“When a Man Loves a Woman” is a song written by Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright and first recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966 at Norala Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama. It made number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts.
Everyone thinks “When a Man Loves a Woman” is a love song. It’s not! It’s a song about all the foolish decisions a man makes when he loves a woman.
He spends all his money, he can’t see her cheating, he ditches his friends, he’ll sleep out in the rain if she tells him to. It sounds like someone got burned. Love can make us into a fool.
What is interesting is that this song is sung at weddings. It is in the camp of songs that should be retired from weddings because they are really not happy love songs. Songs like “Every Breath You Take” and Dido’s “Don’t Leave Home” come to mind.
Listening back, the organ does sound a bit ominous. Like a funeral march. The horns sound kind of depressing too. This is more of a “chicks suck” song than a love song. Remarkably, the song does hold up well musically for being a song from the 50s. A lot of songs from that time period have not aged well. This still sounds relatively contemporary. (Top 500 Greatest Rock Songs Alltime)
Country singer John Wesley Ryles had a minor hit with his version of the song in 1976 while Bette Midler recorded the song 14 years later and had a Top 40 hit with her version in 1980. In 1991, Michael Bolton recorded the song and his version peaked at number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles chart.
