- Devil Woman
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"Devil Woman" Single by Cliff Richard from the album I'm Nearly Famous B-side "Love On Shine On" - Cliff Richard Released 23 April 1976 Format 7" single Recorded September 8, 9 1975, Abbey Road, London Genre Rock Length 3:35 Label EMI 2448 Writer(s) Britten/Holmes Producer Bruce Welch Cliff Richard singles chronology "Miss You Nights"
(1975)"Devil Woman"
(1976)"I Can't Ask For Anymore Than You"
(1976)"Devil Woman" is a 1976 hit single for Cliff Richard culled from his album I'm Nearly Famous.
Contents
Background
"Devil Woman" was written by Terry Britten and Christine Holmes and first recorded by Holmes under the name Kristine.
A #9 UK hit in June 1976, "Devil Woman" became Richard's first single to reach the Top 20 in the US, reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remains Richard's highest peaking single. "Devil Woman" is ranked overall as the third biggest-selling Cliff Richard single with over two million copies sold worldwide.[1][2]
The song is told from the point of a view of a man jinxed from an encounter with a stray cat with evil eyes, and his discovery that the psychic medium (a Gypsy woman) whose help he sought to break the curse was the one responsible for the curse in the first place. The latter-mentioned have some notable parallels with Cher's 1974 hit single "Dark Lady".
Notable musically for its unusual (for a pop song) combination of major and minor sound; it might be properly categorized as being in D blues. It was also one of the earliest U.S. hits to make use of Extended-range bass, reaching one whole tone lower than the conventional instrument, to include D1.
Like many story songs, the production is quite sparse. It is heavily guitar-driven, with soft-distortion lines doubling the melody in the chorus and long, high, sustained single notes providing atmosphere over the verses. A Rhodes electric piano, drums and percussion are the only other instruments.
The musicians featured on the Cliff Richard recording are Terry Britten on guitar, Alan Tarney on bass, Clem Cattini on drums, Graham Todd on keyboards, and Tony Rivers, John Perry and A. Harding on backing vocals, with string arrangements by Richard Hewson.
Covers
- Riot covered the song on their 1983 album Born in America.
- The Accüsed covered the song on their 1987 album More Fun Than An Open Casket Funeral.
- Cradle of Filth covered the song on their 2005 special edition release of 2004's 'Nymphetamine' with backing vocals by King Diamond.
- All About Eve recorded the song as a B-side of their 1987 12" single 'Flowers in our hair'. Their version also appears on the rarities compilation Return to Eden, Vol. 1: The Early Recordings.
- Flight of the Conchords did a pastiche of this song and its music video in the second season of their HBO show.
- Hank Marvin covered the song as an instrumental in 1995 on Hank Plays Cliff.
- Demon Drive covered the song for their last album in 2003, ...four play!
- Artisan covered the song on their 1989 EP Through Till Dawn
See also
External links
- In-depth Song Analysis at the Cliff Richard Song Database
- YouTube video of the song
References
Albums (UK) 1950s:Cliff (1959) · Cliff Sings (1959)1960s:Me and My Shadows (1960) · Listen to Cliff! (1961) · 21 Today (1961) · The Young Ones (1961, soundtrack) · 32 Minutes and 17 Seconds (1962) · Summer Holiday (1963, soundtrack) · When in Spain (1963) · Wonderful Life (1964, soundtrack) · Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp (1964, stage show album) · Cliff Richard (1965) · Love Is Forever (1965) · When in Rome (1965) · Kinda Latin · Finders Keepers (1966, soundtrack) · Cinderella (1967, soundtrack) · Don't Stop Me Now (1967) · Good News (1967, gospel) · Cliff in Japan (1968, live) · Two a Penny (1968, soundtrack) · Established 1958 (1968) · Sincerely Cliff (1969)1970s:Tracks and Grooves (1970) · All My Love (1970) · About the Man (1970, gospel) · His Land (1970, gospel) · Cliff: Live at the Talk of the Town (1970, live) · The 31st February Street (1974) · Take Me High (1974, soundtrack) · Help It Along (1974, gospel) · I'm Nearly Famous (1976) · Every Face Tells a Story (1977) · Green Light (1978) · Small Corners (1978, gospel) · Rock 'n' Roll Juvenile (1979) · Thank You Very Much (1979, live)1980s:I'm No Hero (1980) · Wired for Sound (1980) · Now You See Me... Now You Don't (1982, gospel) · Silver (1983) · Dressed for the Occasion (1983, live) · The Rock Collection (1984) · Walking in the Light (1984) · Always Guaranteed (1987) · Stronger (1989)1990s:From a Distance: The Event (1990, live) · Together with Cliff Richard (1991) · The Album (1993) · Songs from Heathcliff (1995, stage show album) · Heathcliff Live (1996, stage show album, live) · Yesterday, Today, Forever (1997, gospel, compilation) · Real as I Wanna Be (1998)2000s:Wanted (2001) · Live at the ABC Kingston, 1962 (2002, live) · Cliff at Christmas (2003) · Something's Goin' On (2004) · Cliff Richard - The World Tour (2004, live) · Two's Company The Duets (2006) · Love... The Album (2007, Part new songs, part compilation) · Reunited – Cliff Richard and The Shadows (2009)2010s:Bold as Brass (2010) · Soulicious (2011)EPs (UK) Serious Charge · Expresso BongoCompilations (UK) Cliff's Hit Album (1963) · More Hits by Cliff (1965) · The Best of Cliff (1969) · The Best of Cliff, Vol. 2 (1972) · 40 Golden Greats (1977) · Love Songs (1981) · Private Collection: 1979-1988 (1988) · My Kinda Life (1992) · The Hit List (1994) · At the Movies 1959-1974 (1996) · The Whole Story: His Greatest Hits (2000) · Miss You Nights: The Ballads Collection (2004) · The Platinum Collection (2005) · And They Said It Wouldn't Last (My 50 Years in Music) (2008) · The 50th Anniversary Album (2008) ·Filmography Serious Charge (1959) · Expresso Bongo (1959) · The Young Ones (Soundtrack album) (1961) · Summer Holiday (Soundtrack album) (1963) · Wonderful Life (Soundtrack album) (1964) · Finders Keepers (1966) · Two a Penny (1967) · Take Me High (1973)Related articles Categories:- 1976 singles
- Cliff Richard songs
- Halloween songs
- Songs written by Terry Britten
- 1970s single stubs
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