For My Woman

The Easybeats had formed in Sydney, Australia in 1964, by five immigrant men, settling on a line-up consisting of Englishmen Stevie Wright (lead vocals) and Snowy Fleet (drums), Scottish George Young (rhythm guitar) alongside Dutchmen Harry Vanda (lead guitar) and Dick Diamonde (bass guitar).^[2][3] Although they had formed at the height of Beatlemania in Australia, the Easybeats were never particularly influenced by the Beatles, and according to Vanda "were captivated by the music of the Pretty Things and the Rolling Stones", hastily taking on a rhythm and blues-approach to their music.^[4] Music critic David-Hughes Owens stated that their influence from the Beatles "ended with their boyish charm", and instead stated that they took an approach which was more similar to the Kinks in "raw performance and delivery".^[4]

While performing at a club called Beatle Village in Darlinghurst, Sydney, the band were discovered by manager Mike Vaughan, who quickly garnered an interest for the fledging group.^[5][6] On 11 December 1964, the Easybeats signed Vaughan as their manager, after which he promptly introduced them to Ted Albert, an acquaintance of his.^[3] Albert, who ran record label and publishing company Albert Productions was similarly impressed with the band, particularly the songwriting talents of Young.^[7] The Easybeats were signed onto Albert Productions, after which Albert managed to negotiate future distribution for the band's records on Parlophone, something they were reportedly overjoyed with, since "it was the Beatles record label".^[3]

In January 1965, the Easybeats entered the 2UW Theatre in Sydney, where Albert had set up a makeshift recording studio, utilizing a two-track tape recorder.^[1] Albert, keen on not missing out any potentially commercial compositions by the band, wanted the Easybeats to record a "demo of every song they knew".^[1] In the end, the demo session produced three original Wright and Young composition and one cover, respectively; "Say That You're Mine", "The Bells" and "For My Woman", along with a cover of Ben E. King's "I (Who Have Nothing)" (1963).^[1][8] On these tracks, the Easybeats performed on their respective instruments, with Wright playing percussion on the recordings, something that "got the rest of the band so sick of them [maracas]" that they "threatened to smash their instruments".^[1]

As with most other compositions by the Easybeats at the time, "For My Woman" was penned by Wright and Young, with the former primarily contributing lyrics while the latter largely was behind the composition.^[9] Wright and Young were an "efficient and productive" songwriting duo, primarily composing at the piano in Young's childhood home in Burwood, Sydney, utilizing most of their free time writing songs.^[4] Before the band had even signed with Albert, Wright and Young had already composed roughly 20 songs.^[3] Allegedly, the song was the first that the duo had written, being composed during the autumn of 1964 and later introduced on stage during a performance at Beatle Village.^[5] According to author John Tait, the Easybeats ranked among "the only bands to exclusively perform original material" in Australia, together with pop trio the Bee Gees.^[10] Though the B-side "Say That You're Mine" boasts clear influences by British merseybeat, "For My Woman" was largely composed in a style reflecting the Pretty Things, particularly their hit single "Don't Bring Me Down" (1964).^[11] Wright's vocal delivery largely derives from their lead singer Phil May.^[11]

As recorded by the Easybeats, "For My Woman" was performed in B-flat minor at a tempo of 107 beats per minute.^[12] The song is largely driven by a three note guitar riff by Vanda, that primarily consists of the two notes of F and D, something that prevails throughout most of the composition.^[13] However, as the chorus of the song repeats, the note of D modulates to G, something that is repeated for one measure before once again dropping to D.^[13] During the post-chorus, Young and Vanda strum the seventh A chord in unison, before the composition enters the instrumental break, largely supplied by Vanda's guitar solo.^[14] Structurally, the song does not feature any verses, instead only consisting of three refrains and three bridges with the exception of slight ad-libbing by Wright right before the guitar solo.^[14] Lyrically, the song is about a man's love for a woman, who the narrator "yearns for in marriage", since he wants "her for my woman".^[14]