"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" is a 1967 song by American soul singer Aretha Franklin released as a single by the Atlantic label. The words were written by Gerry Goffin from an idea by Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler, and the music was composed by Carole King. Written for Franklin, the record was a big hit reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became one of her signature songs. It made history on the UK Singles Chart a week after her death, finally becoming a hit almost 51 years after it was first released, entering at No. 79. Franklin also included a live recording on the album Aretha in Paris in 1968.
Carole King herself recorded the song for her 1971 album Tapestry. The numerous cover versions of the song include recordings by Mary J. Blige and Celine Dion, both of which charted in the same year (1995). At the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors, Aretha Franklin performed the song to honor award-recipient Carole King.
Background and release
Written by the partnership of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, the song was inspired by Atlantic Records co-owner and producer Jerry Wexler. As recounted in his autobiography, Wexler, a student of African-American musical culture, had been mulling over the concept of the "natural man", when he drove by King on the streets of New York. He shouted out to her that he wanted a "natural woman" song for Aretha Franklin's next album. Goffin and King went home and wrote the song that night. In thanks, they granted Wexler a co-writing credit.
Cash Box said that "from the vocal standpoint, the side is unmatched; and in the ork and production departments, excellent work add up to a shattering performance" and that the song builds to "new emotional peaks" from a "shattering" beginning.
Personnel
Aretha Franklin – lead vocals
Spooner Oldham – piano
Tommy Cogbill – bass
Gene Chrisman – drums
The Sweet Inspirations, Carolyn Franklin & Erma Franklin – background vocals
strings conducted by Ralph Burns
Charts
Certifications
Carole King version
King recorded "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" for her 1971 Tapestry album, a record that became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Her rendition is done in a stripped-down, slower-tempo arrangement as compared to the original, an arrangement that features only King's piano and Charles Larkey's bass. King's vocal makes no attempt to duplicate Franklin's power or style, instead singing in her own more conversational voice.
In a review of Tapestry at the time for Rolling Stone, critic Jon Landau praised the rendering of "Natural Woman" as one of the album's "pleasantest moments" and "an entirely fresh and original interpretation." A retrospective review for AllMusic comments that her recording of it for Tapestry "take[s] on added resonance when delivered in her own warm, compelling voice." Writing for Pitchfork, music journalist Jenn Pelly says that while King's version is not the definitive one, it does "carry the bespoke power of a woman reckoning with her history in song ... Of course King's 'Natural Woman' does not summon the heavens with the same earth-shattering force as the Queen of Soul's version ... But the grasping of King's 'you make me's and the fluttering of her 'feel's are charged with the force of a person attempting to turn herself inside out. In the voice of Aretha, 'Natural Woman' is glory. In the voice of King, it is, like all of Tapestry, an act of pure conviction."
"A Natural Woman" was included in King's concert performances at the time, during which she sought to deflect comparisons the original by suggested that the audience listen to it in the frame of reference of the demo recording for Aretha that it had originally been.
Mary J. Blige version
American singer Mary J. Blige recorded a cover version of "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman" for the New York Undercover TV series soundtrack (1995). Her version was produced by James Mtume and it reached number 23 in the United Kingdom and number 95 in the United States. It was later added to the international versions of her 1994 album, My Life. The music video was directed by Brett Ratner.