She’s a Lady | Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
All inducted songs
"I wrote "She's a Lady" on the back of a TWA menu, flying back from London"
She’s a Lady
  • Year Inducted: 2008
  • Written In: 1971
Songwriters
Paul Anka Songwriter
© Photo Credit Library & Archives Canada
Artists
Patricia Barber
Funkstar De Luxe
Highliners
Joe Jones
Tom Jones
Red Mitchell
The Persuasians
The Ventures
Paul Anka wrote She’s A Lady in 1971, while on a plane returning home from London, England.

Tom Jones’ manager, Gordon Mills, had asked Paul Anka to write a song that would be a guaranteed hit in the U.S., so as Anka sat on the plane, he began thinking, ‘Tom…women…’ and the rest is history.

Brimming with male bravado, She’s A Lady became a tremendous hit for Tom Jones, who recorded it in 1971 on his album Sing She’s A Lady. The song reached #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and became Jones’ biggest selling single of all time, giving Anka his first #1 hit in the USA and his only #1 hit in CashBox Magazine.

The success of She’s A Lady was another notch in Anka’s belt and yet another example of his versatility as a songwriter. The cheeky lyrics and swinging beat were perfect for Jones, a crooning Casanova known for his sexual energy on stage.

Other artists have produced unique renditions of this standard, including a house version by Funkstar de Luxe on his 2001 album Keep on Moving (It’s Too Funky in Here), and a jazzy, tongue in cheek version by Patricia Barber on her 1998 album Modern Cool.

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