She's a Lady

This article is about the Tom Jones song. For the Forever the Sickest Kids song, see She's a Lady (Forever the Sickest Kids song). For the Blue System song, see Walking on a Rainbow. For the John Sebastian song, see John B. Sebastian (album).

"She's a Lady"
Single by Tom Jones
from the album Tom Jones Sings She's a Lady
B-side	"My Way"
Released	January 1971[1]
Recorded	1970
Genre	Pop
Length	2:53
Label	Decca (UK), Parrot (US and Canada)
Songwriter(s)	Paul Anka
Producer(s)	Gordon Mills
Tom Jones UK singles chronology
"I (Who Have Nothing)" (1970) "She's a Lady" (1971) "Puppet Man" (1971)

"She's a Lady" is a song written by Paul Anka and released on his album Paul Anka '70s (RCA 4309, 1970). The most successful recording was performed by Tom Jones and released at the beginning of 1971. It is Jones's highest-charting single in the U.S. (and his 5th and final Billboard top 10 hit).

Chart performance

"She's a Lady" hit No. 1 in Cash Box magazine for a week and spent one week at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, behind "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin.^[2] The song was also a No. 4 hit on the US Billboard Easy Listening chart.^[3] Billboard ranked it as the #25 song for 1971. In Canada, the single reached No. 1 on the RPM 100 national singles chart.

Paul Anka's recording of the song

The song was re-released in 2013 on Paul Anka's Duets CD with a new rendition featuring Tom Jones. Anka rewrote the first verse of the song (recorded with Jones) because he disliked its chauvinistic sentiments.^[4]

B-side track

The single's B-side track was "My Way" whose lyrics were also written by Paul Anka.

Chart history

Weekly charts Chart (1971) Peak position Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] 1 Austria 12 Belgium 3 Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[6] 10 Canada RPM Top Singles 1 Germany 7 Ireland (IRMA)[7] 13 Netherlands 8 New Zealand (Listener)[8] 7 Norway 6 South Africa (Springbok)[9] 5 UK 13 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[10] 2 U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary 4 U.S. Cash Box Top 100[11] 1

Year-end charts Chart (1971) Rank Australia[12] 22 Canada[13] 25 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[14] 25 U.S. Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[15] 29 U.S. Cash Box[16] 5

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[17]	Silver	200,000^‡
United States (RIAA)[18]	Gold	1,000,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions

The song has been covered multiple times. The more notable versions include:

• In 1973 as "C'est Ma Lady", a single by Quebecois singer Jean Nichol
• In 2007 as a single by Dutch singer Jeroen van der Boom
• In 2018 as "Lady Graveyard" by British band Luminous Bodies
• In 2021 from the album Diamonds Unlocked II by Axel Rudi Pell

Appearances in other media

In film

• 1973 film That Man Bolt. Sung by Samantha Nightingale (Teresa Graves) in a Nightclub sequence.
• 1995 film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. "She's a Lady" was re-released in Europe in 1995. The single included remixes by American DJ Junior Vasquez.
• 1993 film Wilder Napalm.
• 1996 film Bound.
• 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
• 1998 film Così ridevano.
• 1999 film Agnes Browne.
• 2000 film Miss Congeniality.
• 2002 film The Wild Thornberrys Movie.
• 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham.
• 2006 film Flushed Away. Hugh Jackman's character Roddy St. James sings it in the film, but Jones' version is in the soundtrack.
• 2009 film Madea Goes to Jail.
• 2014 film The Little Rascals Save the Day.

In television

• The song was featured in the 2003 episode of Futurama "Bend Her".
• The song and title was spoofed in the short-lived 2004 reality show called He's a Lady on TBS.
• The song was used in the 2009 Trop50 orange juice commercial featuring Kyra Sedgwick.
• The song is also used in TV spots for the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.
• The song is used for the commercial of Lacoste Inspiration in 2006
• In Season 4 of the American Dancing With the Stars, Laila Ali and Maksim Chmerkovskiy danced a Cha-Cha-Cha to this song in week 9 of competition.
• In Season 14 of the American Dancing With the Stars, Katherine Jenkins, Mark Ballas and Tristan MacManus danced a Cha-Cha-Cha to this song in week 8 of competition.
• In the last edition of The Weakest Link, at the end of the episode, a montage of Weakest Link moments were shown while "She's a Lady" was playing while the clips were being shown.
• In Season 14 of America's Got Talent, singer under the name of Gingzilla performed the song at her audition, winning four 'yeses' from the judges.^[19]

Other appearances

• The song is featured in YouTuber JonTron's video about the NES game Nightshade, in which Jon sings a slowed down version of the song while destroying the game cartridge.

References

1. "BBC Wales - Music - Tom Jones - Tom Jones discography". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
2. "The Hot 100". Billboard.
3. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 131.
4. Anka, Paul; Dalton, David (9 April 2013). My Way: An Autobiography. St. Martin's Publishing. ISBN 9781250035202. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
6. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1971-02-27. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
7. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – She's a Lady". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
8. Flavour of New Zealand, 5 April 1971
9. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
10. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
11. Cash Box Top 100 Singles, March 27, 1971
12. Australian-charts.com
13. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
14. Musicoutfitters.com
15. Billboard, December 25, 1971.
16. Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 25, 1971
17. "British single certifications – Tom Jones – She's a Lady". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
18. "American single certifications – Tom Jones – a Lady". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
19. "WOW! Gingzilla Is A 7-Foot-Tall Lady With A Beard And A Voice! - America's Got Talent 2019" (Video). Youtube. America's Got Talent. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.

External links

• "She's a Lady" at Discogs (list of releases)