Professional Widow

"Professional Widow"
Single by Tori Amos
from the album Boys for Pele
ReleasedJuly 2, 1996 (1996-07-02)
Length
  • 4:31 (album version)
  • 8:08 (remix)
Label
Songwriter(s)Tori Amos
Producer(s)Tori Amos
Tori Amos singles chronology
"Talula"
(1996)
"Professional Widow"
(1996)
"Hey Jupiter"
(1996)

"Professional Widow" is a song written by the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released on her third album, Boys for Pele (1996). It is a harpsichord-driven rock song and its lyrics are rumored to have been inspired by the American songwriter Courtney Love. The song was released on July 2, 1996, by Atlantic and EastWest, as the third single from the Boys for Pele album in the US, containing remixes by the house music producers Armand van Helden and MK. The single reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. In Italy, the original version peaked at number two in October 1996. An edited version of the Armand's Star Trunk Funkin' Mix of "Professional Widow" was originally released as a double A-side single with "Hey Jupiter" in Europe and Australia.

On December 30, 1996, van Helden's remix was released as a single in the UK as "Professional Widow (It's Got to Be Big)", which topped the UK Singles Chart in January 1997 and reached the top 20 in Finland, Iceland, Ireland and Norway. In 2022, Rolling Stone named the remix the 109th-greatest dance song of all-time.[1]

  1. ^ Dolan, Jon; Lopez, Julyssa; Matos, Michaelangelo; Shaffer, Claire (July 22, 2022). "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 30, 2022.