Woman (John Lennon song)
"Woman" is a song written and performed by John Lennon from his 1980 album "Double Fantasy". The track was chosen by Lennon to be the second single released from the "Double Fantasy" album, and it was the first Lennon single issued after his murder on 8 December 1980. The B-side of the single is Ono's song "Beautiful Boys". Lennon wrote "Woman" as an ode to his wife Yoko Ono, and to all women. The track begins with Lennon whispering, "For the other half of the sky", a paraphrase of a Chinese proverb, once used  by Mao Zedong. Background. In an interview for "Rolling Stone" magazine on 5 December 1980, three days before his murder, John Lennon said that the song "came about because, one sunny afternoon in Bermuda, it suddenly hit me what women do for us. Not just what my Yoko does for me, although I was thinking in those personal terms ... but any truth is universal. What dawned on me was everything I was taking for granted. Women really are the other half of the sky, as I whisper at the beginning of the song. It's a 'we' or it ai n't anything." In that same interview, Lennon said that "Woman" was his most Beatlesque song on "Double Fantasy" and that the track is a "grown-up version" of his Beatles song "Girl". On 5 June 1981, Geffen re-released "Woman" as a single as part of their "Back to Back Hits" series, with the B-side "(Just Like) Starting Over". In the United Kingdom, "Woman" replaced Lennon's 1971 track "Imagine" at number 1. A promotional film for the song was created by Yoko Ono in January 1981. Throughout most of the video, Lennon and Ono are seen walking through  Central Park near what would become Strawberry Fields across from The Dakota. This footage was directed by photographer Ethan Russell on 26 November 1980. Other footage of Ono alone, along with photos and newspaper coverage of Lennon's murder, were also included. Chart performance. The single debuted at number 3 in Lennon's native UK, then moving to number 2 and finally reaching number 1, where it spent two weeks, knocking off the top spot his own re-released "Imagine". In the US the single peaked at number 2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 (kept out of the top spot  by REO Speedwagon's hit "Keep On Loving You" and Blondie's hit "Rapture") while reaching number 1 on the "Cashbox" Top 100.