“Woman, Sensuous Woman”
Don Gibson
Written by Gary Paxton
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
September 2, 1972
My love for country music developed in my early adolescence and defined my teenage years. That was back in the nineties. My knowledge and appreciation for the genre would eventually stretch multiple decades backward – and forward, with time.
But nothing connects like the music of your adolescence, and listening to Don Gibson’s “Woman, Sensuous Woman,” the nineties are getting in the way of me fully appreciating this seventies hit.
One of the ways the nineties are doing so is silly. Jeff Foxworthy made one joke back then that I still laugh about, and it’s the one about a redneck using the word sensuous. “Honey, sensuous up, can you get me a beer?”
The more serious way is that Mark Chesnutt covered it. Just like when he covered Hank Jr.’s “I’ll Think of Something,” Chesnutt absolutely shredsabsolutely shreds the Gibson original, at least to my big and floppy nineties ears.
I appreciate this the same way I appreciate the Searchers’ “When You Walk in the Room.” It’s a classic, I respect it, but now that a nineties country legend sang the definitive version for me, it’s superfluous.
“Woman, Sensuous Woman” gets a B+.
Every No. 1 Single of the Seventies
Previous: Jerry Wallace, “If You Leave Me Tonight I’ll Cry”|
Next: Sonny James, “When the Snow is On the Roses”
I knew that “Woman, Sensuous Woman” was a Don Gibson cover back in the mid-90s when Mark Chesnutt had this song on radio but I didn’t realize “I’ll Think of Something” was also a cover. It reinforces my opinion that Chesnutt was a maestro with covers as I continue to like his version of “Rollin’ with the Flow” at least as much as the Charlie Rich original if not a tick more so. Chesnutt did good with this one as well, and like you, his was the definitive version for me because of simple timing. If I’d ever heard Gibson’s version today, it was only once. It sounds good but I still defer to Chesnutt’s version as more compelling.
My secondary connection to this song is from a TV ad campaign that came a couple of years before Chesnutt’s “Woman, Sensuous Woman” record. It was from another song called “Please Release Me” that is lyrically similar. I never really looked into who sang it but I have heard the song played on classic radio over the years.
Nothing beats the 70’s country sound for me. So authentic. This is not quite a classic but still very very good. “B+”.
One of the truly great songwriters and a very distinctive vocalist. When Don’s voice came on the radio there was never any question as to the identity of the singer. While his RCA hits were great, I personally enjoyed the Hickory years even more as unlike the later RCA recordings, he usually was not buried in dense strings and other production.
I prefer Don’s version to the later Chesnutt version, but I really liked both versions. Don, however, was a far more soulful singer