Shirley Brown, Woman To Woman | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 42^nd edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “Woman To Woman” by Shirley Brown.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 42^nd edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on 🎵 “Woman To Woman”, performed by 🎙 Shirley Brown. 

“Hello, may I speak to Barbara / Barbara, this is Shirley /…the reason I was calling you is because / I was going through my / Old man’s pockets this morning / And I just happened to find your name…” Oh, snap 🤞! 🎙 Shirley Brown struck gold with 🎵 “Woman To Woman”.  No, the soul single wasn’t certified gold unfortunately, but it did earn Brown her sole 🏆 Grammy nomination (Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female). “Woman To Woman” marked Brown’s biggest hit, spending 14 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaking at no. 22.  Her album, also titled 💿 Woman to Woman, eventually peaked at no. 98 on the Billboard 200, but spent just 11 weeks on the chart.  What makes “Woman To Woman” the song so special? Well, Shirley is making sure another woman does not steal her man – husband to be exact – from her. WOO!

“Now Barbara / I don’t know how you’re gonna take this,” Brown speaks, adding, “But it’s only fair that I let you know that / The man you’re in love with / He’s mine.” She goes on to say, over a soulful backdrop that she does everything for him, including paying the car note every month.  Shirley ultimately  tells this other woman, Barbara, “So, I’m telling you these things / To let you know how much I love that man / And woman to woman / I think you’ll understand / How much I’ll do to keep him.” WORD! After performing much of the record in spoken word, Brown sings, showing off her incredible pipes.  The lyrics support this idea of fighting for someone she loves dearly, going so far as to call the purported mistress.  “Woman to woman / Now should I just step aside / And let her take what’s rightfully mine?” she asks.  Obviously not, as Brown emphasizes, “You should be woman enough to understand / That man, I love that man.”  The sensational 🎵 “Woman To Woman” was written by 🎼 ✍ Henderson Thigpen, Eddie Marion, and Homer Banks, and produced by 🎛 Al Jackson Jr. (who was tragically murdered) and Jim Stewart.  It is one of the best soul gems from the mid-1970s.

🎙 Shirley Brown • 💿 Woman to Woman • 🏷 Concord Music Group, Inc. • 🗓 1974

Shirley Brown, “Woman To Woman”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 42 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Concord Music Group, Inc.; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]