His songs have been performed by a number of other musicians including "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton,"Cajun Moon" by Randy Crawford, "Clyde" and "Louisiana Women" by Waylon Jennings, "Magnolia" by Jai, "Bringing It Back" by Kansas, "Call Me the Breeze" and "I Got the Same Old Blues" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "I'd Like to Love You, Baby" by Tom Petty, "Travelin' Light" and "Ride Me High" by Widespread Panic, "Tijuana" by Harry Manx, "Sensitive Kind" by Carlos Santana, "Cajun Moon" by Herbie Mann with Cissy Houston, and "Same Old Blues" by Captain Beefheart.
Cale was born on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was raised in Tulsa and graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1956. Along with a number of other young Tulsa musicians, Cale moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, where he first worked as a studio engineer.
The Leathercoated Minds was a 1966-67 psychedelic studio-based band masterminded largely by Snuff Garrett and J J Cale. The band produced one album, A Trip down the Sunset Strip, co-produced by Cale and Garrett
Finding little success as a recording artist, he later returned to Tulsa and was considering giving up the music business until Clapton recorded "After Midnight" in 1970. His first album, Naturally, established his style, described by Los Angeles Times writer Richard Cromelin as a "unique hybrid of blues, folk and jazz, marked by relaxed grooves and Cale's fluid guitar and laconic vocals. His early use of drum machines and his unconventional mixes lend a distinctive and timeless quality to his work and set him apart from the pack of Americana roots-music purists."
Some sources incorrectly give his real name as "Jean-Jacques Cale". In the 2006 documentary, To Tulsa and Back: On Tour with J.J. Cale, Cale talks about Elmer Valentine, co-owner of the Sunset Strip nightclub Whisky à GoGo, who employed him in the mid-1960s, being the one that came up with the "JJ" moniker to avoid confusion with the Velvet Underground's John Cale. Rocky Frisco tells the same version of the story mentioning the other John Cale but without further detail.
His biggest U.S. hit single, Crazy Mama, peaked at #22 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1972. During the 2006 documentary film To Tulsa and Back Cale recounts the story of being offered the opportunity to appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand to promote the song, which would have moved the song higher on the charts. Cale declined when told he could not bring his band to the taping and would be required to lip-sync the words to the song.
Cale died on Friday, July 26, 2013, at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, California, after suffering a heart attack.
Woman I Love
J.J. Cale Lyrics
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Woman I love ain't much more than skin and bone
Woman I love ain't much more than skin and bone
If she ain't round the house - out of the door, daddy no more
Woman I love ain't much more than skin and bone
Treat me right, oh no no, can't complain
She got to be nice, she got me hypnotised
Treat me right, oh no, can't complain
In "Woman I Love," J.J. Cale sings about his affection for a particular woman who, according to the lyrics, is "ain't much more than skin and bone." Despite her physical appearance, he seems to be deeply in love with this woman, as he repeatedly affirms his devotion to her throughout the song. However, Cale also acknowledges that this woman can be somewhat unpredictable, as she is often "out of the door" and gone from his presence. Despite this, he remains devoted to her and is evidently quite happy in the relationship.
It's worth noting that there are some potential interpretations of this song that may not be immediately apparent from the lyrics alone. For example, some listeners have suggested that Cale may be using "Woman I Love" as a metaphor for something else entirely. Some have suggested that the song may be, in fact, about drugs, with the "woman" in question referring to a particular substance that Cale is addicted to. Others have suggested that the song may be about a different kind of addiction entirely, or about a particular lifestyle or state of mind that Cale is attached to. Regardless of the interpretation, however, there's no denying that "Woman I Love" is a powerful and emotionally rich song that continues to endure as one of J.J. Cale's most beloved works.
Line by Line Meaning
Woman I love ain't much more than skin and bone
The woman I love is thin and frail, lacking in physical appearance and structure.
If she ain't round the house - out of the door, daddy no more
If she's not present and available at home, I won't tolerate it and will leave her.
Treat me right, oh no no, can't complain
She treats me well, and I have no complaints in our relationship.
She got to be nice, she got me hypnotised
Her kind personality and behavior towards me has me mentally absorbed and infatuated.
Contributed by Stella A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.