It is obviously normal for people in a cover band not to like performing certain songs. However, one should be upfront about it and not look for an (unfounded) excuse.
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It is obviously normal for people in a cover band not to like performing certain songs. However, one should be upfront about it and not look for an (unfounded) excuse.
Morgan James sings "Sledgehammer" nicely, works musically. The song's imagery is most definitely from the male perspective, and that sits a little uncomfortably sung by a female, at least for me, if I'm listening to the lyrics. But people very often don't listen to the lyrics, and a good melody and groove go a long way. So ... I'm ok with this song as performed here, but it does lose a little in translation. Personally, I often swap pronouns if the song works that way. Some songs don't work if that's done.
At this point, I've seen and done enough stuff to make "a girl singing a boy song" or vice versa, into something that hardly warrants attention. That said, if I'm singing it, I'll probably change the references to boys to bring about girls, because... well, that's what I'm cool with I guess. If that's what's it takes for someone else, or not - if they even want to play it - then that's awesome.
If they don't want to play it, I'd say that's some room for development - expand your weelhouse, push your envelope, get out of your comfort zone and all of that stuff.
If they don't want to play it, I'd say that's some room for development - expand your weelhouse, push your envelope, get out of your comfort zone and all of that stuff.
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Being a woman who has sung it, I'd guess it's the "your sex takes me to paradise" part. That's typically not the way women talk about men. Also, the overall concept of being "locked out of heaven" is a euphemism for not getting any sex. But it's not egregiously explicit or anything, so I didn't have a problem with it.
Could be. My pet hypothesis is just patriarchy. Traditionally men are higher status than women. A lower status person imitating a higher status person can come across as cute and harmless. A higher status person imitating a lower status person may come across as lowering himself (guys are often afraid of looking effeminate). Or it can look like making fun of the lower status group, which is a bad look for different reasons.
Well, I could be wrong, and I don't know what to do about it. I'm generally for singing whatever you want, but I guess it depends on the situation and the song.
In the OP's case--if you really want to do this song, and the singer's not feeling it--I'm guessing the band also has some guys? Why not have one of them sing the song? Even if he's not a "real" singer, surely he can pull off one song. If the one singer's doing all the singing, her voice could probably use the break. And it'd add a little variety that might make up for the less-than-perfect voice. I've seen a number of bands where a sideman will take just one song, and I've always enjoyed it.
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I think it just depends on the singer. My singer doesn't want to do songs with male vocals, so we don't. I think she would sound fine, but she doesn't and she's the only one who can make that decision.
I don't know about "dominance" or not, but it's an interesting song to be the sticking point. The singer's problem isn't something that can be fixed by switching pronouns; it sounds like her problem is that it's not the kind of thing a woman would say. There isn't even a half-baked effort to make the sexual imagery subtle, and it's the kind of metaphors one uses of women (open or closed gates, etc.).
Funny, compared to "Locked Out of Heaven," "Sledgehammer" has a really rich repertoire of imagery, and it isn't quite so caveman-obvious, though anyone who's listening would get the point. Seems like that would make it a much easier song for a woman to pull off. And again, the issue isn't pronouns.
Patriarchy may be a dimension of the phenomenon. I'm reluctant to call "patriarchy" unless it's a more clear-cut phenomenon than this. I can definitely see the reaction of a man worrying about seeming effeminate and therefore weaker if he adopts a woman's voice in a lyric. But even apart from the power relation, I think there's still something prior going on. If a woman sings a love song, originally sung by a man, to a female audience, it doesn't normally occur to anyone to wonder if she's a lesbian or in any way not feminine.
When I was learning to direct plays in high school drama club, my instructor put the typical dilemma bluntly; the problem with casting is that in too many plays, the majority of characters are male (which, no doubt, is a function of patriarchy, yes), while the majority of people who show up to audition will be female. I'm hypothesizing that, for whatever reason, women/girls embrace roleplay and impersonation to a degree that men/boys don't, even when (as in drama and movies) there's plenty of opportunity to play the hero. Maybe power dynamics do have something to do with it, but I don't see how offhand and I'm reluctant to reach for that as a default explanation.
Seems a very sensible solution. Bruno Mars is dang high, though.
My band incorporates mostly male material being sung by a female. We also stylistically rearrange songs to make them sound more appropriate for an acoustic setting. I think having a female vocal helps bring new light to the songs.
This video shows us playing an old Aerosmith song at a very upscale party. The lyrics are of course super suggestive. The singer even says the word “poon-tang” and no one seemed bothered.
We work on average 4 to 6 gigs a week, and half of those are private events.
This video shows us playing an old Aerosmith song at a very upscale party. The lyrics are of course super suggestive. The singer even says the word “poon-tang” and no one seemed bothered.
We work on average 4 to 6 gigs a week, and half of those are private events.
I suppose there are some sexually suggestive metaphors if you want to stretch to make that connection.
"But swimming in your water is something spiritual (spiritual) uh!"
"Open up your gates 'cause I can't wait to see the light, uh!"
^^THIS^^
I sang "I kissed a Girl and I Liked It" and no one batted an eye.
Our singer doesn't change lyrics. We did finally drop "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," though. She didn't want to marry that girl after all.
But Wonderful Tonight, Dawn (Go Away) and Tequila Sunrise didn't get changed.
But Wonderful Tonight, Dawn (Go Away) and Tequila Sunrise didn't get changed.
Nah, when I was playing with a touring female singer she covered "Kiss a Girl" by Keith Urban and just changed the lyrics to suit. I even sang backup and nobody seemed to care if we sang kiss a boy or girl.
There is no gender in Locked out of Heaven? Not single mention of male or female....there's some lyrics that could have 2 meanings, but nothing that a lady couldn't be singing to a bloke.
Our female singer does My Sharona, Sweet Child O Mine, Billie Jean, Cosmic Girl, Hurt So Good. No lyric changes. no one cares. They just want to sing along to their favourite guilt pleasure.....and 95% of the audience is female.
Our female singer does My Sharona, Sweet Child O Mine, Billie Jean, Cosmic Girl, Hurt So Good. No lyric changes. no one cares. They just want to sing along to their favourite guilt pleasure.....and 95% of the audience is female.
If a guy is singing “you make me feel like a natural woman”, you might have an issue, but otherwise swap pronouns away, spare everyone the angst and do the song. There’s enough drama in daily news - go make some music.
Smooth_bass88
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- Oct 31, 2006
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I don't like when people change the words just like I don't like when people change the basslines.
Here's another male-vocals song Morgan James covers. I think this one works, too. It doesn't hurt that she has a heck of a voice.
