Girl song vs. Guy Song

[godfreydaniel]

Bonnie Raitt changed Chris Smither’s “Love You Like a Man” to “Love Me Like a Man”, and I’m glad she did!

Dave Van Ronk recorded Bessie Smith’s “You’ve Been a Good Ole Wagon” and fortunately didn’t change the gender.

I happened to find this excellent version of “You’ve Been a Good Ole Wagon” by Sarah Rogo, who I’d never heard of before:

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by FingahPickah

Interesting thread...

For me it depends heavily on the quality of the song... sometimes substituting "gender" words doesn't even apply.

There is a huge difference between performing Joni's "Both Sides Now" (an example of masterful song writing) which goes so far beyond a simple interpretation of a once young girl's changing view of romantic love...and Connie Francis' hit "Where the Boys Are"

A male performing (solo) Carole King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" works (IMO) because it's a great song.

You might find these interesting:



About ten years ago I was faced with a similar situation of my own, when a lovely young lady who lived in my old Brooklyn apartment - in fact occupying my former bedroom - turned up in my fifth-grade class (I had moved out several years earlier, but my father - whom she knew - still lived in the building). I had a long-standing tradition, on the last day of school, of sending my kids off with a song (usually John Denver's "This Old Guitar"); this year I chose Neil Diamond's "Brooklyn Roads" (long a part of my solo-gig repertoire) and made the necessary adaptations to reflect the current situation:

"Two floors above the tailor, first door on the right..."

"...Does some pretty young girl, come home to my room,
Does she dream what I did as she sits by my window,
And looks out on those Brooklyn roads..."