Trans-Gender Lyrics...

The Scorpio

Senior Member
Any one else think its strange when a band with a female singer performs gender specific songs without changing the lyrics? For example "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC, or "Keep your hands to yourself" by the Georgia Satelites.

I always giggle a bit.

-Kyle
 
We do it all the time. Sometimes we change the lyrics and sometimes we don't.
No one ever complains.
 
We have a male singer and we play a number of songs from the woman's standpoint. He's gay so he's happy to sing about men. It's less normal when he sings a song about loving a woman but he sees the singer's role as acting, where you tell the songwriter's story - be it male or female. As with Bob's band, sometimes he changes the lyrics, sometimes not.

I knew a woman vocalist who used to cover Gary Moore's "Walking by Myself". She sang the line "I just want to be your loving man" as "I just want to be your loving WOman". A neat sidestep.

If you heard this old Hunters & Collectors hit on the radio and didn't pay enough attention you'd be confused: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pp6hniAKHw
 
Then there's Melissa Etheridge, example: "I'm the only one"..we know she is singing about another woman but the song could very well be sung to a man.

As long as the music's good, who cares!
 
I met her in club in old Soho where you drink champagne and it tastes just like coca cola...C-O-L-A- Cola
 
I'm in a band that does the song "Angel From Montgomery"

In it, there is a verse:

When I was a young girl
I had me a cowboy
Wasn't nothing, but a free ramblin man.

The 65 YO guy in my band sings it straight, just like that, without changing it. He's very secure.
 
And here I am thinking this thread was about the band "Culture Club".
 
The one that I always think of is "Girl/Boy From Ipanima". Can be sung by a girl to a boy, by a boy to a girl or a girl about a girl as a third party. Very flexible.
 
I just turned 50 years old. As much as I like the song, I won't be singing You're Sixteen by Ringo, It's not just gender that's an issue, it can also be age. LOL
 
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