If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)
"If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" | ||||
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synthpop | ||||
Length | 5:15 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) | Desmond Child | |||
Producer(s) | Jim Steinman | |||
Bonnie Tyler singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" (Extended Version) on YouTube |
"If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" is a song recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for her 1986 rock album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. It was written by Desmond Child and produced by Jim Steinman. Child has since stated that the song was re-written as "You Give Love a Bad Name" with Bon Jovi after he was dissatisfied with the chart performance of "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)". It was successful in Europe, reaching number six in France and sold over 250,000 copies. The song also reached number 77 on the US Hot 100, and has since been Tyler's last hit single in the country. Tyler re-recorded the song on her 2004 album Simply Believe.
Background and composition
After the success of Faster Than the Speed of Night in 1983, Tyler went on to work with Jim Steinman on a second album. "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" was released as the third single from Tyler's 1986 album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire after the international success of first single "Holding Out for a Hero", which was originally released in 1984 from the soundtrack to the film Footloose. Steinman recruited Desmond Child for two tracks (the other being "Lovers Again"). Steinman told Child that he wanted a song about androgyny. "I want a special song. The verses have to sound like Tina Turner, the B Section has to sound like The Police, U2, or Hall & Oates, and the chorus has to sound like Bruce Springsteen," he continued.[2]
After he had completed his work on Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire and the single had peaked, Child went to work with Bon Jovi a few months later. He co-wrote "You Give Love a Bad Name" with Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora using the same chorus composition and made the song a hit. "I was sore at the record company for not pushing that song ["If You Were A Woman (And I Was a Man)"], and I said, "I'm going to prove that that song's a hit!" So we wrote it again."[2]
Critical reception
The album
Commercial performance
Upon its release, "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" debuted at number 42 in France, rising to number 6 two months later. It was certified
Elsewhere in continental Europe, "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" was a hit in Finland, Switzerland and West Germany, where it peaked at number 11, 16 and 36 respectively, the single stayed in the European Hot 100 Singles for 22 weeks. The song failed to significantly impact the UK charts, however, spending three weeks in the chart, peaking at number 78. Across the Atlantic, the song peaked at number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 87 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart.
Music video
In conjunction with the single release, Tyler recorded a music video for "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)". Three versions of the video were published. The longest, uncut version runs to 5:54.[9] The "extended" version is only 5:29 and is missing a few lines of dialogue (e.g. "You ready? You ready? you ready?" "I was born ready") and rather than the transformation of the Rambo character into a Marilyn Monroe character, an explosion of light is used[10] and the third version runs to 4:40 and omits the opening dialogue sequence and all of the additional dialogue bar "Welcome to The Dive!".[11]
The screenplay for this music video was written by Jim Steinman and he also produced and co-directed it.[9]
Excerpts of the music video are shown on a TV during Tyler's 1992 music video for "
Synopsis
This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. |
The video opens with some exposition from an elderly woman with an English accent. She speaks of her past — she was a singer and owner of a club called The Dive in an area called The Deep End - and the video reflects what happened in her past—at the turn of the 21st century, during a time of warfare.
The video then cuts and widens full-screen as the song begins. We see a dark alley full of people, some nuns in the background, a boy in a black leather jacket and his dog. One man in the alley with "DIVE" painted on his forehead pulls another along on a chain, presumably a slave. We then cut to a dressing room in a club—Bonnie Tyler sits in front of a mirror, reading a newspaper with one headline: "City under siege". At this point we realise the Bonnie Tyler character is the elderly woman's flashback to the past she described earlier.
The boy seen earlier with the dog begins running down the stairs and yells to Bonnie "Hey! It's showtime doll, showtime! You ready, you ready, you ready?" to which she replies: "I'm ready, I'm ready, I was born ready".
The scene flashes briefly to the dark alley—the war, some nuns, some medics.
It then returns to a different woman—in red, opening a door and inviting us in: "Ah! Welcome to The Dive! You won't believe your eyes! Or any other part of your body! Hahahahaha! This section here, is for colours only! And that section, is for black and white!" as the colour fades from the video and the room is shown in monochrome. There are dancers everywhere. The colours section does contain mainly people of colour, some in tribal costumes and paint. The black and white section does too, but also contains people in centuries-old European clothes, in the same tribal paint. There are also semi naked muscular men, some caught like flies in a giant spider web, dozens of feet high. Bonnie Tyler is lowered from the ceiling, singing, past the spider web, and everyone stops dancing.
As she continues to sing, we see both sections of the room—half monochrome and half colour—and people dance freely from one side to the other, crossing over and gaining or losing colour as they cross over. Bonnie sings in black and white, an enormous cloth falls from behind her and with it, colour invades the whole room. Everyone starts dancing again.
Outside in the alley again, a gang of heavily armed girls corner a man who was just standing there, slap him to the ground, point a gun at him and force lipstick on him. The sound of a bomb whistling and landing is heard, and we see the dark alley erupt with fire, explosions. Medics run with a stretcher, and nuns tend the injured.
Meanwhile, in the club, Bonnie continues to sing and women cheer surround a pit of mud which contains four men (who are tied together in pairs) mud-wrestling. A man resembling the character
Marilyn leaves the club, blowing a kiss to the camera. Walking alone in the dark alley—now desolate, small fires burning.
The voice of the elderly woman repeats as she did in the opening—"Down in the deep end, behind the walls of the dive – it was like a footnote to paradise".
Relation to other works by Jim Steinman
Steinman had already provided a small amount of gender bender voice work on his earlier works; he provided the "lascivious effects" for the song "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", both the male and female lovemaking sounds. He recited the female dialogue "I'd do anything for love... but I won't do that!" on Bonnie Tyler's song "Getting So Excited" when she refused to do it.[12] By the mid-1980s he was experimenting with androgyny, manufacturing the band Fire Inc for the songs in the film Streets of Fire by blending the voices of female (Laurie Sargent, Holly Sherwood) and male (Rory Dodd) voices together as one to produce a single super-voice.[13]
The theme of colour vs black-and-white recurs in the song with the lyrics "can you colorise my life? I'm so sick of black and white" in the song "
The scenario of this music video does appear to be part of Steinman's "Obsidian" universe. The location is mentioned in Steinman's earlier work Neverland whereas the elderly woman in this video refers to the turn of the 21st century. One character in Bat Out Of Hell The Musical mentions there having been "chemical wars" in the past.
The line "You won't believe your eyes.. or any other part of your body!" also occurs in Jim Steinman's own music video "Dance in My Pants",[17] and is spoken by a woman on the door of a different club. Rather than simple reuse of a joke, it may have been done to draw a parallel, or imply that both establishments are supposed to be in "The Deep End".
Reception
The video received six nominations at the 1986 Billboard Video Music Conference; Best Conceptual Video, Best Special Effects, Best Audio, Best Costumes, Best Choreographer (Edmond Kresley) and Best Set Designer (Stephan Roman).[18]
Live performances
In October 2005, Tyler performed "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" live at the Fiestas del Pilar in Zaragoza, Spain. It was recorded and released on Tyler's concert film, Bonnie on Tour, and its accompanying live album. In 2015, Tyler performed the song live on the sixth season of X-Factor, the Ukrainian version of The X Factor, with contestant Bogdan Sovyk.[19]
Track listing and formats
- 7" single[20]
- "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" – 4:00
- "Under Suspicion" – 4:20
- 12" maxi[21]
- "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" (extended version) – 4:46
- "Straight from the Heart" – 3:38
- "Under Suspicion" – 4:20
Charts
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Certifications and sales
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
France ( SNEP)[8]
|
Silver | 250,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Re-recordings
As well as making regular appearances on compilation albums, Tyler has re-recorded the song multiple times. "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" featured on her 2004 album
Cover versions
The song was covered by
RuPaul recorded the song for his album Foxy Lady (1996). The album received a negative review from AllMusic, opining that the album was "an attempt to expand RuPaul's pop culture phenomenon status into a genuine career," but that it lacked any catchy songs.[38]
Ava Max has replayed the melody of the song in her single "Kings & Queens" (2020).[39]
References
- ^ "Bonnie Tyler singles".
- ^ a b Child, Curtis (15 August 2013). "Desmond Child Special". YouTube. Google Inc. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ Hiltbrand, David; Shaughnessy, Mary; Small, Michael; Novak, Ralph; Levin, Eric (2 June 1986). "Picks and Pans Review: Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire". People. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- All Media Network. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ Smith, Jerry (12 April 1986). "Singles" (PDF). Music Week. p. 18. Retrieved 7 September 2023 – via World Radio History.
- ^ Speelman, Paul (19 June 1986). "Janis Ian: her idea of slashing time". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ISSN 0144-5804. Retrieved 6 November 2023 – via World Radio History.
- ^ a b "French single certifications – Bonnie Tyler – If You Were a Woman" (in French). InfoDisc. Select BONNIE TYLER and click OK.
- ^ a b "A Footnote To Paradise : Bonnie Tyler - If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man) - Music Video". Jim Steinman's Dream Pollution. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
- ^ "If You Were a Woman (and I Was a Man) [Version C] by Bonnie Tyler". iTunes Store. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man) [Version D] by Bonnie Tyler". iTunes Store. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "Erotic Daydream". Jimsteinman.com. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
- ^ "Singing Is Fire". Jimsteinman.com. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
- ^ "Neverland - A Glimpse". Jimsteinman.com. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
- ^ "Bat Out of Hell the Musical — Script (Revision: May 29, 2017)". mljs.evilnickname.org. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
- ^ "The Obsidian Times — Toronto edition". mljs.evilnickname.org. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
- ^ Jim Steinman - Dance In My Pants, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2018-04-21
- ^ "Billboard Video Music Conference" (PDF). Billboard. 1 November 1986. p. 76. Retrieved 11 November 2023 – via worldradiohistory.com.
- ^ "Богдан Совик и Бонни Тайлер. "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)". Х-фактор 6". STB (in Russian). Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man) (7-inch single). Bonnie Tyler. CBS Records. 1986. B00400WJM8.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - 12-inch single). Bonnie Tyler. CBS Records. 1986. B006M0FI5O.)
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link - ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "RPM 100 Singles". RPM. 10 May 1986. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "European Hot 100 Singles – 31 May, 1986" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 3, no. 21. 31 May 1986. p. 13. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Bonnie Tyler". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 267. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
- Les classement single. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "Bonnie Tyler – If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "Bonnie Tyler – If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
- ^ "Bonnie Tyler Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "Deutsch Offizielle Charts". Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ "Bestsellery i wyróżnienia – 03.04. - 09.04.2021". ZPAV (in Polish). Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
- ^ "European Hot 100 Singles – Hot 100 of the Year 1986 – 27 December, 1986" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 3, no. 51/52. 27 December 1986. pp. 28–29. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- Apple, Inc. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- Apple, Inc. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- Apple, Inc. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- All Media Network. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- All Media Network. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ^ "Ava Max: Kings & Queens". A Bit Of Pop Music. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.