(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Aretha Franklin on the Atlantic label. The record was a big hit for Franklin, reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became a standard song for her. Franklin included a live recording on the album "Aretha in Paris" (1968).
Co-written by the celebrated writing-producing team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin, 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 he wanted a "natural woman" song for Franklin's next album. In thanks, Goffin and King granted Wexler a co-writing credit.
Natural Man was released by Freddie Hughes in 1968 Natural Man/I Gotta Keep My Bluff In (Wand Records 1192)
Natural Woman was recorded by Carole King on her landmark 1971 album Tapestry, and by Mary J. Blige, whose 1995 version, from the soundtrack of New York Undercover, also charted. Bobby Womack did a version of the song on his 1973 album Facts of Life with lyrics and title altered to "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Man". Rod Stewart covered that version in 1974 for his album Smiler. Bonnie Tyler did a successful version of the song on her album It's a Heartache (outside the U.S., known as Natural Force) in 1978. Céline Dion also recorded this song in 1995 for the Tapestry Revisited album. Franklin gave a live performance of the song alongside King, Dion, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain on the first VH1 Divas special in 1998. Whitney Houston also covered the song during her Bodyguard World Tour, as part of a portion of her show that she specifically dedicated to Aretha Franklin. (The Houston cover was never recorded as part of an official album.) Japanese recording artist Superfly released a cover of the song as a B-side on her single "Dancing on the Fire" and later released the song as a digital single. Indie Canadian recording artist Katie Stelmanis covered the song on her 2007 album Join Us. The Disney star, Demi Lovato covered the song during her Summer Tour 2009 and South American Tour 2010 (the second one at Colombia and Rio de Janeiro only).
The song appears on the game Karaoke Revolution. In 2003, the episode "Walking on Water" of BBC series Waking the Dead began with a version of the song performed by a transgender character.
