'When a Man Loves a Woman' by Percy Sledge: The making of the loved up soul classic

21 January 2025, 11:11

From Muscle Shoals to every radio station in the world come Valentine's Day.

Percy Sledge was one of the all-time great soul singers, with a voice like no other.

He scored a clutch of big charting hits and albums, but will rightly be best remember the stunning 'When a Man Loves a Woman'.

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A load of incredible stories surround the song, and we've done what we can to pick out the truth from the myths.

Here's everything you need to know about this absolute classic.

Who wrote 'When a Man Loves a Woman'?

In theory, this is a pretty straightforward question. Just look at the label, right?

If you do that, then all the credit goes to Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright, both members of Sheffield, Alabama band The Esquires, which was fronted by Percy Sledge.

"We were set to play a Friday night dance, and we were practicing," Wright told American Songwriter.

"I was messing around on the organ when this riff came up out of nowhere. There was no one in the club but us. I told Calvin to go home and write some words."

They played the song with Percy the following day and continued to tweak the lyrics, taking on some advice from local DJ Quin Ivy who urged them to make the words more positive.

Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman (Live)

That would be that, but Sledge later told Spinner in 2010 that he played a key role in the writing of the song.

He suggested that – after a recent breakup – he had improvised the lyrics over a blues jam he asked his bandmates to play.

"When I wrote the song at first, it was called 'Why Did You Leave Me Baby'," Sledge claimed.

"And I changed it from that to 'When a Man Loves a Woman'. I just reversed it...

"It was a song that was meant to be. It wasn't just what I had done; it was the musicians, the producer, the background singers, the right time."

What is 'When a Man Loves a Woman' actually about?

When a Man Loves a Woman (2000 Remaster)

With its powerhouse vocals and dreamy backing, you could be fooled into thinking that 'When A Man Loves a Woman' is an uncomplicated tale of true love.

But it very much betrays its apparent origins as an inverted breakup song.

'When a Man Loves a Woman' isn't a song about how wonderful a woman is. It's all about how a man in love with a woman is so blinded that he'll give up his money, his house, the world, his best friend for her.

And the man will do all of those things even if the woman in question is "bad" and brings him "misery".

What's more, if she's "playing him for a fool", his giddy love means he's absolutely the last one to know.

Towards the end, Percy makes it clear that this is no hypothetical ("Yes, when a man loves a woman / I know exactly how he feels / 'Cause baby, baby...").

When was 'When a Man Loves a Woman' released and where did it get in the charts?

'When a Man Loves a Woman' was apparently recorded on February 17, 1966 at Norala Studios in Percy's local Sheffield, Alabama (more on that later), and with such a massive hit on their hands they didn't wait too long before releasing it.

The song hit shelves in March 1966, and was an instant hit, topping not just the R&B singles charts but the Billboard Hoot 100 proper.

It reached number in the UK, and when it was re-released on the back of a Levi's ad in 1987, it did a couple better, peaking at number two.

How did the "wrong" version of 'When a Man Loves a Woman' get released?

The story goes that 'When a Man Loves a Woman' was initially recorded by Percy Sledge at Rick Hall's FAME Studios at Muscle Shoals and was later re-recorded at Quin Ivy's nearby Norala Studios.

Ahead of its release on Atlantic Records, the label's boss Jerry Wexler noticed something was wrong.

"Wexler thought the horns on the original version were out of tune - and they were - and he wanted them to change the horns," bass player in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section David Hood told Songfacts.

"They went back in the studio and changed the horns, got different horn players to play on it. But then the tapes got mixed up and Atlantic put out their original version. So that's the hit."

Who has covered 'When A Man Loves a Woman'?

Michael Bolton - When a Man Loves a Woman

It's a pretty big ask to match Percy Sledge on the mic, but a few have given it a fair go.

The most high-profile cover comes from soul fan Michael Bolton, whose 1991 version from his Time, Love & Tenderness matched the performance of Percy's by topping the US charts and reaching number 8 in the UK.

Other versions include takes by Bette Midler, James Brown, The Spencer Davis Group, Joe Cocker, Mae West, Johnny Rivers, Lou Rawls, Jerry Lee Lewis, Leon Russell, Natalie Cole, Solomon Burke, Art Garfunkel, Kenny Rogers and Alexander O'Neal.