It’s a tale as old as time, or at least as old as the Billboard charts. A band changes up their hard-rocking approach with a love song that goes down smooth with the masses. That’s how it happened for Firefall, who delivered a yacht rock classic when they geared down with their 1976 hit single “You Are the Woman.”
What is the song about? How was the song written? And how about that flute. (Not even a question. Just, how about that flute!) Here are all the lovey-dovey details behind the creation of “You Are the Woman.”
Igniting Firefall
Firefall came to life circa 1973 as a meeting of the artistic minds between guitarist/vocalists Rick Roberts and Jock Bartley. Considering the credits for the original lineup of the band (members played in the bands of artists like Gram Parsons, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Spirit, among others), it’s no surprise they received industry attention pretty quickly once they started playing together.
A demo produced by former Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers member Chris Hillman helped them secure a record deal. Based on the players, it’s not surprising the sound of the band owed a great deal to the country rock craze that was prevalent at the time.
But sometimes, all it takes is one song to define the sonic image of a band forever. And for Firefall, that song was “You Are the Woman.” It was the second single released from their 1976 self-titled debut, and, pardon the pun, it caught fire, even if it was a bit of a softer concoction than the rest of the band’s output.
“Woman” Trouble
Rick Roberts came up with the chorus of “You Are the Woman” first. But he struggled to flesh out the rest of the song. He is quoted on the website Rarwriter.com as saying everything finally fell into place when he relaxed and didn’t try so hard:
“To be honest, I was stumped for several months about where the verses should go lyrically. Then I realized I was overthinking it. I took a more simple approach, and the verses were finished in a day or two.”
When he presented the song to the other members, they knew it wasn’t the edgiest thing in the world. But they also knew a hit when they heard one. The finishing touch: A distinctive flute part that flits about the song. Multi-instrumentalist David Muse played it, and the band liked what he did so much they soon made him an official member of Firefall.
What is the Meaning of “You Are the Woman”?
Knowing they had a winner of a chorus, Firefall starts “You Are the Woman” with it and keeps returning to it throughout the remainder of the song: You are the woman that I always dreamed of / I knew it from the start / I saw your face and that’s the last I’ve seen of my heart.
The verses go into detail about the girl’s various qualities that might matter to other guys: her looks, what she says, her actions. What matters to him: It’s how I feel each time you’re close to me / That keeps me close to you. In fact, he knows that he can’t truly articulate it: It’s hard to tell you all the love I’m feeling / That’s just not my style.
And yet, with that refrain, he does a pretty good job of putting a fine point on it. “You Are the Woman” ended up being the first of three Top-20 hits for Firefall. It’s the one that put them on the map, and it’s also the song that defined them as soft-rockers, even if they possessed more moves than that on the whole.
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Photo by Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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