“She’s Every Woman“
Garth Brooks
Written by Garth Brooks and Victoria Shaw
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
October 21, 1995
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
October 6, 1995
Garth Brooks returns with the lead single from his sixth studio album.
The Road to No. 1
After “Callin’ Baton Rouge” topped the chart in 1994, Garth Brooks was absent from the charts for a stretch. He returned with “She’s Every Woman,” which went to No. 1 so quickly that its album, Fresh Horses, was still a month away from release.
The No. 1
Garth borrowed heavily from two of his biggest influences to craft “She’s Every Woman,” which he co-wrote with singer-songwriter Victoria Shaw.
The arrangement is early James Taylor, and the lyric takes some spiritual influence from Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman.” The songwriting is warmed over and clunky, but Brooks compensates for that with a earnest performance.
It’s not one of his stronger efforts, which will be a pattern with the singles from this album.
The Road From No. 1
“She’s Every Woman” was followed by a rewritten cover of Aerosmith’s “The Fever,” which was too intense for country radio and peaked outside the top twenty. He’ll return to the top in 1997 with another rodeo-themed single.
“She’s Every Woman” gets a B-.
Every No. 1 Single of the Nineties
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Will I use this as an excuse to post one of the most awesomely bad country music videos ever? Of course I will. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q6an8GdPzfQ
What’s the deal with the Faith Hill cameo? I can’t figure out a connection between the two for the life of me.
‘Tis a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart.
At least she didn’t act out the wolf part.
I can’t believe I know this, but Faith and Victoria were roommates in Nashville at some point. I’m not sure if it was when they first moved to town or after Faith’s first marriage ended and she was about to release her first album.
Maybe Victoria Shaw agrees with you regarding “Cry Wolf”. In the 10 times my wife and I saw her at the Bluebird Cafe – between 2011 and 2019 – she never sang Cry Wolf.
Ooh, I absolutely love this song, and it’s probably one of my most favorite songs from Garth. Everything about this one just makes me smile and gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Not to mention, it always takes me back to great times in my life.
First off, it’s simply gorgeous, sonically. I really love the gentle acoustic driven production style along with some of my most favorite steel guitar playing that’s on a Garth Brooks record. The steel solo alone fills my heart with joy! Again, this is the kind of more laid back production very reminiscent of early 90’s/late 80’s country, sounding similar to a Kathy Mattea or Don Wlliams record. This also has one of the prettiest melodies he’s ever sung, imo. Plus, it’s another one of those songs that always makes me think of Fall/Winter, and it has that very pleasant cozy up by the fire feel to it. :)
Second, I actually really like the offbeat nature of some of the lyrics, which I think is a nice fit for the eccentric qualities that are a part of the woman he’s singing about. I especially always loved the line “She’s a stroll through Christmas lights.” Not only because it’s unusual in an appealing way (imo), but because it always puts a very pretty image in my mind. Not to mention, I’ve always loved looking at Christmas lights, myself. :) I also like some of the other lines such as, “She’s sun and rain, she’s fire and ice. A little crazy, but it’s nice.” and “She’s anything but typical, she’s so unpredictable. Oh, but even at her worst, she ain’t that bad.” The lyrics combined with Garth’s earnest, tender, and sincere vocals are a winning combination, imo, and I just love how the narrator is truly in love with his special woman despite her flaws and is accepting of, and even loves, her quirky ways. It’s all very endearing to me. :)
I remember hearing and enjoying this one on the radio very often when it came out in late 1995. However, it played only once in a while as a recurrent on one our stations after its chart run, which actually made it more of a treat for me to hear whenever it did come on again. I remember hearing it out of the blue somewhere in the late 90’s and thinking I hadn’t heard it in such a long time, and the memories came flooding back. :)
Judging by the last line of your review, I can tell that we’re probably going to disagree a bit on the next Garth entry as well, but that’s okay. :) I actually like the Fresh Horses album and think it’s one of his more underrated 90’s records.
Ha, Jamie! All this time I thought the lyric was “She’s a strobe of Christmas lights” and I had no idea what that meant. Stroll through Christmas lights is a lot better!
This is one of Garth’s prettiest and most tender singles. I feel the lyrics are more idiosyncratic than clunky. It is a charming, endearing performance. An underrated gem.