“Woman, Woman”: How a Signature Look and a Fantastic Voice Helped Gary Puckett & the Union Gap Score Big

Finding ways to stand out from the competition in the music world can never hurt your chances of scoring big hits. Gary Puckett & The Union Gap attempted to do so at first by wearing Civil War-style uniforms. That gambit helped the band distinguish itself to an extent.

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The fact that Puckett could sing the stuffing out of dramatic ballads certainly made the biggest impact. He demonstrated that skill right off the bat on “Woman, Woman”, the band’s hit debut single in 1967.

Dressing the Part

Gary Puckett spent his childhood in the Pacific Northwest. His hometown of Yakima, Washington, wasn’t all that far from a town called Union Gap, a name that would come in handy for Puckett down the road. He joined a band called The Outcasts that played on the West Coast in the 60s.

Puckett eventually came together with a new unit of musicians. They began looking for a record label, which is when Puckett, who was something of an aficionado of Civil War history, came up with the idea of dressing up in the antiquated garb as a way of standing out. The band included a picture with their demo so that the visual part couldn’t be missed.

Puckett put the idea of Union soldiers with the Union Gap town from his childhood to come up with the band name. Jerry Fuller, a top producer from CBS, liked what he heard. He signed the band to the distinguished label. Now all they needed was a hit single.

Puckett Power

Considering the fact that the band came of age in the late 60s, you might have expected them to go the rock route. But Gary Puckett steered them towards more of a pop sound. That gave the Union Gap a little bit of a niche that separated them from others in that era. Puckett’s robust tenor vocals could handle any kind of melodic swoop.

“Woman, Woman,” the band’s first single, came from a pair of country writers. Jimmy Payne and Jim Glaser wrote the song in more of a country music vein. But Puckett made it his own, wailing his way through the song while horns blared around him. It was just a matter of getting people to listen.

Luckily, Puckett’s marketing skills paid off in conjunction with his potent pipes. A program director at a popular radio station liked the picture of the band on the jacket and decided to play the track. With the boost that it needed, “Woman, Woman” skyrocketed to the no. 4 spot on the pop charts.

Behind the Lyrics of “Woman, Woman”

Puckett asks his lover again and again, “Have you got cheating on your mind?” He then spends the remainder of the song giving her the evidence of her betrayal. “And you’re afraid to let your eyes meet mine,” he explains. Even worse: “And lately, when I love you / I know you’re not satisfied.”

He then accuses her of encouraging the attention of other men gazing at her. “But it’s knowing that you’re looking back / That’s really killing me,” he explains. Her attempts to hide prove futile. “A woman wears a certain look / When she is on the move,” he says. “But that look’s all over you.”

Case closed.

“Woman, Woman” began a run of hits in a similar vein for the Union Gap. Most of them relied on Gary Puckett singing in anguished tones about romance and all its pitfalls. This band possessed both a formula and a look. And that was enough to set them apart in a competitive musical era.

Photo by GAB Archive/Redferns