God Made a Woman

Album: This Ride (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This mid-tempo ballad was written by Niemann's country music pals Michael Ray, Joel Shewmake and Jeff Hyde, though the singer didn't know that when he first fell in love with the song.

    "Michael's a friend of mine, Jeff and I went to the same college and Joel is a guy who's been writing songs in town as long as I have, like 15 years," Niemann told Taste of Country. "I heard this song once and it just captivated every ounce of my being and then to see those guys' names together on that tune, it was exciting for me. I'm still a big fan of theirs."
  • The song's lyrics pay tribute to the romantic influence a woman has in a man's life. The newly married Niemann explained to Billboard magazine why the ballad struck such a chord.

    "I just thought, 'What a cool and powerful message for all of us guys who are lucky enough to have a girl that makes us a better person? Maybe she would like to hear that song.' It's hard to find a song to play for someone that you care about."
  • Niemann produced the song with Jimmie Lee Sloas. They utilise a minimal pop-country feel to emphasize the vocal melody and lyrics. "Going in there, it was with a 'less is more' mindset," the singer explained. "We took a very simple approach in the production and just dressed it up in the background and made it try to be the best vehicle for the song that it could."
  • Niemann said in a video teaser for the song: "As children, we learn all about the great wonders of this world. The one thing I realize now as a man, no longer walking alone in this world of wonders, [is that] God's greatest gift is the love of a woman."
  • Jerrod Niemann told The Boot about the day he he heard, and decided to record this song:

    "I was asked to be in this thing called Crazy Eights - it's just a pitch meeting where they take eight different publishers and you sit in a room and everyone plays you a couple songs. For me, I get anxiety in that scenario because I know we're among peers; I've known a lot of these people for years. [If I go], 'Pass, pass, pass,' I know they're playing some of their favorite songs, so I hate doing that in front of friends. So I just take every song and live with it, even if I'm excited or not.

    When it got to 'When God Made a Woman,' everyone's looking at their phones, visiting. I'm looking around the room, and no one's paying attention to the song, and it blew my mind. And that's, for me, extremely rare.
    I was like, 'Did everybody else just not hear that?' I loved it going in, and I just thought about where I'm at in my life. I could have written the song to say 100-percent how I felt about that. It's like a multi-dimensional Hallmark card for me, in a way.

    So in the studio I thought, 'Let's put our stamp on it.' We just tried to let the lyrics stand on their own."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Chris Frantz of Talking Heads

Chris Frantz of Talking HeadsSongwriter Interviews

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."

James Williamson of Iggy & the Stooges

James Williamson of Iggy & the StoogesSongwriter Interviews

The Stooges guitarist (and producer of the Kill City album) talks about those early recordings and what really happened with David Bowie.

Fire On The Stage

Fire On The StageSong Writing

When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney Princesses

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney PrincessesSong Writing

From "Some Day My Prince Will Come" to "Let It Go" - how Disney princess songs (and the women who sing them) have evolved.

Oliver Leiber

Oliver LeiberSongwriter Interviews

Oliver Leiber talks about writing and producing hits for Paula Abdul, and explains his complicated relationship with his father, the songwriter Jerry Leiber.

Ralph Casale  - Session Pro

Ralph Casale - Session ProSongwriter Interviews

A top New York studio musician, Ralph played guitar on many '60s hits, including "Lightnin' Strikes," "A Lover's Concerto" and "I Am A Rock."