''Do Right Woman'' is the debut solo album by

Barbara Dickson Barbara Ruth Dickson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include 'I Know Him So Well', 'Answer Me' and ' January February'. Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to date, and had a ...

. Barbara Dickson's first two solo albums were on

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

. They won critical praise but sold poorly. They show the repertoire that she had at that time as a singer in folk clubs. In 1973 her career took a different course when accepted an offer to sing on the London West End stage where she sang

torch song A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affect ...

s and

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. ...

s. ''Do Right Woman'' was obviously recorded on a low budget. The first track, "Easy to be Hard" is from the musical ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fi ...

'', almost a premonition of her future career on stage. In 1969 Barbara had been a backing singer on a recording by

Rab Noakes Robert Ogilvie Noakes (13 May 1947 – 11 November 2022) was a Scottish singer-songwriter. Noakes was at the forefront of Scottish folk music for over 50 years and recorded over 19 studio albums. He toured folk clubs and often performed at the G ...

. On ''Do Right Woman'' she returns the favour by singing one of his songs, "Turn a Deaf Ear". The first traditional song on the album is "The Garton Mother's Lullaby", which was re-recorded in 2005 on ''Full Circle''. On "Returning" she sings the last verse in French. The album is named after her cover of "

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" (also written "Do Right Woman — Do Right Man") is a song written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn, and made famous by Aretha Franklin. Her version was released on February 10, 1967. ''Rolling Stone'' listed it as number ...

", originally recorded by

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in '' Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Wit ...

. The album was re-released in 2006 on CD with her next album, '' From the Beggar's Mantle...Fringed with Gold''.

Track listing

Side One #"

Easy to Be Hard "Easy to Be Hard" is a song from the 1967 rock musical ''Hair''. It was written by Galt MacDermot, James Rado, and Gerome Ragni, who put the musical together in the mid-1960s. The original recording of the musical featuring the song was release ...

" (from ''

'') (

Gerome Ragni Gerome Ragni (born Jerome Bernard Ragni; September 11, 1935 – July 10, 1991) was an American actor, singer, and songwriter, best known as one of the stars and co-writers of the 1967 musical '' Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical''. On Jun ...

James Rado James Alexander Radomski (January 23, 1932 – June 21, 2022), known professionally as James Rado, was an American actor, playwright, director, and composer, best known as the co-author, along with Gerome Ragni, of the 1967 musical ''Hair''. He ...

Galt MacDermot Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (December 18, 1928 – December 17, 2018) was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most-successful musicals were '' Ha ...

) – 2:52 #"Turn A Deaf Ear" (

) – 4:18 #"Something's Wrong" (Allan Taylor) – 2:52 #"The Garton Mother's Lullaby" (Traditional) – 2:23 #"Dainty Davie" (Traditional) – 2:00 #"Returning" (

Archie Fisher Archie Macdonald Fisher (born 23 October 1939) is a Scottish folk singer and songwriter. He has released several solo albums since his first, eponymous album, in 1968. Fisher composed the song "The Final Trawl", recorded on the album ''Windwa ...

) – 3:33 Side Two #" Do Right Woman" (

Chips Moman Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman (June 12, 1937 – June 13, 2016) was an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is known for working in R&B, pop music and country music, operating American Sound Studios and producing hit albums li ...

Dan Penn Dan Penn (born Wallace Daniel Pennington, November 16, 1941) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s, including " The Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" w ...

) – 2:52 #"The Long and Lonely Winter" (Dave Goulder) – 2:38 #"A Lover's Ghost" (Traditional) – 3:21 #"

The Blacksmith ''The Blacksmith'' is a 1922 American short comedy film co-written, co-directed by and featuring Buster Keaton. Buster plays an assistant blacksmith to the big worker played by Joe Roberts, with predictable results. Cast * Buster Keaton as ...

" (Traditional) – 1:46 #"

Gloomy Sunday "Gloomy Sunday" ( Hungarian: ''Szomorú vasárnap''), also known as the "Hungarian Suicide Song", is a popular song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress and published in 1933. The original lyrics were titled "Vége a vilá ...

" (

Rezső Seress Rezső Seress (Hungarian: ''Seress Rezső,'' ; 3 November 1889 – 12 January 1968) was a Hungarian pianist and composer. Some sources give his birth name as Rudolf ("Rudi") Spitzer. Biography Rezső Seress lived most of his life in poverty ...

László Jávor László Jávor (May 4, 1903 – December 2, 1992) was a Hungarian poet and painter who wrote the poem that was the basis for the song "Gloomy Sunday", composed by Rezső Seress, later also notably recorded by Billie Holiday. He was born in Bud ...

, Sam M. Lewis, Carter) – 2:05 #"And I Will Sing" (Archie Fisher) – 4:07

Personnel

*Barbara Dickson - vocals *

- backing vocals, guitars, dulcimer, concertina *

- backing vocals, guitar *Ronnie Rae - bass *Bill Kemp - drums *String sextet arranged and conducted by Alex Sutherland *Produced by Ray Horricks

References

{{Authority control Barbara Dickson albums 1970 debut albums Decca Records albums