“She’s Always a Woman” is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful songs in Billy Joel’s repertoire. The Gordon Lightfoot inspired love ballad appears on Billy Joel’s fifth studio album “The Stranger” and was released as a single in 1978. But what’s the story and meaning behind the song? Let’s find out!
The Meaning of She’s Always a Woman
“She’s Always a Woman” is about Billy Joel’s first wife Elizabeth Weber. Besides being Joel’s wife, she was also his manager. A woman as a manager was a unique occurrence in the music industry of the 1970s. And as a result, a lot of men in the music industry considered Elizabeth to be “Unfeminine” and “Tough”. Billy Joel wrote the song to defend his wife. He implies that Elizabeth may be “tough” and “unfeminine” to people in the industry, but she’s always a woman to him.
The song is often misunderstood as misogynistic, beyond Joel’s understanding. In Fred Schruers’ book Billy Joel, he said: “My take was ‘She can ruin your faith with her casual lies/and she only reveals what she wants you to see’ — all second person — but then it comes back to me: ‘She’s always a woman to me.” He later said in an interview: “To me, it’s a very simple understandable lyric. She may be that to you, but she’s this to me.”
Nowadays, “She’s Always a Woman” is often interpreted as an honest love song. As a song that declares love to a woman, despite her imperfections.
Billy Joel and Elizabeth Weber
As said earlier, the song was written for Joel’s first wife Elizabeth Weber. Weber was initially married to a band member of Billy Joel, drummer Jon Small. Captivated by her intelligence and straightforwardness, Billy Joel started an affair with her. When Small found out about their affair, he decided to end his partnership with Joel. Weber initially decided to leave Billy Joel too, which made him suicidal. She later returned to him.
Read more: The 10 Best Billy Joel Songs of All Time
Billy Joel and Elizabeth Weber married in September 1973. She was the inspiration behind Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are” and “She’s Always a Woman”. These love ballads couldn’t save Joel’s marriage and they eventually went through a rough divorce in 1982.
At the end of the 70s, “Just The Way You Are” and “She’s Always a Woman” were staples in Billy Joel’s live shows. But after his divorce from Elizabeth Weber, he scrapped the songs from the setlist. Joel stated that he lost the passion to play the songs. In recent years he brought “She’s Always a Woman” back on the setlist, often stating “And then we got divorced” at the end of the song.
The Song’s Legacy
“She’s Always a Woman” appears on Billy Joel’s fifth studio album “The Stranger” and was released as a single in 1978. The song peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also reached the charts in Canada, Belgium, and The Netherlands. In 1986, “She’s Always a Woman” entered the UK charts when the song was released as a double A-side with “Just the Way You Are”. In 2010 the song reached the UK charts again due to a cover by Fyfe Dangerfield. Joel’s original eventually reached number 29 on the UK singles chart.
