I Wish I'd Written This

And I wish that you'll all hop over here and listen to it before you read it (even if you've heard it often before). If you're as old as me and lived in Australia in 1972, this might be the first version you fondly recall, as it is mine.

Yes, we've just had International Women's Day and that's why I thought of it again, though for me it never dies.

OK, here are the lyrics, and I sure would love to have written them. On the other hand, I'm glad she was the one who did, and sang them with such power too.


I Am Woman

By Helen Reddy

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

Chorus
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

Chorus

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Chorus

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained

If I have to I can face anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman

Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

(Fade)

I am woman

I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman

There are other, later versions of it on YouTube. One attracted this comment:

what kind of a retard goes around singing this?
Has this bitch given anything to humanity (other than sucking dick i.e).
Imagine a man going  "I am Man.. hear me roar.. I am strong.. I am invincible.. blah blah" 

To which I decided to reply:

At the time it was written, women were even more put down and discriminated against than they are now, and there was a much more widespread belief in society that that was how things were ordained to be. (I know; I was there.) It was hard to fight against it. This was a brave song for its time and she was brave to write and sing it. It helped many of us.

Of course that's only part of the story. There are places in the world where women are even now put down and discriminated against as badly, or worse, than they were in the Western world in the seventies. And even though many of our brothers do understand, there's still a long, long way to go. In Australia we still don't have equal pay for equal work; and just under half a million Australian women reported that they had experienced physical or sexual violence or sexual assault in the past 12 months.

Perhaps we are not so strong or invincible? I think of the young Indian woman who died after savage rape on a Delhi bus. But then I think of Malala, who still speaks out for the education of women even after the attempt to murder her for it. There are also the many who are strong and enduring in traditional ways: giving birth, working to feed and raise their children, teaching their children, looking after elderly parents....

I see Helen Reddy's song as an assertion of what can be rather than claiming it is already achieved — and an acknowledgment that it must start from the inside. I see it also as something to be achieved collectively; a reminder that we do need to stand together in sisterhood ... and indeed in brotherhood, as many men already do.

Song lyrics are poetry too, often very good poetry (think of Cohen and Dylan). These are powerful words, stated with originality and clarity, and very nicely rhymed to boot.  

The Wikipedia link on Reddy's name leads as usual to the Wikipedia article about her and her fascinating career between Australia and the USA. We Aussies still like to think she's ours, but she has joint citizenship and at present is living back in America, where she has spent much of her adult life.

The story of the song itself can be found in Wikipedia too, and is an interesting read. (Well, I think so.) Click the link on the title.

She has written a memoir, The Woman I Am, which is available on Amazon, and Google supplies us with several quite recent (2013) interviews. She's a complex woman who has met many challenges, including a rare illness which has plagued her a long time. Despite the rude and stupid comment on YouTube, she has contributed much in both her public and private life.

Poems and photos used in ‘I Wish I’d Written This’ remain the property of the copyright holders (usually their authors).