Girl song vs. Guy Song

The discussion of Willin' by Seatrain, et. al., got me thinking about girl songs vs guy songs. If I had to put Willin' in one of those categories, I'd say it's more of a guy song. Linda Ronstadt did not change the lyrics to make it into a "girl song" or gender neutral song. She just sang it as it was written.

Yesterday, I was listening to Bo Diddley sing "I'm a Man" and officially got bitten by the Blues Bug. Turns out that is an easy song to learn and play, at least the guitar part, but it's definitely a guy song. A lot of the blues songs that I love are also guy songs. It won't hold me back from learning them; it may make me think twice about playing them in public and singing them in the BART station, but probably not for very long.

What do you all do in these situations? Just sing it as written and toss gender to the wind? Try to convert it to a more gender appropriate or neutral version by tweaking the lyrics, though I have to say, I'm reluctant to do that because I don't like it when I hear songs that have been adjusted in that way. It's jarring, especially if it's a song I really like and know well, like I'm a Man.

I'm really curious to hear what people have to say on this subject.

[Nymuso]

I’ve noticed that the all-girl AC/DC tribute bands don’t change a thing. (ThundHERstruck is one, Shoot To Thrill is another)

[mcmars]

It depends on the song is how I approach the gender issue. Sometimes I re work it to make the song gender neutral, but again just depends on the song. But for most songs, I have no issue singing the song from man's point of view, even though I am female. I see it as the audience just understands it for covers. I have always sung "willin" as it was written, but some others I have switched the gender.

And factor in political correctness into this equation as well. I think that is more important consideration than gender, so as not to insult anyone in the audience. Many of the old blues songs can be very sexist or otherwise inappropriate in the context of today's standards. I like old Memphis Minnie songs and many of her lyrics can be pretty inappropriate by today's standards, most I just sing her style out of respect for old tradition, but depending on the audience, I might skip it or change things around.

Like this verse from Bad Luck Woman, that might be insulting to "big" people, but is comical enough, I let it slide:

"Well the next man I got, he was short and fat
I couldn't keep him around because he wasn't tight like that
I`m a bad luck woman, I`m a bad luck woman
I`m a bad luck woman, I can't see the reason why"

[airborne1]

Larkin Poe is a sister duo playing blues team and have a song called “She’s a self made man”.

Great song, and she and her sister play some mean guitars.

[Bob Womack]

An interesting little factoid is that Linda Ronstadt did change the words to Smokey Robinson's "Tracks of My Tears" to make them gender appropriate. I think it is fine to alter the gender to make things more comfortable.

Bob

[Robin, Wales]

I do tend to rewrite the lyrics to make the song "fit" with my own performance of it. In fact, I'm just working up Wildwood Flower. I have not just changed the gender but changed the position of the narrator from that of the woman wronged, to the man who has caused wrong. This puts quite a different spin on the song, and I can sing the story from an emotional position of deep regret, shame and remorse.

Maybelle Carter version:

Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair
And the myrtle so bright with the emerald dew
The pale amanita and eyes look like blue

I will dance, I will sing, and my loft shall be gay
I will charm every heart, in his crown I will sway
When I woke from my dreaming my idol was clay
All portion of love had all flown away

Oh, he taught me to love him and promised to love
And to cherish me over all others above
How my heart is now wondering no misery can tell
He's left me no warning, no words of farewell

Oh, he taught me to love him and called me his flower
That's blooming to cheer him through life's dreary hour
Oh, I long to see him and regret the dark hour
He's gone and neglected this pale wildwood flower

My Version:

She would twine, and would mingle her raven black hair
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair
And the myrtle so bright with it's emerald hue
The pale amanita and the hyssop so blue

She would dance, she would sing and her laugh would be gay
She could charm every heart, and my crown she would sway
But she woke from her dreaming, her idol was clay
All portions of loving had all flown away

I taught her to love me and promised to love
And to cherish her over all others above
Now her poor heart is wondering no misery can tell
I left with no warning, no word of farewell

Well I told her I loved her and called her my flower
That was blooming to cheer me through life's dreary hour
Now she lives to see me regret life's dark hour
As I went and neglected my pale wildwood flower

I think that it is absolutely fine to move a song's lyrics around - particularly old folk songs. Making this type of change has been going on forever, and could be considered more "traditional" than sticking with any particular recorded cover version as being "sacred".

[Mr. Jelly]

To each their own. When it comes to lyrics I rewrite them as I please. I mean really who cares? I have to have lyrics that make some sense to me and that I can connect with and represent comfortably. If a song is too rooted as a female song I pass on it. I do Turtle Blues by Janis Joplin and change the I to she in the song as an example.

[J Patrick]

…I’m a guy that covers a lot of songs by women….occasionally I’ll switch out a gender related word or two if it makes sense….alas there are some covers I’d love to do that are just to gender specific for me to pull off….

[columbia]

I usually just sing it as written unless the words can be changed really easily. I'm a dude but I do Wildwood Flower and I'll Be All Smiles Tonight with the original lyrics. Johnny Cash has a version of the latter song with some (to my ear) really tortured lyric changes.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I think it is fine to alter the gender to make things more comfortable.

Then there's Joan Baez' take on "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery." Sometimes it's fine to use gender to make things less comfortable.

[KevWind]

Depends entirely which song What the lyrical construct is as well as the observational construct and prosody.

I think some songs it is entirely appropriate and does not mater if you change the gender perspective to match the performer

Example June Carter Cash in the duo she did with Johnny covering "If I were a Carpenter"

But some songs not only would it not be appropriate to do so but
it would a crime against songwriting for example, to alter "Angel From Montgomery"

I just can't see performing this with a gender change, ever......

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

To each their own. When it comes to lyrics I rewrite them as I please. I mean really who cares? I have to have lyrics that make some sense to me and that I can connect with and represent comfortably. If a song is too rooted as a female song I pass on it. I do Turtle Blues by Janis Joplin and change the I to she in the song as an example.

I do the same, even though it doesn't come up all that often.

I've recently become enamored with Blackwater Side. It's such a gender-specific song that it just seems silly to try and use the commonly accepted lyrics, and the name as well as the lyric content have had several versions over the years, so it didn't seem like much of a stretch to change the gender persona.

I first became interested in it as I back-tracked my way to the original source inspiration for Page's "Black Mountain Side" instrumental guitar piece. Great story, and great song.

[JonPR]

There is a tradition in folk music for songs to be sung by either gender in the first person, but not switching the gender of the lyric.

"Careless Love" is a song about a woman getting pregnant, but is often sung by a man as "I", not "she". ("Now my apron strings won't tie...")

Bert Jansch sang "Blackwaterside" and "Curragh of Kildare" in the first person, although the subject is a woman in each case. (When he sang "Love Is Teasing", he did sing "I wish I was a boy again" instead of "girl", but laughed as he did so.)

Donovan sang his own "Ballad of Geraldine" in the first person.

The ballad "She Moved Through the Fair" could be sung by woman, who wouldn't have to change "fondly I watched her", to "fondly he watched her" - and (even though it would be perfectly sensible) I don't know any instance of a female singer changing it to "He Moved Through the Fair"!

I.e., in all cases, it's the sense of a traditional song being preserved in its traditional form - the narrative depending on the gender of the character(s), but without it limiting the gender of the performer; because the performer is simply telling the story, much as you would if reading a text. In folk music, there is less need for the performer to identify with the lyric. In pop music - and in blues and R&B - we generally expect performers to be expressing themselves, in a way we don't in traditional folk. I'm not sure how it works in country music, but I suspect there's some overlap between the "traditional folk" influence and the more modern "self expression" element.

As for "I'm a Man", it would obviously be a bit weird (albeit entertaining!) for a woman to sing that. And what about "Hoochie Coochie Woman" - anyone ever sung that?
The sentiment is kind of reversed in Peggy Lee's "I'm A Woman", but the problem there is that most of the things she is proud of are domestic! A bit like boasting "I'm the greatest housewife!" - probably not too popular a sentiment these days. (Still, it's a good brag about multitasking, and "I can make a man out of you" is still a great last line.)

[fpuhan]

I recently added Grace Slick's (Jefferson Airplane) Lather to my repertoire. The only change I made was in the background utterance, "Mommy?" to "Daddy?"

[Silly Moustache]

Regarding that song "I'm A Man"