Gary Puckett & the Union Gap bring us today’s classic song of the day, “This Girl is a Woman Now.” This single, released in August of 1969, rose all the way to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, #5 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #2 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.
“This Girl is a Woman Now” was written by Victor Millrose and Alan Bernstein. The two of them, individually and collectively, wrote tunes for Dusty Springfield, Jay and the Americans, Gene Pitney, John Davidson, and Dee Dee Warwick, among others.
Like many Union Gap songs, “This Girl is a Woman Now” is about an older dude hooking up with a much younger, possibly illegally so, girl. In this instance, the deed has already been done and our skeevy older male protagonist is commenting how that young girl has “tasted love as tender as the gentle dawn” and “would never be the same again.” He’s pretty direct about it:
This girl is a woman now
She’s learned how to give
This girl is a woman now
She’s found out what it’s all about
And she’s learning, learning to live
Yeah, we get it.
For today’s daily bonus video of the day, here’s Mr. Puckett and his band, dressed in their normal Union Army regalia, lip-synching to “This Girl is a Woman Now” on The Red Skelton Show in 1969. “And on that sweet and velvet night, a child had died, a woman had been born.” Ah, the stuff of teenage dreams.
It’s fascinating how catchy melodies from the ’60s often hid some pretty problematic lyrics. Listening to this song, you can enjoy the smooth vocals and arrangement, but the story it tells is definitely unsettling when you really pay attention.