Karaoke Forums

These kind of threads are interesting to see people's singing requests. One of the other forums I belong to it's fun to see who sings what.

I'll start it off.

I'm working on some gender bender songs for a project some friends and I are doing... so don't freak on seeing gal songs as part of my recent songs...

"100 Years" - Five For Fighting
"Easy Tonight" - Five For Fighting
"I Will Remember You" - Amy Grant
"Hello" - Evanescence (Amy Lee)
"Dreamboat Annie" - Heart
"Dog & Butterfly" - Heart (still haven't worked the kinks out of this one!
"Here Without You" - 3 Doors Down
"Sugar Sugar" - The Archies
"It's My Life" - Bon Jovi

lately it's been

"lullaby"- shawn mullins
"enter sandman" -metallica
"she's no lady (she's my wife) -lyle lovett
"pearl necklace" zz top
"songs about rain" -gary allan
"up against the wall redneck mother" -jerry jeff walker
" barlight" - charlie robison
"dream walkin" -toby keith
"angry all the time" bruce robison/kelly willis
"that's why god made mexico" - tim mcgraw

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All work and no play make Homer something something

Great Thread Matt.  I too enjoy this type thread.  




One of the prettiest rock ballads IMO.  I've attempted this difficult song too.  Given the Wilson Sisters use of harmony on this particular song it's VERY tough to hold the melody line given the brilliant use of dissonance and resolution used in this particular songs harmonies, takes A LOT of concentration.   I always thought this was their most clever composition, Certainly a composition that's a great venue for showing their true ability for sophisticated harmony.  Love Alive is another great song, different type of song, but I just like the song as well !  The Whole Dog and Butterfly album is great though !  Perhaps my favorite female ballad album of the 70's.  The amazing thing about Dog and Butterfly is although it's a reasonably mellow ballad, once you hear it, you just don't forget it.  Even after 30+ years.

Now regarding this topic.  This is the type genre I sing, both male and female ballad of this style.

Alot off've MudSlide Slim and the Blue Horizon -  JT
Come Monday, Son of a Son of a Sailer- Buffet
WOLD,  TAXI-  Chapin
Gender benders I'll do Heart, Carly Simon, Carol King, Janis Ian arrangements, and of course Roberta Flack.  "Killing Me softly" is also among one of the prettiest ballads.
Wichita Lineman, and Tales of the EVeryday Housewife - Glen Campbell
Scorpions, and I struggle like all hell to attempt to sing Boston.
Bread, America, Marshall Tucker, just mellower classic rock stuff..
Also BS&T... but that ends up a scary nightmarish experience.. I don't have DCT power and timbre..  Nor do I have BUrton Cummings ability, style, power, timbre, etc.. but I still love to make a royal a$$ out've myself and pretend I sound OK..

This all takes place behind CLOSED DOORS !


Not to date myself, but my favorite ballad of all time is "Never My Love" The Association.  Wichita Lineman is a close second... Amazing love ballads !  Powerful songs.  I can't explain WHY these are my favorites,  they just "move me" more than other songs.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

You really feel like  you have to defend that you've sung songs originally done by women?   Gotta love the male ego sometimes, .

Blue Clear Sky -- George Strait
Look Heart, No Hands -- Randy Travis
Find Out Who Your Friends Are -- Tracy Lawrence
Good Directions -- Billy Currington
If This Is It -- Huey Lewis & the News
Forever & Ever Amen -- Randy Travis
Mama Tried -- Merle Haggard
Ramblin' Man -- Allman Bros.
I've Come To Expect It From You -- George Strait
Alibis -- Tracy Lawrence
Settle For A Slowdown -- Dierks Bentley
Don't You Care -- The Buckinghams

Oh my goodness, yes it IS hard to sing!  And I'm female!  It's some of those big jumps between notes that do it.  That's one of those songs that I thought would be easy to sing until I actually tried it...

What have I been singing?--Well, lots of stuff..."Der Kommissar" by After the Fire is one that I've been singing a lot lately, as well as "Midnight Confessions" by the Grass Roots, "Heart of the Night" by Poco, and a couple of Jimmy Buffett songs--"Fins" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise".  As for female-vocal stuff, I've been singing (among other things) "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" by KT Tunstall.  And  :drunk:  :shock:  the other night I sang "I Touch Myself" by the Divinyls. I was debating whether or not to sing that--and I decided to try singing it just for fun.  Guess what?  It WAS fun.  (no, I wasn't really drunk, but the  :drunk: icon just seemed to fit)  It's totally different from what I am like offstage, though!  

There are a lot of other songs I want to try that I might need to find on CD and/or download on YouTube (if they're there) to see if I can get the melodies firmly implanted inside my brain.  Not long ago I heard someone sing "Always Be My Baby" by Mariah Carey, and I thought, "Hmmmm...I MIGHT be able to sing that--it doesn't have any outrageously high notes like most of Mariah's songs do..."  And the other night in a kj's book I found "Yellow River" by Christie (that's a male group, not an individual artist, for those of you too young to remember), so I downloaded it on YouTube. (They actually had a couple of videos of this song, and even some live ones from the '90s, even though the song came out in 1970.  Apparently the band was still around in the '90s.)  I will have to do that song sometime!  But then if I made a list of ALL the songs I want to sing, the list would probably be about as long as my arm...  :D

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I love being a mom!

This isn't an unfounded perception in slower ballad genre which often *is* quite gender specific since the message is usually emotionally sensitive.  Fewer males (that are middle-aged) were brought up as free to delicately and sensitively express themselves.  So sure it's "ego", but there's a reason men have such egos in our culture. Most had it instilled that we can't "pour our hearts out" *delicately* in song, or poetry.  If a guy got gushy he'd be labeled "wuss", "wimp", "sissy", etc.  Most love ballads are also tangibly gender specific (not that a guy CAN'T sing Dionne Warwicks "Say a little prayer") but it doesn't take a delicate "male ego" to feel uncomfortable singing,

The moment I wake up
Before I put on my makeup
I say a little prayer for you
While combing my hair, now
And wondering what dress to wear, now
I say a little prayer for you


This is a more extreme example, but usually someplace in female ballad composition exist phrases that are awkward for males to sing. Some content is less specific, but even a seemingly less gender specific song such as "Dog and Butterfly" in Western culture isn't often sung by men, because men singing about *Butterflies* is seen as delicate.  In Eastern culture it wouldn't be (at least I don't think it would be).  Whether it should or shouldn't be this way is moot. "Killing me softly" is more easily done by changing :His: to Her, but when you get into the mushier comps such as Carpenters stuff it's tougher if not really strange when a male sings the lyrics.

I wouldn't feel comfortable singing this on stage:

"The message hit my mind, the only words that I could find were see the Dog and Butterfly, up in the air he like to fly"





Dynamics are VERY tricky in this song too !   It's not the most forgiving song to mess up on  LOL  !   Time signature, dynamics, and nailing the pitch when resolving each phrase is crucial.  These Wilson girls are strong singers, and they really have a way of making the less confident vocalist singing their melody feel VERY out of place  LMAO.  I really have felt like a total jackass after listening to my attempts singing this song. It takes a VERY strong singer with an excellent ear to pull this off.  It's one of those songs that you either nail 100%, or you royally botch it..  I've succeeded at the later !   But still,  I LOVE attempting it behind closed doors.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

ego has nothing to do with it... In the case of the Heart songs, they're a gal song, almost always sang by women. Usually with quite the woman perspective, so it sounds weird from a guy singing it.

The Amy Grant one and Evanescence songs I mentioned are not gender specific, so no issues there.

Let's see...

How embarrassing, the same dang songs I've been singing since last summer.  LOL
(i don't get out much)

Let's see if I retained my memory from saturday night. I sang:

I'll Think of a Reason Later- Leann Womack (actually... haven't sang that one in ages)
Leave The Pieces- The Wreckers
You Aint Woman Enough- Loretta Lynn
California Girls- Gretchen
All Jacked Up- Gretchen
Coalmine- Sara Evans
Black Horse and a Cherry Tree- KT Tunstall
Tortured, Tangled Hearts- Dixie Chicks
Long Time Gone- Dixie Chicks

and... just cause it was a loud rowdy crowd, and I was a bit tipsy anyhow

I Touch Myself- The Divinyls
Hollaback Girl- Gwen Stefani

And... I'm pretty sure that's all I sang that night, except the songs I sang with a couple other gals, but they weren't "songs I'm singing lately".

(matt? are you cdg secret service, and gonna charge us all a singers' usage fee or somethin'?)  LMAO


.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Maybe it is "male ego",  but for a person to make a statement such as,

"If it weren't for your male ego, you'd put on a Kilt, tights and walk around your local mall out've character"  

my response would be,  

"I'm not Irish, where I live those are dresses, and guys don't wear those, so call it ego, cultural conditioning, etc. I'm a male with a reasonably healthy ego living in a culture that has certain expections of males. Am I expected to vindicate myself by not admitting I'm aware of this ?  Yeah people have both egos and genders so what's your point ?"


Dog and Butterfly treads that line but it's still a gorgeous song. I like singing it, assuming I do in public many WILL think "He's singing a female song" and that won't be my imagination.  Knowing I am IS going to cause me to feel uncomfortable and feeling this way is VERY normal. Assuming a guy had an inflated ego, he'd likely never admit to even attempting such a song in here.  Musically it's still a fabulous composition I just feel really weird singing about butterflies  LMAO

Fact is there are very few slow ballads as neutral as Manilows "Somewhere In the Night" that can be as comfortably sung by either gender. Helen Reddy and Manilow both do great renditions.   No way will my "male ego" allow me to sing "I am woman", or "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" in a singles bar where I'm trying to meet females OR even alone hiding under the bed, and I think Carole Kings "Natural Woman" is a gorgeous song. I suppose the "Male Ego" keeps we males from doing some pretty wacky things too.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

A few songs that I normally don't sing, but had been in my singing list lately:

After the lovin' - engelbert humperdinck
My way - Frank Sinatra
Spanish Eyes - Engelbert Humperdinck
Yesterday - Beatles
Garden Party - Ricky Nelson
Angels - Robbie Williams
You Raise Me Up - Josh Groban
Are You Lonesome Tonight - Barry Manilow

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
Black horse & cherry tree Kt Tunstall
Whisky in the Jar Metallica
Paranoid Black Sabbath
Locomotive Breath Jethro Tull
Boys light up - Australian Crawl
Get over it - Eagles
Baby baby all the time Diana Krall
Cant live like this no more - Debbie Davies
Room with a view - Debbie Davies
Stuck in the Middle - Steelers Wheel
Down at the twist n shout- Mary CC
Hi de Ho - BS&T
Unchain my heart - cocker
Purple Rain - Prince
Hey Baby - dj otzi
Fire Pointer sisters
I just dropped in to see what condition... Kenny Rogers
Gambler KR
Nights in White Satin Moody Blues
Losin my religion REM
Man on the moon REM
Drive REM
Shine on you crazy diamond pink floyd
Delta Dawn - I hate it but I get asked for it
Georgia rain, walkaway joe trisha yearwood
etc
it really depends on the gig what I drag out of about 3-400 songs

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Well yeah, I will concede that I wasn't talking about songs like "I am Woman" when I referred to the male ego.  I kinda figured that was a given.  

But there are plenty of songs out there that just happen to have been recorded originally by a woman, yet are gender neutral, or where the pronouns could easily be changed without altering the meaning of the song one iota.  

And it's not like it's a radical idea, Elvis did a version of Olivia Newton-John's "Let Me Be There", both Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey recorded "I Who Have Nothing", "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "Greatest Love of All" have been recorded by umpteen numbers of people of both sexes, and the list goes on and on and on.

I just think too many men limit themselves unnecessarily because they won't even consider doing a "girl song" that's really not a girl song at all.  And a lot of times it can be a pleasant surprise for the audience, hearing a new spin on something familiar.  Which beats the hell out of another tired rendition of "My Way" any day of the week.

yup, that's why when I sang the song "I Will Remember You"... when the tunes came out... SEVERAL folks sat up in their chairs going "Oh YEAH! I Remember THIS"... which is why I sang it!

Music is universal and has a way of binding a diverse group of people together. I recently bought a new version of a song I've been singing. "You Keep Me Hanging On" by Kim Wilde. STTW just did a FANTASTIC job on this one. Before this, it was available only on a real inferior label (retro classics), and it was ok... A simple lyric change from "why can't you be a man about it" to "why can't you be fair about it" makes the song fit for a guy (alebit a real weak one... guy sitting there singing about some gal screwing him over... I mean, really, get OVER it! sheesh!).

I did a gender bender song once, and then found out I really didn't! I sang Joan Jett's "Do You Wanna Touch Me" and thought myself very clever... and then someone told me Joan's song is a cover of Gary Glitter's song! Oh well, I tried!

I have a very large list of songs that I do...it's sick.

Over the last couple months these are a few new ones that I've added:

Air That I Breathe - Hollies
Southern Man - Neil Young
Come On Up - Rascals
You'll Think Of Me - Keith Urban
How Do you Like Me Now - Toby Keith
Who's That Man - Toby Keith
I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink - Merle Haggard
Delta Lady - Joe Cocker
I Feel Better All Over - Ferlin Husky

I usually make up a practice disk that I listen to and sing along with when I'm driving. I rarely do a new song "cold".

Um, let's see...songs I've sung lately...

*Because of You - Kelly Clarkson
*Alone - Heart
*Xanadu - Olivia Newton-John (remember that one?)
*Angel - Madonna
*Hurt - Christina Aguilera
*At Last - Etta James
*Ray of Light - Madonna
*Jesus Take the Wheel - Carey Underwood
*My Immortal - Evanescence
*Bring Me To Life - Evanescence
*Never Again - Kelly Clarkson
*We Belong Together - Mariah Carey
*Hero - Mariah Carey
*Adia - Sarah McLaughlin
*Morning of the Angel - Juice Newton
*Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
*All Through the Night - Cyndi Lauper
*Love Is A Battlefield - Pat Benetar
*Oops I did it Again - Britney Spears
*Crazy - Patsy Cline (Okay, I bump it up a couple steps )
*Gloria - Laura Branigan
*Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste of Honey
*Hopelessly Devoted to You - Olivia Newton-John
*Dancing Queen (with friends)
*Say It Right - Nelly Furtado

There's a lot because I'm always trying to sing new songs and I try to sing the genre that the crowd seems to like. I also sing at home with family and friends.

Songs that I'm practicing at home by myself and I will sing someday (God help me)
*Black Horse and A Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
*Martina McBride - Broken Wing
*Beyonce - Irreplaceable
*Carey Underwood - Wasted
*Carey Underwood - Before He Cheats (Those lower notes are a booger for me)
*Little Too Late - Jojo (Once again, those lower notes are kickin' by bootie)
*Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Katherine McPhee
*Can't Fight the Moonlight - Leann Rimes
*Phantom of the Opera - Phantom of the Opera
*A New Day - Celine Dion
*Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers
*Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani
*Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
*Unfaithful - Rihanna
*Call Me When You're Sober - Evanescence (The most challenging breathing song I've ever attempted)

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[scroll][glow=deepskyblue]????HAVE YOU HEARD THE PIXIES SING????[/glow][/scroll]

Agreed that many males (especially younger males in a bar setting) feel it'll harm some "Macho" image assuming they sing something delicate or sensitive, despite composition gender of a given song (but this is much less prevalent in a cocktail lounge setting). A lot of this is age and setting related.  MANY younger males will still worry about the High School "Jockish" image being shattered, and those brought up prior to the late 60's Hippie Movement (where men started opening up more artistically) similarly, might tend to worry about being a "sissy-boy" if caught singing even "John Denver" songs, or Loggins "The House on Poo Corner", etc (needless to say "Tip-Toe thru the Tulips").  But I can certainly imagine somebody like Andy Williams, or Julio Eglasias doing a rendition of "Dog and Butterfly" without fear of emasculation.  Or anyone in the Muzak/Easy Listening genre singing this type material.

Tony Orlando was another singer songwriter that many males feel is "gushy", and some won't sing "Manilow" or even (and Canadians will hate me for this) Gordon Lightfoot (and I agree these are extreme examples that DO concur with Re: Inventions premise).  No teenage male during my High School time period (in my given location) would ever be caught singing Orlando songs,  yet the older "wedding band" and "Bar Mitzvah" gig singers did Orlando way too much IMHO  LOL .. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon", and "Knock Three Times" were played constantly by them, as well as LOADS of Manilow.  Similarly there's Captain & Tenille,  While I'd  never sing "Muskrat Love", males have, but the Song "Disney Girls" is a gorgeous song IMHO and I've attempted it. As you stated, some can't transcend "ego", and it gets foolish.


 
Among the more serious artists, this is done all the time !
In a Karaoke bar setting, I wouldn't expect to find an abundance of most creative individuals caring to do such a thing (especially considering most don't even know the lyrics to these songs).  Among amateurs there *is* more concern about *image* when singing perceived gender-benders (that are actually neutral.)  On the otherhand, the more serious vocalists (at the pro-cover level), are aching to get rights to perform renditions of these neutral songs assuming they believe these will be hot sellers !  I'm sure MANY would like the rights to "Dog and Butterfly" assuming they felt it would sell, or they could get rights to cover such a song.

I did find it interesting however that even in the Pro-Am setting, when I was working as a piano accompanist MANY males felt very uncomfortable singing anything "Michael Jackson" (such as "she's out've my life"), anything "Carpenters", (back in the 1970's and 1980's), Some even cringed singing lyrics such as "Pretty". So agreed,  there is that "John Wayne" complex males are raised with that impedes song choice.

Many do change pronouns. I've backed males singing this.

"I know, caught up in the middle, I cry just a little when I think of letting go
Oh no, gave up on the riddle, I cry just a little when *she* plays piano in the dark."

My thoughts are this is more Cultural conditioning that causes a lack of acceptance which in turn causes people to feel this way regarding the "perceived" girly song.  An example of "don't do's" took place when Elvis made the scene, (A White boy singing black mans music)...  Elvis got A LOT of flack for singing "A black mans style" or blues in the 1950's,  Similarly Johnny Winter got similar flack by whites and blacks alike down in Texas when he started playing blues !  

Beit "Guys don't" (or in the 1950's "White men don't"),  we get a lot of this garbage crammed into us during certain time periods by our culture.  Hence it's normal to feel uncomfortable when performing in these areas.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

well havent really been recording much lately but at our show I have been singing these :

Sunshine & Summertime- Faith Hill
Say It Right - Nelly Furtado
Take It Off - The Donnas
All Out Of Love - Air Supply
Crazy Ex Girlfriend - Miranda Lambert
Superstar- The Carpenters

And finally learned how to do a decent job on Break It To Me Gently - Juice Newton Ive tried for about 20 years to do this one & found out what I was doing wrong was at the end where she sings " I'll never love again" & gets waaayy up there on her note I was trying to get as high as her & it wasnt working ! I actually sang it like me & it sounds much better than me screeching trying to hit her high. I was actually a bit surprised myself on how much better it sounded I looked back at hubby & went "WOW" ! Anyways those are my few this past week... Kool Thread BTW !!!

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Kelley
Star Sounds Karaoke & Mobile Recording Studio


[shadow=black][scroll]You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself....KD Lang[/scroll][/shadow]

"Muskrat Love" was originally done by the group America (and their version is better IMHO, but I liked the Capt & Tennille version also).  And if I remember right, "Disney Girls" was originally done by the Beach Boys, although I haven't heard their version yet.

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I love being a mom!

I'm quite certain Art Garfunkel wrote Disney Girls Laura.  I think you are correct about Muskrat Love however !  Although I vaguely recall even America writing that was rumor (was Alan Ramsey ever with America in 1971 ???)

Yes,  The Beach Boys did perform a rendition of Disney Girls, and I don't like their rendition at all

ADDED IN:

You've got to feel bad for some of the lesser known composers today.  All those years I credited Bobby Darrin for composing "If I were a Carpenter", I'd never heard of Tim Hardin.  Many under 50 just haven't.  He wrote some great stuff.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".