

GENRE: BLUES

YEAR: 1957

"I Got a Woman" (originally titled "I've Got a Woman")is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B and soul musician Ray Charles. Atlantic Records released the song as a single in December 1954, with "Come Back Baby" as the B-side. Both songs later appeared on the 1957 album Ray Charles (subsequently reissued as Hallelujah I Love Her So). The song was notably sampled in Kanye West's 2005 hit song, "Gold Digger".

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray." He was often referred to as "The Genius." Charles was blinded during childhood due to glaucoma.

Charles pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic. He contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm and blues, and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, notably with his two Modern Sounds albums. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company.

Charles' 1960 hit "Georgia On My Mind" was the first of his three career No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. His 1962 album, Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music, became his first album to top the Billboard 200. Charles had multiple singles reach the Top 40 on various Billboard charts: 44 on the US R&B singles chart, 11 on the Hot 100 singles chart, 2 on the Hot Country singles charts.

Charles cited Nat King Cole as a primary influence, but his music was also influenced by Louis Jordan and Charles Brown. He had a lifelong friendship and occasional partnership with Quincy Jones. Frank Sinatra called Ray Charles "the only true genius in show business," although Charles downplayed this notion. Billy Joel said, "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley".

Charles is a 17-time Grammy Award winner. He was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987; 10 of his recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2002, Rolling Stone ranked Charles No. 10 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time," and No. 2 on their list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" in 2008.

Well, I got a woman, way over town

That's good to me, oh, yeah

Said I got a woman, way over town

Good to me, oh, yeah

She gives me money when I'm in need

Yeah, she's a kind of friend indeed

I got a woman, way over town

That's good to me, oh, yeah

She saves her loving, early in the morning

Just for me, oh, yeah

She saves her loving, early in the morning

Just for me, oh, yeah

She saves her loving, just for me

She loves me, so tenderly

I got a woman, way over town

That's good to me, oh, yeah

She's there to love me

Both day and night

Never grumbles or fusses

Always treats me right

Never running in the streets

Leaving me alone

She knows a woman's place

Is right there, now, in the home

I got a woman, way over town

That's good to me, oh, yeah

Said I got a woman, way over town

That's good to me, oh, yeah

Well, she's my baby, don't you understand

Yeah, I'm her loving man, now

I got a woman, way over town

She's good to me, oh, yeah

Well, don't you know she's all right

Well, don't you know she's all right
She's all right

She's all right.