We Gotta Get You a Woman - Todd Rundgren (1971) 5/26/22

To this day, Todd Rundgren swears the lyric was taken out of context.

Todd's first solo release after leaving the group Nazz was 1971's "We Gotta Get You a Woman." It's truly a "Great Song," if you can get past the controversy.

Todd wrote the song about his close personal friend Paul Fishkin, who worked at Bearsville Records, Todd's label.

They hung out quite a bit in the early '70s, but it seemed that Paul could never hit it off with the ladies and was perpetually single.

So as sort of a joke, the song was born. When asked why the lyrics are sung to "Leroy" instead of Paul, Todd's answer was simple (and funny): "Paul" is hard to rhyme."

The controversy came from the lyric: "They may be stupid, but they sure are fun." The women's movement was in full swing, and several female disc jockeys were NOT amused and said so. Loudly. For that reason, many radio stations refused to play it. For the record, it peaked at #20 on the Hot 100.

Todd insisted then--and now--that he wasn't singing about women per se, he was singing about the foibles and quirks you discover about each other and how they can be fun when you start dating someone. It could apply to both women AND men.

The entire lyric goes like this: "Talkin' 'bout things about that special one, they may be stupid but they sure are fun. The key word is "Things."

Unfortunately, the damage was done, and Todd regretted the misunderstanding so much, he refused to play the song in concert for decades.

All of that said, If you ignore the controversy and listen to "We Gotta Get You a Woman" in the context of a guy giving a funny pep talk to an "unlucky-in-love" friend, it's actually a lot of fun--(not stupid)--and a "Great Song of 1971."