RIP Helen Reddy, 70’s Singer Who Used Pop to Promote Feminism
“I Am Woman” was a #1 Hit While America Fought Over the ERA
Helen Reddy’s experiences as a singer in the 1960’s left her with a yearning to express her desire for equality. In 1972, the then-obscure vocalist brought her own definitive female empowerment anthem to the top of the pop charts.
The powerful vocalist passed on September 29, 2020, at age 78.
Helen Reddy’s authoritative voice offered 1970’s pop listeners healing, through serious wisdom and sage advice. But her chart career got started with a song about a more unusual problem: what do you do if Jesus is your boyfriend?
I Don’t Know How To Love Him (#13, 1971), from Jesus Christ Superstar, became Reddy’s first hit. The song explored Mary Magdalene’s love for Jesus, the man. It was just waiting for a pop singer to cover it. Yvonne Elliman, the brilliant singer from the theatrical production, had recorded it for the cast album, but the release as a single was delayed. Reddy and her manager, husband Jeff Wald, jumped at the chance to do it on a deal to record a single for Capitol Records.
Reddy may have gotten out sung by Elliman's bigger voice (#28, 1971), but she got her single out first and did better on the charts. While Wald’s guerilla phone campaign to get stations to play the record is legendary, Helen made the listeners believe this mostly non-rhyming, anti-climactic song about the pain of unrequited love for accidental Ladies’ Man Jesus. Reddy, desperate for a break after years on the nightclub circuit, probably could have made you believe in a tablecloth, a bus schedule, or Unicorns.
Next, Helen set her struggle for equality to a fellow Aussie ex-pat's music, at a time that was ripe for a women’s rights song. Helen had experienced domestic abuse and, in the entertainment industry of the 1960s and 70s, sexism. On the nightclub circuit, she was often paired with vulgar comedians who made the young singer the target of sexual comments. In her memoir, The Woman I Am, she points out that it was very difficult for women to get mortgages or credit in their own name at the time.
Helen, who generally didn’t write songs, wanted a song to express her feminist attitude. She was appalled by some contemporary songs that urged female submission, such as Born A Woman (#12, 1966), by countrypolitan singer Sandy Posey.
When you’re born a woman, you’re born to be lied to, cheated on, and treated like dirt.
… But when my man finally comes home, he makes me glad it happens that way because to be his woman; no price is too great to pay.
Helen took a sledgehammer to all that:
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
The original version of I Am Woman was included in a 1971 “women’s lib” comedy film that flopped, Stand Up and Be Counted. But a year later, a new version, with expanded lyrics and an improved arrangement, was released as a single in May 1972, on the heels of male sex symbol Burt Reynolds’ nude centerfold in the April 1972 issue of Cosmopolitan.
The #1 hit was repeatedly referenced in popular culture for the next few years, as America grappled with amending its constitution to officially acknowledge women's rights. America, true to its paternalistic religious roots, failed to pass the Equal Right Amendment. But Reddy’s clarion call was heeded by millions of women who knew that like Sam Cooke once sang, a change is gonna come.
Having dealt with loving Jesus and making her Brother understand why Woman holds up half the sky, Reddy was now ready to tackle smaller topics, like how breaking up is still hard to do (Ain’t No Way To Treat A Lady, #8, 1975), or comforting a small child (You and Me Against The World, #9, 1974).
While she dispensed wisdom and comfort to millions through her 70's pop hits, Reddy was, after all, human herself, with real problems just like her listeners. Helen went through a brutal marriage and nasty divorce from her powerful manager that left her broke — and on the shit end of the show business stick.
After her run of hits in the 1970s, Reddy settled into life on a smaller stage, performing with a small back up band and sometimes appearing in musical theater. Eventually, she found a calling as a New Age speaker.
Helen Reddy was a young mother and singer who was brave enough to risk her career to demand equality. But it was her special ability to live the song and make you believe in that lyric that set her apart.
Reddy’s autobiography, The Woman I Am, is worth a read. A Reddy biopic was just released, although it makes the grave error of having a contemporary singer perform some of the songs as covers instead of only using the golden voice of the greatest Pop feminist.
