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June 11, 2024 12:10 PM Subscribe
Occasionally, people make music, and then wildly different people cover that music with wildly different sounds and results. I like when this happens. I especially like when it happens without changing the pronouns of the original piece. “Look into his angel eyes…” hits differently when it comes from a sparsely accompanied, gravelly male voice, instead of, ah, ABBA. from Genderswap.fm by Eva Decker
Covers, previously
Covers, previously
I like this cover, which hits both genre and gender bending:
How Will I Know by Whitney Houston covered by The Lemonheads. It starts out with a genderswap (original boy becomes girl), but I guess Evan Dando gives up and rolls into a silly, but original gender (original he stays he) cover by the middle.
It's also far better than the included Sam Smith cover, which cuts and changes the lyrics to avoid the whole gender swap thing. Smith's is an oh so contemporary extremely slow piano/vocal thing though, so it's got that going for it, which is awful.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:43 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]
How Will I Know by Whitney Houston covered by The Lemonheads. It starts out with a genderswap (original boy becomes girl), but I guess Evan Dando gives up and rolls into a silly, but original gender (original he stays he) cover by the middle.
It's also far better than the included Sam Smith cover, which cuts and changes the lyrics to avoid the whole gender swap thing. Smith's is an oh so contemporary extremely slow piano/vocal thing though, so it's got that going for it, which is awful.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:43 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]
Oh, this is fabulous. Love it.
I enjoyed the FAQ, especially this bit:
This is marvelous. Thank you so much for posting it, chavenet (and for the excellent previously links)!
posted by kristi at 1:16 PM on June 11 [4 favorites]
I enjoyed the FAQ, especially this bit:
What makes a gender-swapped cover? How do I label songs “correctly”?And I was pleased to see that they already had the genderswap cover that leapt to my mind, Richard Thompson covering Britney Spears.
For most things it should be obvious. But if you find yourself asking:
What if there are performers of mixed genders?
What if one cover is instrumental?
What if a performer is trans?
What if a performer is non-human (cat, whale, etc.)?
How can we really know a performer’s gender?
I encourage you to make it up. Because gender is kinda made up, too, and this is just a silly site I built. If it feels good, do it.
This is marvelous. Thank you so much for posting it, chavenet (and for the excellent previously links)!
posted by kristi at 1:16 PM on June 11 [4 favorites]
I have a soft spot for Sophie Ellis-Bextor's rendition of 'Do You Remember the First Time?' (originally by Pulp), which I thought I learned about via an FPP here - but maybe not.
Another one I think works very well is Orville Peck's take on 'Fancy' by Bobbie Gentry.
posted by misteraitch at 1:18 PM on June 11 [3 favorites]
Another one I think works very well is Orville Peck's take on 'Fancy' by Bobbie Gentry.
posted by misteraitch at 1:18 PM on June 11 [3 favorites]
Oh, geez -
I don't have time to add a bunch of entries, but if anyone's got some time on their hands and wants to add a bunch of stuff, please feel free to add the tracks from Different for Girls: Women Artists and Female-Fronted Bands Cover Joe Jackson.
posted by kristi at 1:22 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]
I don't have time to add a bunch of entries, but if anyone's got some time on their hands and wants to add a bunch of stuff, please feel free to add the tracks from Different for Girls: Women Artists and Female-Fronted Bands Cover Joe Jackson.
posted by kristi at 1:22 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]
CHVRCHES' "Do I Wanna Know" (live) lived in my head for years
posted by BungaDunga at 1:24 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]
posted by BungaDunga at 1:24 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]
Suzi Quatro, I Wanna Be Your Man
Cyndi Lauper, When You Were Mine
Aerosmith, Remember Walking in the Sand
The Beatles, Please Mr. Postman
Las Dilly Sisters, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
PJ Harvey, Highway 61 Revisited
posted by jonp72 at 1:52 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]
Cyndi Lauper, When You Were Mine
Aerosmith, Remember Walking in the Sand
The Beatles, Please Mr. Postman
Las Dilly Sisters, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
PJ Harvey, Highway 61 Revisited
posted by jonp72 at 1:52 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]
Oh my god they didn’t have the Adam Lambert OR Nothing But Thieves cover of Holding Out For a Hero. Fixed that!
posted by brook horse at 3:03 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]
posted by brook horse at 3:03 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]
It's not on Spotify so I can't add Ted Leo's cover of Since U Been Gone, so I'll just leave it here.
posted by Admiral Viceroy at 4:23 PM on June 11 [3 favorites]
posted by Admiral Viceroy at 4:23 PM on June 11 [3 favorites]
Once upon a time I saw a piano guy in a piano bar sing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" and he genderflipped "all you will see is the girl you once knew" to "the boy you once knew" and maybe this is an uncharitable rush to judgment but in my heart I branded him a coward.
posted by Sauce Trough at 5:18 PM on June 11 [7 favorites]
posted by Sauce Trough at 5:18 PM on June 11 [7 favorites]
A small sin compared to Michael Bublé’s Santa Baby.
posted by brook horse at 7:00 PM on June 11 [4 favorites]
posted by brook horse at 7:00 PM on June 11 [4 favorites]
it's still rock and roll to me
posted by HearHere at 5:24 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
posted by HearHere at 5:24 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
I see your Cyndi Lauper cover and raise you "When You Were Mine" by Cristina.
posted by pxe2000 at 6:25 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
posted by pxe2000 at 6:25 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
Oh, I'm going to lose some TIME to this today, thank you!
posted by Stacey at 6:26 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
posted by Stacey at 6:26 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
I bought the Cardigans cover of Iron Man just because it's so incongruous.
posted by Spike Glee at 7:10 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
posted by Spike Glee at 7:10 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
I just added Jonatha Brooke's cover of Eye in the Sky
posted by emelenjr at 7:53 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
posted by emelenjr at 7:53 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
incongruous covers:
Nina Gordon - Straight Outta Compton former member of Veruca Salt - acoustic cover, and since the song is about Ice Cube - she's basically imagining herself as being Ice Cube.
Ministry - Lay Lady Lay Bob Dylan done as industrial metal.
Dropkick Murphys - Amazing Grace bagpipes and guitars and mostly no vocals.
Bloodhound Gang - Along Comes Mary '60s proto rap song by The Association becomes rap rock and works great.
The Replacements - Cruella DeVille Yeah, from the Disney movie about all the dogs.
Primal Scream - Slip Inside this House Take a '60s acid rock track by 13th Floor Elevators and turn it into electroclash/dance track.
Joshua Ray Walker - I Wanna Dance with Somebody turns the Whitney Houston song into a big band song. Didn't genderswap the lyrics.
Two Tons of Steel - I Wanna Be Sedated takes the Ramones song, adds a big dose of rockabilly history with Johnny Horton-style syncopated singing and some pedal steel solos if you imagined The Ramones needed those. Most of the song is slower than The Ramones punk rock speed, but the end is faster.
Sturgill Simpson - Listening to the Rain his guitarist (mostly) takes a country standard and turns it basically into a country version of Metallica's One with wild soloing.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:44 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
Nina Gordon - Straight Outta Compton former member of Veruca Salt - acoustic cover, and since the song is about Ice Cube - she's basically imagining herself as being Ice Cube.
Ministry - Lay Lady Lay Bob Dylan done as industrial metal.
Dropkick Murphys - Amazing Grace bagpipes and guitars and mostly no vocals.
Bloodhound Gang - Along Comes Mary '60s proto rap song by The Association becomes rap rock and works great.
The Replacements - Cruella DeVille Yeah, from the Disney movie about all the dogs.
Primal Scream - Slip Inside this House Take a '60s acid rock track by 13th Floor Elevators and turn it into electroclash/dance track.
Joshua Ray Walker - I Wanna Dance with Somebody turns the Whitney Houston song into a big band song. Didn't genderswap the lyrics.
Two Tons of Steel - I Wanna Be Sedated takes the Ramones song, adds a big dose of rockabilly history with Johnny Horton-style syncopated singing and some pedal steel solos if you imagined The Ramones needed those. Most of the song is slower than The Ramones punk rock speed, but the end is faster.
Sturgill Simpson - Listening to the Rain his guitarist (mostly) takes a country standard and turns it basically into a country version of Metallica's One with wild soloing.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:44 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
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