[Note: Originally posted on March 2, 2011. Updated with new context and footnotes.]
I love this song. I absolutely, positively, emphatically love this song. It’s easily one of my top 5 favorite songs EVER.
![syreeta05[1]](http://s3.amazonaws.com/darianbjohnson/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/syreeta051-250x188.jpg)
“Superwoman…” is a song in two parts. The first part is about “Mary”, who wants to leave and become a movie star; the second part (“Where Where You When I Needed You”) has Stevie wondering why his lady hasn’t returned yet1.
The truth behind the lyrics are such: The song is about Stevie’s relationship with Syreeta Wright (to whom he was married to for 18 months in the early 70s). Stevie produced much of Syreeta’s music, but she wanted to go off and do her own thing and Stevie wasn’t so into that (supposedly he can be a control freak in the studio). You hear this in the lyrics – “Mary wants to be a superwoman and try to boss the bull around.” Mary is really Rita (Syreeta’s early recording name) and Stevie is “The Bull” (Stevie is a Taurus; he named is production company Black Bull)2.