Sing it Sister.

For years, I've very much enjoyed the song "It's a Man's World". My favourite interpretation thus far featured James Brown with the Louie Bellson Big Band on an album called "Soul on Top". I loved listening to this track. It would make my face contort and my stomach grow fiery.

It popped into my memory this evening as I was showering, and I thought - did James Brown write that song? I don't know why I didn't know, but I sought to find out. I hopped online, and the first entry (Wikipedia)... said, "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" is a song by James Brown and Betty Jean Newsome."

I didn't know who Betty Jean Newsome was. I was ashamed I'd not heard of her. Sadly, there was no Wikipedia link to her. But I did come across this article which posed the question that perhaps the idea, the lyrics, the music were Sister Betty Jean's and not JBs. There is ongoing litigation over this topic.

Maybe we will never know, perhaps Sister Betty has moved on, but I wonder if the potency of this song can be explained by a thought that it was a woman's work and a woman's reflection on the relationship between the sexes - sung and claimed by a man.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2007-12-18/music/it-s-a-woman-s-world/