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Gender-Bent Covers
Part three!

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.

This assortment of gender-bent covers is more submission-heavy than the last two. Huge thanks to Ellie, Weed, and Dru for their contributions!

1. Voltaire, "Caught A Lite Sneeze"
Original:
Tori Amos

Lyrical Snippet:
"Right on time you get closer and closer
Called my name
But there's no way in
Use that fame
Rent your wife and kids today
Maybe she will
Maybe she will caught a lite sneeze
Dreamed a little dream
Made my own pretty hate machine
Boys on my left side
Boys on my right side
Boys in the middle
And you're not here
Boys in their dresses
And you're not here
I need a big loan
From the girl zone"

Awesome?:
Seems like you could interpret this more than one way. The "you" in the song could be a man, which is suggested by the line about renting your wife and kids, and the song ends up pretty gay. Or you can completely ignore the gender of whoever Voltaire's addressing and concentrate on the last lines, where he's cursing all that cultural conditioning that makes him bottle everything up and willing more femininity into his life. Also bent! And then I find I've been staring at these lyrics too long and suddenly the original starts looking totally queer, too, and then I just don't know what the hell and GEEZ, Voltaire, bendification 100% successful! Well done!


2. The All-American Rejects, "Womanizer"
Original:
Britney Spears

Lyrical Snippet:
"Boy, don't try to front
I know just-just what you are
Boy, don't try to front
I know just-just what you are
You got me goin'
You're oh so charmin'
But I can do it
You womanizer"

Awesome?:
The video starts with this long spiel about how they're covering "Womanizer" because they can do it better, which sours me on it a little, because really? Boasting that you can record a song better than Britney Spears is unimpressive and a little dickish, like boasting that you can run faster than a kid in leg braces. Still, the toy accordion cracks me up, and Tyson Ritter's vocal delivery successfully turns a cheesy song about girl power into some creepy delusional stalker thing. Oh my god, those crazy eyes! I didn't mean to be a womanizer I swear stop looking at me like that


3. Tori Amos, "Angie"
Original:
The Rolling Stones

Lyrical Snippet:
"Angie, you're beautiful
But ain't it time we said goodbye?
All the dreams we held so close
Seemed to all go up in smoke
Let me whisper in your ear
Angie, Angie
Where will it lead us from here?"

Awesome?:
Tori Amos has released a whole album of covers of songs originally by men, but for the most part, they aren't that intriguing--she likes to take the songs she covers and turn them into meandering dirges. Only cover songs, though. What's that all about? Anyway, this one is from very early on in her career, and I guess she hadn't reached the dirge stage yet, because it's a genuinely good recording! I don't know if I'd say it's better than the original; Keef is in fine form there. It's a very interesting take on the song, though.


4. McAlmont, "Conversation"
Original:
Joni Mitchell

Lyrical Snippet:
"And I only say hello
And turn away before his lady knows
How much I want to see him
She removes him, like a ring
To wash her hands
She only brings him out to show her friends
I want to free him"

Awesome?:
David McAlmont knows exactly what I want to hear. A woman singing about how she loves a boy and hates his girlfriend? Eh, it's getting a bit old. A man singing about how he loves a boy and hates his girlfriend? GOLD! You can't help but love a guy who hears Joni Mitchell's song, with its fabulously poignant lyrics, and says "You know what could make these even more tragic? GUYLOVE." And he's right; he's singing about the most hopeless variety of crush ever conceived. You've probably been there, though. Brilliant!


5. Gavin Friday & Cillian Murphy, "Sand"
Original:
Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra

Lyrical Snippet:
"Young woman share your fire with me
My heart is cold, my soul is free
I am a stranger in your land
A wandering man, call me sand

At night when stars light up the sky
Oh sir I dream my fire is high
Oh taste these lips sir if you can
Wandering man, I call thee sand"

Awesome?:
Generally I don't like to start talking about songs from movies and musicals on Queerics, because it's a slippery slope from that to having to care about songs composed specifically for whatever new off-Broadway hit is sweeping the queer community. That's why I held off on including this one in any lists so far; it was recorded for Breakfast On Pluto, a heartbreakingly wonderful film based on an equally amazing Patrick McCabe book, and I thought it might be too context-dependent to appeal to you. But then I thought: holy crap, do people really need context to appreciate a great queer duet? Granted, Cillian Murphy is no Nancy Sinatra, but Gavin Friday is miles above Lee Hazlewood, come on.


6. The Raveonettes, "One Day (At A Time)"
Original:
John Lennon

Lyrical Snippet:
"You are my woman, I am your man
Nothing else matters at all, now I understand
That I'm the door and you're the key
Every morning I wake in your smile
Feeling your breath on my face and the love in your eyes
'Cause you're the honey and I'm the bee "

Awesome?:
Aww, it's really nice to see a sweet gender-bent love song, isn't it? Especially with a female vocalist! There are so few lesbian love songs out there that don't come with a side dish of "rahhh political statement!" or "also, I'm a crazy stalker and/or you're a bitch!" Aside from that, I really like the trip-hoppy guitar; it sounds very updated, but still Lennonesque.


7. Jonathan Coulton, "You Oughta Know"
Original:
Alanis Morissette

Lyrical Snippet:
"An older version of me
Is she perverted like me?
Would she go down on you in a theatre?
Does she speak eloquently
And would she have your baby?
I'm sure she'd make a really excellent mother"

Awesome?:
Nobody here is laboring under the delusion that "You Oughta Know" isn't badass to begin with, right? Alanis has released a lot of stupid songs, but this one is just brilliant, and I've been waiting for a queer cover of it for ages. (Hell yes, angry faggots! Bring it!) Coulton's version is very melodic and gentle, kind of trading in vitriol for resignation, but there's some beautiful acoustic guitar. I'm still holding out for a more venomous cover, but I imagine I'll be waiting for a long time; men seem to find this song too intimidating to touch. (P.S. - you can download Coulton's version from his blog.)


8. Cyndi Lauper, "When You Were Mine"
Original:
Prince

Lyrical Snippet:
"When you were mine
I used to let you wear all my clothes
You were so fine
Maybe that's the reason that it hurt me so
I know that you're going with another guy
But I don't care, 'cause I love you baby that's no lie"

Awesome?:
What happens when an 80s pop act covers a song by another 80s pop act within five years of its release? They sound basically the same! To me, it sounds like Cyndi Lauper replaces an "oh, girl" with a wordless vocalization, which would normally irritate the crap out of me, but in this case I guess she does it to sell her bisexual-cheating-boyfriend interpretation. Awkward bisexual love triangles are the theme of this edition of gender-bent covers, I think. (And yeah, the clothing exchange in the original would be a bit queer if Prince didn't dress like a woman. I'd wear the hell out of his clothes.)


9. Darren Hayes, "Dress You Up"
Original:
Madonna

Lyrical Snippet:
"Feel the silky touch of my caresses
They will keep you looking so brand new
Let me cover you with velvet kisses
I'll create a look that's made for you"
(It does explicitly mention that the "you" in question is a boy later on, but not in a very quotable place.)

Awesome?:
30 years ago, all the gay boys would've covered Lesley Gore songs; these days, it's Madonna. This one kind of suffers from the same problem as "When You Were Mine," as the cover and original are the same genre and pretty similar note-for-note. However, the cover benefits from coming 20 years after the original--so at least it sounds updated--and Darren's just got a better voice than Madonna. All in all, I think it's pretty cute; I remember posting about it after the second gender-bent covers list in the Queerics blog. See what you miss out on if you don't follow it?


10. Ben Taylor, "Glory Box"
Original:
Portishead

Lyrical Snippet:
"From this time, unchained
We're all looking at a different picture
Through this new frame of mind
A thousand flowers could bloom
Move over, and give us some room
Give me a reason to love you
Give me a reason to be a woman
I just wanna be a woman"

Awesome?:
No. Cover versions of this song are a sore spot for me. As far as I can tell, in the original, the narrator is trying to reconcile her desire to be an independent modern woman with her desire to settle down into happy coupledom--trying to figure out how to do it without abandoning her principles. The whole thing is about confronting gender roles. Then all these male artists get ahold of it and start cutting it up, "I just wanna be your man" here and "Don't you stop being a woman" there, and it's just... oh my god, what do they think they're singing about!? It's a feminist song, guys! Don't cover it if you can't handle it! To Ben Taylor's credit, he at least leaves the "give me a reason to be a woman," which turns it into an interesting song about masculinity, kind of like Voltaire's "Caught A Lite Sneeze." Still, he cuts out an entire verse; it could be that he didn't want "don't you stop being a man..." distracting from his gender angst, but it could also be that he didn't want to look like a fag. But that's not the only reason it's not that great; he's just got kind of a boring adult contemporary sound. It's one of the better male covers of "Glory Box," at least.


11. Ivri Lider, "The Man I Love"
Original:
Originally composed for a musical by the Gershwin brothers; made popular by Helen Morgan

Lyrical Snippet:
"He'll look at me and smile, I'll understand
Then in a little while, he'll take my hand
And though it seems absurd
I know we both won't say a word"

Awesome?:
It's pretty hard to screw up a song with just a piano and a lovely voice, so Ivri Lider's version is nice! He sounds very sweet and wistful--you want him to find the man he loves and live happily ever. Add that faint-but-adorable accent and the irresistable torchiness, which is something you only get in queer music these days, you guys, admit it--and you have a winner!


12. Antony & the Johnsons, "Be My Husband"
Original:
Nina Simone

Lyrical Snippet:
"Be my husband and I'll be your wife
If you want me to I'll cook and sew
If you want me to I'll cook and sew
If you want me to I'll cook and sew
Outside you there is no place to go "

Awesome?:
I have a Siamese cat whose vocal range varies from a disconsolate howl to sort of a whiny gurgle. In this, he and Antony Hegarty are quite similar. (No, all bitchiness aside, that's seriously why I can't listen to him. I keep thinking he wants me to feed him.) His voice isn't really the problem here--he gives the song the soulful edge it deserves, though he does lay it on a bit thick. I can't find anything but a crappy live version of the track, though, and I can't say that it's better than Simone's original. Might be worth it for the weird gender dynamic, at least.


Aaand that's it! See you next time! ♥