Home » Albums » Songs » Cover Songs » I’m Every Woman

I'm Every Woman

Chaka Khan Cover | 2004

“I’m Every Woman” is a song written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson and made popular by American singers Chaka Khan and Whitney Houston. Taylor recorded a cover of it in September 2004 because she and her team were pitching it for a movie.
Table of Contents

Background and Release

“I’m Every Woman” is originally a song by American singer Chaka Khan, released as her debut solo single from her first album, Chaka (1978). It was Khan’s first hit outside her recordings with the funk band Rufus. The single established Chaka’s career outside the group Rufus, whom she would leave after their eighth studio album Masterjam was released in late 1979. American singer Whitney Houston covered the song in 1992. It was a major hit, peaking at No. 4 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.

Taylor also recorded the song in 2004 when she was trying to get a record deal and was pitching her version for a movie. Her cover was produced by Robert Ellis Orrall, one of her earliest collaborators. He told the “Swift Legacy Podcast” that Taylor’s father, Scott Swift, was not happy when the song leaked online:

«I remember somehow that got up on the internet and Scott called me up and said, 'Rob, you gotta take that down!' And I was like, ‘What down?' And he was like, ‘I’m Every Woman’! We can’t have that up on the internet!’ And I was like, ‘Why would I put that up on the internet? That’s the last thing I’m gonna do – is take something I’ve worked on and put it up on the internet.' We recorded that and they were pitching it to a movie. I don’t know how close it got to being in the movie.»

Robert Ellis Orrall
In 2018, journalist Brian Mansfield shared a picture of a demo CD with “I’m Every Woman” on Instagram. He has covered Taylor since the beginning stages of her career and knows her personally. He wrote: “These aren’t in my collection — they belong to Robert Ellis Orrall, who produced and wrote with her in those early days. He’s sworn to Scott Swift that he’ll never sell them or let them leave his sight. I didn’t even get to listen to them — I only got to take the pictures!”

Lyrics

[Chorus 1]
I’m every woman
It’s all in me
Anything you want done, baby
I do it naturally

[Chorus 2]
I’m every woman
It’s all in me
I can read your thoughts right now
Every one, from A to Z

[Verse 1]
I can cast a spell
See, but you can’t tell
Mix a special groove
Put fire inside of you
Anytime you feel danger or fear
Then instantly
I will appear

[Chorus 1]
I’m every woman
It’s all in me
Anything you want done, baby
I do it naturally

[Chorus 2]
I’m every woman
It’s all in me
I can read your thoughts right now
Every one, from A to Z

[Verse 2]
I can set your knees
Like playing unto the seas
I can make a rhyme of confusion in your mind
And when it comes down to some good old fashioned love
I got it, I got it
I got it, got it, yeah, yeah

[Chorus 1]
I’m every woman
It’s all in me
Anything you want done, baby
I do it naturally

[Chorus 2]
I’m every woman
It’s all in me
I can read your thoughts right now
Every one, from A to Z
[Instrumental]

[Chorus 1]
I’m every woman (Every woman)
It’s all in me
Anything you want done, baby
I do it naturally

[Final Chorus 2]
Anything you want
I’m every woman
It’s all in me (Yeah, oh, yeah)
I can read your thoughts right now
Every one, from A to Z
Yeah, oh
I’m every woman
It’s all in me

Taylor Swift (Andrew Orth, 2006)
General Information
StatusUnreleased
RecordedSeptember 16, 2004
Written1978
GenreCountry
Length3:18
SongwritersNickolas Ashford
Valerie Simpson
ProducerRobert Ellis Orrall
Demo CD
"I'm Every Woman" Demo CD (Taylor Swift, 2004)
Leaked Demo

Discography

Videography

Wiki

Search