Sunday, September 16, 2012

Vicki Lawrence vs. The Other Woman

In 1975, almost three years after the phenomenal success of The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, Vicki Lawrence released a single on Private Stock Records called The Other Woman. This low-charting single (#81) is one of two that ensures Vicki not be labeled a one-hit wonder in music history reference books. (The second single from the The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia LP, He Did With Me, is the other.) The only time I've heard The Other Woman was in 1975 when Vicki performed it on The Mike Douglas Show, a daily chat show that aired in the mid afternoon.


Beautiful.

For almost forty years now the refrain I remember from that performance of The Other Woman has haunted me like a Chile Relleno. It has attached itself to the nether regions of my mind until I could take no more and bought myself a copy of the hard-to-find 45 RPM single on eBay for $9.99 ON SALE!


The B-side is Cameo from Vicki's second LP Ships In
The Night
, produced by Tommy “Snuff” Garrett.

So for my second WORLD INTERNET PREMIERE, I am posting The Other Woman in digital format for all Vicki Lawrence fans to enjoy. I have searched for years in hopes of snagging a digitized copy but now I put it on YouTube for eternity - or until someone with a connection to the long-gone Private Stock Records tells me to take it down.


Written by Tom Bahler and Harry Shannon
Produced by Tommy “Snuff” Garrett

Send me an email or leave a comment below if you'd like a link to download Vicki's rare third album.
Newborn Woman was never released in the US (or on CD).
The ZIP also contains some bonus tracks.

LYRICS

I'm up early every Monday morning there's some laundry to do
I'm emptying out his pockets while the kids go off to school
And then I see the letter and my heart just breaks in two
Its another woman's writing, saying “Baby, I love you”

Well 10 years of being married to him I haven't let myself letdown
So I make a quick appointment to do some work at the gym downtown
What a shock to finally find out that my nicest dress don't fit
So I sit down at my mirror and I get out my makeup kit

The other woman is in for the fight of her life
I've loved him too much and too long, to have him taken away
Oh that would be the day!
I'm going to bury the hurt, gonna get down to work
Roll up my sleeves and be what he needs…a lover at night
Oh and not just a wife, you bet your life, I'm gonna keep him.

Well I read the daily papers and we discuss the latest news
And I love him each and every night, just the way that I used to do
Well sometimes it just takes giving to get something back again
 Now there'll never be another woman and a whole new life begins.

The other woman is in for the fight of her life
I've loved him too much and too long, to have him taken away
Oh that would be the day!
I'm going to bury the hurt, gonna get down to work
Roll up my sleeves and be what he needs…a lover at night
Oh and not just a wife, you bet your life.

The other woman is in for the fight of her life
I've loved him too much and too long, to have him taken away
Oh that would be the day!
I'm going to bury the hurt, gonna get down to work
Roll up my sleeves and be what he needs…a lover at night
Oh and not just a wife, you bet your life.

6 comments:

  1. Hey buddy thanks for posting this. I think this song deserved more attention then what it received as well. Vicki Lawrence performed this song on one of the original Carol Burnett episodes. This is the one and only time I heard this. Funny thing is I recorded it with a microphone and a cassette recorder to retain it. I was never able to find it. I recently saw a copy of it as the flip side to a song called "Cameo" which I have never herd of. Thanks so much for posting it. You're not the only one who hears this song as a gem.

    Steve

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  2. Thanks, Steve. I'm glad someone else even remembered the song. I can't believe Vicki sang this on Carol Burnett; I don't remember that. Cameo is a bonus track on the Nights CD.

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  3. I thought that I had a memory of Vicki singing this on 'American Bandstand' but, after reading your piece, I think it probably was 'The Mike Douglas Show'. I always liked this song and the refrain "the other woman is in for the fight of her life" was one I'd always remembered all these years. Thanks for posting this and bringing back some nice memories.

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  4. I think someone on YouTube commented that they had seen it on AB - unless that was you! ;-)

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  5. This is now on cd. Both of Vicki's albums have been remastered and put on one disc!

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  6. Yes, it's a bonus track. I bought the CD for Ships In The Night. Yet to see the CD light is Newborn Woman.

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