Since Helen Reddy, the artist who popularized this song, passed away last week, I thought today would be a perfect time to share it. After we moved to Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1973 when I was twelve, I took an interest in singing and accompanying myself on the piano. Having acquired Helen Reddy’s album with the same name as the song on cassette, I decided to learn this song.
After doing so one summer, the girls next door and I, along with my younger brother, put on a show in our living room, inviting the neighbors. I don’t remember too much about this event except that while I was playing and singing, my brother and the girls next door were serving food, either real or imaginary, on TV trays. I can tell you this much. Like my other performances as a kid, this one was fun.
According to Wikipedia, “I Am Woman,” an anthem for the women’s liberation movement, was recorded in 1971 and released in May of 1972. It became a number-one hit later that year, eventually selling over a million copies. Written by Helen Reddy, along with Ray Burton, this song first appeared on her debut album, I Don’t Know How to Love Him, which was released in May of 1971. It was also heard during the closing credits of the 1972 film, Stand Up and Be Counted.
Back then, I didn’t understand the song’s meaning, but now, of course, I do. Its empowering message is as relevant today as it was back in the 1970’s. I hope you enjoy my rendition.
By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy, and may you always have positive experiences.
New! The Red Dress
Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books
When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.
Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.
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My Corner 