Devil Woman

Devil Woman was a song recorded by Cliff Richard in 1976. It reached number nine in the UK – that’s a hit. The Billboard 100 showed it as high as #6. It was Richard’s biggest US success. There’s a lot to learn about the famous song.

Devil Woman

Terry Britten wrote it. He was a well known song writer whose work was performed by people like Michael Jackson. Some of his other songs include “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, and “We Don’t Need Another Hero” from the movie “Mad Max Beyond Thunder Dome”. Terry was the guitarist in Cliff’s famous recording of Devil Woman. They recorded it at Abbey Road, a studio made famous by the Beatles.

This song is a story. A man believes he has been cursed by an evil cat. Wanting to have the curse lifted, the man seeks the help of a gypsy psychic. But it turns out the cat didn’t curse him. It was a ploy by the gypsy woman to bring the man into her power.

Not many songs tell a straightforward story like that heard in Devil Woman. In other words they are very simple songs. They have a minimum of instruments and generally simple tunes. Devil Woman is no different. It needed only a single guitar, an electric piano, some drums and other percussion. And of course the singer.

For a pop song Devil Woman has unique combination of major and minor chords. It’s one of the earliest hit songs in the United States to encompass more than an octave of the musical range.

Devil Woman has been covered by others. One of these is the Accused. It’s a Washington band founded in 1981. Their music is splatter rock. Many of the sounds in their music are made to mimic the sounds from the horror movies that they loved. This means sounds like chainsaw guitar riffs.

Cradle of Faith also performed Devil Woman. They were an English extreme metal band. The band said they played any kind of metal. The song fit them nicely.

Devil Woman

Devil Woman is a seductive song.