Q U E E R I C S

Gender-Bent Covers
Part two!

Up until the 30's, gender wasn't a huge consideration in covers: men would sing lyrics written from a woman's point of view, and vice versa, presumably because they assumed no one would actually get all confused about their orientation. I don't know what to blame for the change in thinking--Nazis? Economic depression? World War II?--but these days, it's typical for artists to change pronouns (and in some cases, whole lines) if they're covering a song by someone of the opposite sex, lest you think they're a fag or somethin'. Luckily for us, however, some people aren't afraid to put a whole new twist on familiar songs by playing them bent.

1. McAlmont, "Saving All My Love For You"
Original:
Whitney Houston

Lyrical Snippet:
"A few stolen moments is all that we share
You've got your family, and they need you there
Though I've tried to resist
Being last on your list
No other man's gonna do
So I'm saving all my love for you"

Awesome?:
In terms of range and versatility, David McAlmont is probably the best living male vocalist on Queerics. (Holy shit, how are Freddie Mercury and Billy Mackenzie both dead?) Left to his own devices, unfortunately, he doesn't always write the best vocal melodies for himself. If you give him Whitney Houston's (or Ella Fitzgerald's, or Shirley Bassey's) instead, he soars. That's not even considering the delightful implications of a man singing about an affair with a married guy! I dig it.

2. Antigone Rising, "Fat-Bottomed Girls"
Original:
Queen

Lyrical Snippet:
"I've been singing with my band
Across the water, across the land
I seen every blue eyed floozy on the way
But their beauty and their style
Wear kind of smooth after a while
Take me to them dirty ladies every time"

Awesome?:
There are lots of examples of male artists taking female-penned songs and turning them into gay anthems; Marc Almond's practically made a career of it, for one. It doesn't work the other way around that often--girls singing boys' songs confront gender roles, but they don't really queer it up. And then there's this cover of "Fat-Bottomed Girls," which should totally be an anthem for lesbians everywhere! It's got a southern rock tinge and revving motorcycles, you guys. It can't get much more classically dykey than this.

3. KMFDM, "Material Girl"
Original:
Madonna

Lyrical Snippet:
"Some boys romance, some boys slow dance
That's all right with me
If they can't raise my interest then I
Have to let them be"

Awesome?:
KMFDM is always on the edge for me. I appreciate how they give all their covers their own sound, but sometimes they're so far-removed from the source that it stops sounding like they picked the song because they liked it--more like they just said "Hey, you know what'd be clever? Covering this pop song! Har!" That's more of a parody than a cover, and I find it a bit tedious. Still, their version of "Material Girl" grows on me every time I listen to it, inexplicably.

4. Sixpence None The Richer, "There She Goes"
Original:
The La's

Lyrical Snippet:
"There she goes
There she goes again
She calls my name
Pulls my train
No one else could heal my pain
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains"

Awesome?: Did you know this song was a cover? It seems that most people don't, judging by the confounded conversations all over the internet: "Is this song gay? It can't be! They're a Christian band! It must be about drugs!" (Jesus prefers drugs to fags, I guess?) Turns out that it's a song by The La's, which makes the pronoun choice more understandable. Pretty ballsy of Sixpence None The Richer to not make it all hetero, though, considering their background. As far as this version goes, it sounds a lot like the original.

5. Suede, "Union City Blue"
Original:
Blondie

Lyrical Snippet:
"Power, passion plays a double hand
Union Union Union City man
I say he's mine
I have a plan
I say he's my Union City man"

Awesome?:
When Suede cover songs by female artists, they tend to pick tracks that exemplify pretty typical feminine sexuality; this one and "Brass in Pocket" are both kind of about using one's wiles to win a love interest over. Before I heard Suede's versions, it never occurred to me how unexpected it is to hear that kind of thing from a man. That's kind of what gender-bent covers should do, isn't it? Draw your attention to double standards? As for the track itself, it's been recorded once, live for Re!Covered, so it's not as sharp as it could be. On the other hand, it's 2002 and Brett Anderson doesn't sound like a recovering crack addict, which is way more than I was hoping for. Still, you might find yourself a little let down by the quality of the recording.

6. Siouxsie and the Banshees, "Dear Prudence"
Original:
The Beatles

Lyrical Snippet:
"Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?"

Awesome?:
You can rely on Siouxsie for consistently awesome covers, and this one is no different. It's just psychedelic enough to conjure up images of toadstools and black petticoats, but it still sounds perfectly at home within their back catalogue. It's a nice little love note from the days before goths forgot how to cover songs without taking themselves way too fucking seriously.

7. The Pictures, "Milkshake"
Original:
Kelis

Lyrical Snippet:
"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard
And they're like
It's better than yours
Damn right it's better than yours
I can teach you
But I have to charge"

Awesome?:
I haven't heard any other songs by the Pictures, but this one sounds really Violent Femmes-y to me. It's vastly different from the original, and probably worth checking out just for that reason, but I'm not convinced that this guy's milkshake does bring all the boys to the yard. I am sorry, sir; your milkshake does not sound like it is all that. Perhaps you haven't grown into it yet. (My picks for men who have suitably powerful milkshakes: Chris Corner, Jarvis Cocker.) My favorite thing about this cover is that they preserved the little triangle "ting." Gold!

8. Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, "My Boyfriend's Back"
Original:
The Angels

Lyrical Snippet:
"He's been gone for such a long time
(Hey-la-day-la my boyfriend's back)
Now he's back and things'll be fine
(Hey-la-day-la my boyfriend's back)
You're gonna be sorry you were ever born
(Hey-la-day-la my boyfriend's back)
Cause he's kinda big and he's awful strong
(Hey-la-day-la my boyfriend's back)"

Awesome?:
I think this is one of the most common songs for gender-bent covers, which I like because it works on two levels. Obviously, it's super-gay, but also hugely confrontational in a gender role sense: you're not even going to find a lot of gay men who would threaten to sic their boyfriends on you, because it's socially unacceptable for guys to get other people to fight their battles. I don't really like punk rock covers, though; it seems that the general thinking is that if you speed it up and shout a bit, it's new and innovative, and... no, dude.

9. The Medic Droid, "Into the Groove"
Original:
Madonna

Lyrical Snippet:
"Get into the groove
Boy, you've got to prove
Your love to me
Get up on your feet
Step to the beat
Boy, what will it be?"

Awesome?:
Another Madonna song! KMFDM's cover of "Material Girl" is a more drastic departure from the original, but the Medic Droid's "Into The Groove" is probably considerably more listenable for anyone who isn't a KMFDM fan. To me, this one sounds like something you'd hear in a cute little clothing store in the mall, and it'd take you a minute or two to figure out why it was so familiar. Then you'd be all "HAHAHA cute" and you'd buy a sweater. I'm not sure why this scenario pops so overwhelmingly into my mind; I think it's the effect on the vocal that says "shopping music" to me. (O hay, thanks for tipping me off to this one, Alyssa!)

10. Placebo, "Jackie"
Original:
Sinead O'Connor

Lyrical Snippet:
"I've been waiting all this time
For my man to come, take his hand in mine
And lead me away to unseen shores
I've been washing the sand with my salty tears
Searching the shores these long years
And I walked the sea forevermore
'Til I find my Jackie-o"

Awesome?:
I don't think they really manage to make the song theirs; it's still got Sinead written all over it. It's an interesting departure from what they usually sing about, but ultimately it's so out-of-character that it ends up being one of their weaker covers. (Even the worst Placebo cover version is better than the best Tori Amos cover version, though; it's still listenable.)

11. Serge Gainsbourg, "Mon Légionnaire"
Original:
Marie Dubas

Lyrical Snippet:
"J'sais pas son nom, je n'sais rien d'lui
Il m'a aimée toute la nuit
Mon légionnaire
Et me laissant à mon destin
Il est parti dans le matin
Plein de lumière
Il était minc', il était beau
Il sentait bon le sable chaud
Mon légionnaire
Y avait du soleil sur son front
Qui mettait dans ses cheveux blonds
De la lumière"
(For those of us who don't speak French: the narrator's pining for a soldier he had a one-night stand with and never saw again.)

Awesome?: I was more familiar with Edith Piaf's version of the song, so before I heard Serge Gainsbourg's, I expected it to sound a bit more... conspicuously French. In reality, it sounds like, um, Talking Heads, instrumentally. It is a freaking fabulous cover, though; the sound is totally updated, although it is still the 80s. Most of the women who've recorded the song have done it in sort of a straightforward sad way, but Gainsbourg sounds a lot more embittered, which I really like.

12. Los Campesinos!, "C Is the Heavenly Option"
Original:
Heavenly & Calvin Johnson

Lyrical Snippet:
"My boyfriends says he will leave me
Should I (A)
Get down on your knees
Should I (B)
Tell him where to go
Or should I (C)
Kiss him until it shows"

Awesome?: Charleh tipped me off to this gem, which is a duet with the genders switched--that is, you've got a boy singing about his boyfriend and a girl singing about her girlfriend. That's a lot of gay in one place! Other than that, the cover sounds a lot like the original--it's basically the same genre--but I think it's way more charming. The vocals are cuter, and, y'know, it is totally queertastic. ♥

That's all I've got for now! If you're sitting on some other great queer covers, send them to me and you'll probably see them on a future list!