About The Song
“Woman” opens Three Dog Night’s 1970 album It Ain’t Easy with a taut, blues-leaning groove that set the tone for the band’s new decade. Written by Andy Fraser and Paul Rodgers—best known for their work in the British group Free—the song arrived as part of a carefully curated set that blended gritty rock textures with radio-friendly polish. Released on March 31, 1970, the album marked a key moment in the group’s ascent from club favorites to chart fixtures.
The track is a cover: Free had introduced “Woman” on their self-titled 1969 LP, where Paul Kossoff’s guitar and Rodgers’s vocal gave it a raw, slow-burn intensity. Three Dog Night kept the core riff and attitude, but streamlined the arrangement and tightened the rhythm, turning it into a compact opener built for the stage and for AM playlists. The band’s strength was interpretation, and “Woman” shows how they could refit a British blues-rock tune for an American pop-rock context without losing its bite.
Producer Richard Podolor, working at American Recording Co. in Studio City with engineer Bill Cooper, emphasizes clarity and punch. Guitars sit upfront, keys add undercurrent, and the drum sound is dry and present—spacing that lets the vocal lead carry the narrative while the riff does the heavy lifting. The mix highlights the band’s tightness as a live unit, a quality that helped their covers feel like originals.
Vocally, the cut showcases Three Dog Night’s ace: three frontmen deployed for color and contrast. On the studio album, Cory Wells handles the lead on “Woman,” his grainy projection riding the riff with a controlled rasp that suits the lyric’s urgency. Behind him, harmonies bolster the chorus without cluttering the groove, an arrangement approach that became a calling card across the band’s early-’70s run.
Lyrically, “Woman” is straight talk—an ode to an irresistible muse delivered in spare, declarative lines. There’s no elaborate metaphor; the power lies in repetition and emphasis, a blues tradition translated into concise rock form. Three Dog Night lean into that directness, keeping the tempo unhurried enough for the words to land while letting the guitars add heat between phrases.
While “Woman” wasn’t issued as a single, its placement as track one gave it outsize visibility, and the album around it produced major hits. It Ain’t Easy reached the U.S. Top 10, propelled by Randy Newman’s “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” (a No. 1 single) and Paul Williams/Roger Nichols’s “Out in the Country.” In that context, “Woman” acts like a statement of intent: tougher edges, sharper arrangements, and a widening palette of outside writers the band could make their own.
The song’s durability is reflected in its inclusion on the 1971 hits compilation Golden Bisquits—one of just three tracks on that set not originally released as A-side singles. Heard today, “Woman” stands as a modest gem: a Free deep cut refashioned into an album opener that captures Three Dog Night’s balance of muscle and finesse at the dawn of their chart-dominant years.
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsyigHTRE6U
Lyric
Carry me away
I know your angel eyes can see through me
Carry me away
Far from the love you give so generously
So generously
Woman, woman
I got a burning heart
I need to call
And tell you that’s its you that I love
I’ve got a burning heart
I need to tell you that’s its you that I love
I’ve got a burning heart
I need to tell you that I’ll never get enough, yeah
Never, never, never, never, never, never, never get enough
Woman
Woman, I know you understand
The way that I feel, feel
Can’t you hear me?
I’m a callin’ your name
I want to make love to you
Lord, oh Lord, I want to hold you so much
Let me feel all about ya
Woman and I got a woman
Let me make love to you
Woman I love ya
Woman Oh no, no, no, no
Woman Oh, no
Woman (carry me away, carry me away)
Woman, carry me away