Single Girl was the title of a song by Martha Sharpe that was an international hit for American singer Sandy Posey

Sandy Posey

Sandy Posey is an American popular singer, who enjoyed success in the 1960s with singles such as her 1966 recording of Martha Sharpe's composition, "Single Girl." She is often described as a country singer, although, like Skeeter Davis her output has varied...

 from late 1966 to early 1967.

Recording by Sandy Posey (1966)

Sandy Posey recorded "Single Girl" in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 on August 10, 1966 . Although not strictly a country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 song, her rendition gave it a country feel – a style that some years later was often referred to as "countrypolitan".

"Single Girl" was produced by "Chips" Moman

Chips Moman

Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...

 and released by MGM

MGM Records

MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...

, reaching number 12 in the US sales charts in January 1967  and number 15 in Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 . It was re-released in 1975, and it entered the British top 50 again. and, as Posey's signature song, appeared on a number of compilations , including a Posey retrospective, A Single Girl: The Very Best of the MGM Recordings, in 2002. The sleeve notes for the latter drew on an interview with Posey about her time at MGM.

An Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 version, "Sempre Solo," recorded in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 , was coupled with "Nata Donna," Posey's first "hit" "single", known in English as "Born a Woman." . In the late '60s, a Chinese cover version, titled 獨身女, was recorded by Singaporean-Chinese singer Ling Yun (singer) (凌雲, also known as Rita Chao).

Martha Sharpe recorded her own version of "Single Girl" for an album in 1973 .

The song

Like Born a Woman, which was also written by Martha Sharpe, Single Girl contained some sentiments that were obstensibly sceptical of men (for example, "I know all about men and their lies"). But whereas Born a Woman was seen by some as having feminist overtones, Single Girl was essentially more traditional in outlook – a young, isolated woman anticipating that "some day", despite not knowing anybody, people being "phoney" and the nights getting "so lonely", she would find waiting for her a man to "lean on". As one later commentator put it, drawing a contrast with Julie Rogers

Julie Rogers (singer)

Julie Rogers is an English pop singer. She is best known for her multi-million selling song, "The Wedding".-Career:...

' The Wedding

The Wedding (song)

"The Wedding", sometimes credited as "The Wedding ", is a popular song from 1964 recorded by British singer Julie Rogers. The song was included on Rogers' extended play from 1964, which was also titled The Wedding, and has appeared on various compilation albums in the years since its...

(1964), "Single Girl ... touched a nerve with every 'wallflower

Wallflower (people)

In social situations, a wallflower is a slang term used to describe shy or unpopular individuals who do not socialize or participate in activities at social events. It is most often used to describe someone who stays close to a wall and out of the main area of social activity...

' who possessed a record player" .

The score of Single Girl was notable for its gradual crescendo towards the end and a piano backing that, between the closing lines,

Someday I’ll have a sweet loving man to lean on

The single girl needs a sweet loving man to lean on,

contained two distinctive high notes that were apt to linger in the mind of the listener. Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

described Single Girl as "a strong piece of ballad material with driving rhythm background" . The production overall conveyed very well the sense that "to make it in pop music in the 1960s, a girl needed a really strong song and a strong production, as well as a lot of tenacity and dogged determination" .