Gender Benders Cover Songs

I came up with the term Gender Benders to describe songs that were originally performed by an artist of one gender and are now covered by an artist of the other gender. I started collecting these for Glen's weekly radio show (KRUU, Thursday, 9-11 p.m.) a few months ago, and it has now become a bit of an obsession.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, or even close to an exhaustive list. These are just the ones I liked well enough to add to my collection and that are available online.

Links are to iTunes unless otherwise noted:

Song Title	Cover Artist	Original Artist
Ain't No Sunshine	Joan Osborne	Bill Withers
All Apologies	Sinead O'Connor	Nirvana
Angel From Montgomery	John Prine	Bonnie Raitt (Prine actually wrote it; made famous by Raitt)
Angie	Tori Amos	Rolling Stones
Are You Tired of Me Darling	Nanci Griffith	Hylo Brown
Baby One More Time	Fountains of Wayne	Britney Spears
Beautiful (love it)	Clem Snide	Christina Aguillera
Big Yellow Taxi	Counting Crows	Joni Mitchell
Black Hole Sun	Output	Soundgarden
Blue Monday	Flunk	New Order
Boots of Spanish Leather	Nanci Griffith	Bob Dylan
Bridge Over Troubled Waters	Roberta Flack	Simon & Garfunkel
By Your Side	Beachwood Sparks	Sade
Can't Find My Way Home	Ellen McIlwaine	Blind Faith
A Case of You	Prince	Joni Mitchell
Cold, Cold Heart	Norah Jones	Hank Williams
Comfortably Numb	Dar Williams	Pink Floyd
Crazy	Willie Nelson	Patsy Cline (written by Willie; made famous by Patsy)
Dancing Queen	Luka Bloom	Abba
Dancing With Myself	Nouvelle Vague	Billy Idol
Dear God	Sarah McLachlan	XTC
Don't Dream It's Over	Sixpence None the Richer	Crowded House
Don't Fear the Reaper	s.e.k.s.	Blue Oyster Cult
Don't Stop Believin'	Petra Haden	Journey
Everytime	Glen Hansard	Brittney Spears
Eye in the Sky	Jonatha Brooke	Alan Parsons Project
Fields of Gold	Eva Cassidy	Sting
Fire & Rain	Jonatha Brooke	James Taylor
Follow Me	Innocence Mission	John Denver
Free Fallin'	Stevie Nicks	Tom Petty
From this Moment On	Mark Mulcahy	Shania Twain
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun	Greg Laswell	Cyndi Lauper
Glory Box	Ben Taylor (James Taylor's son)	Portishead
God Only Knows	Jonatha Brooke	The Beach Boys
Hallelujah	kd lang	Leonard Cohen
Handle With Care (love it)	Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins	Travelling Willburys
Hazy Shade of Winter	The Bangles	Simon and Garfunkel
The Heart of the Matter (great cover of an '80s tearjerker; my favorite)	India Arie	Steve Winwood
Helpless	kd lang	Neil Young
Hit the Road Jack	Abbie Gardner	Ray Charles
Holding Back the Years	Erin Bode	Simply Red
Homeward Bound	Indigo Girls & Allison Brown	Simon & Garfunkel
House of the Rising Sun	The Be Good Tonyas	The Animals
How Deep is Your Love	The Bird and the Bee	The BeeGees
How Sweet it Is	Joan Osborne	James Taylor
How Will I Know (download free from Cover Lay Down)	Evan Dando	Whitney Houston
I Can't Tell You Why	Brownstone	Eagles
I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues	Leslie King	Elton John
I Melt With You	Nouvelle Vague	Modern English
I Try	Ben Taylor	Macy Gray
I Wanna Hold Your Hand	T.V. Carpio	The Beatles
I Will Survive	Cake	Gloria Gaynor
I'll Be Around	Joan Osborne	The Spinners
Imagine	Avril Lavigne	John Lennon
Imagine	Me'Shell Ndegeocello	John Lennon
I'm Losing You	Corinne Bailey Rae	John Lennon
I'm On Fire	Heather Nova	Bruce Springsteen
Inside & Out	Feist	The BeeGees
It's My Life	No Doubt	Talk Talk
It's Not Unusual	Wild Colonials	Tom Jones
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (love it)	Gypsy Soul	U2
The Joker	kd lang	Steve Miller Band
Jolene	White Stripes	Dolly Parton
Kathy's Song	Eva Cassidy	Simon & Garfunkel
Knockin' On Heaven's Door	Avril Lavigne	Bob Dylan
Landslide	Smashing Pumpkins	Stevie Nicks
Let's Go to Bed	Ivy	The Cure
Let Me Be the One	Matthew Sweet	The Carpenters
Luka	The Lemonheads	Suzanne Vega
Maybe I'm Amazed	Jem	Paul Mcartney
Moondance	Over the Rhine	Van Morrison
More Than This	10,000 Maniacs	Roxy Music
More Than Yesterday	Diana Ross	The Spiral Staircase
Mother	Christina Aguilera	John Lennon
Mr. Blue Sky (free download from New Music Now)	Lily Allen	Electric Light Orchestra
Mrs. Robinson	Indigo Girls	Simon and Garfunkel
The Needle and the Damage Done (proceeds benefit breast cancer survivors)	Lori McKenna	Neil Young
Nothing Compares 2 U	Prince	Sinead O'Connor (written by Prince; made famous by Sinead)
One	Aimee Mann	Three Dog Night
Only a Fool Would Say That	Ivy	Steely Dan
Only Love Can Break Your Heart (proceeds benefit breast cancer survivors)	Amilia K. Spicer	Neil Young
Ooh Child	Beth Orton	The 5 Stairsteps
Oops! I Did it Again	Richard Thompson	Britney Spears
Paint it Black	Vanessa Carlton	Rolling Stones
Pour Some Sugar on Me	Emm Gryner	Def Leppard
Rainy Days and Mondays	Cracker	The Carpenters
Real Love (love it)	Regina Spektor	John Lennon
Satisfaction	Cat Power	Rolling Stones
Sea of Love	Cat Power	The Honeydrippers
Seven Nation Army	Vyvienne Long	White Stripes
Seven Nation Army	Nostalgia 77	White Stripes
Since U Been Gone (I love this cover; it's not available in iTunes, but here's a link to a site where you can download it for free)	Ted Leo	Kelly Clarkson
Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay	The Staple Singers	Otis Redding
Smells Like Teen Spirit	Tori Amos	Nirvana
Some Kind of Wonderful	Joss Stone	The Drifters
Something So Right	Annie Lennox	Paul Simon
Sound of Silence (free download on Cover Lay Down)	Emiliana Torrini	Simon and Garfunkel
Space Oddity	Natalie Merchant	David Bowie
Stand By Your Man	Lyle Lovett	Tammy Wynette
Straight Up	Luna	Paula Abdul
Sunshine Superman (free download on Cover Lay Down)	Rickie Lee Jones	Donovan
Superstar	Sonic Youth	The Carpenters
Superstition	Gypsy Soul	Stevie Wonder
Sweet Jane	Cowboy Junkies	Lou Reed
Take My Breath Away	My Morning Jacket	Berlin
Tangled Up in Blue	Indigo Girls	Bob Dylan
There She Goes	Sixpence None the Richer	The La's
Thunder Road	Mary Lou Lord	Bruce Springsteen
Time After Time	Matt Ketterman & Cameron Mizell	Cyndi Lauper
The Times They Are A-Changin'	Tracy Chapman	Bob Dylan
They Long to Be Close to You	Barenaked Ladies	The Carpenters
Train in Vain	Annie Lennox	The Clash
Two of Us	Aimee Mann & Michael Penn	Beatles
Waiting in Vain	Bob Marley	Annie Lennox
Walking on Sunshine	Ghoti Hook	Katrina & the Waves
The Weight	The Staple Singers	The Band
We've Only Just Begun	Grant Lee Buffalo	The Carpenters
When Doves Cry	The Be Good Tanyas	Prince
When Will I See You Again? (Glen loves this one)	Billy Bragg	Three Degrees
Wherever, Whenever	Mundy	Shakira
Who is He & What is He To You	Me'Shell Ndegeocello	Bill Withers
Wild Horses	The Sundays	Rolling Stones
Word Up	Willis	Cameo
Yesterday Once More	Red Kross	The Carpenters
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go	Mary Lou Lord	Bob Dylan
Your Love	The Butchies	The Outfield

Comments

[Dawn Merydith]

OMG the Butchies. I can't believe anyone has heard of them. I think they were a Portland Or. band?

Nice list. I looked for my all time favorite and found it. Sweet Jane by Lou Reed and covered by Cowboy Junkies. I love both.

[Heather]

Very cool! And I see we've got some similar taste in artists - Ani, Be Good Tanyas, Sarah M, Regina Spektor, Cake, etc etc.

You might like Adrianne, and she's got a whole album of covers she calls "Boy Songs" that might give you some more for your list.

http://www.adrimusic.com/main.htm

[goblinbox]

I don't think you can count ABBA's Dancing Queen because ABBA was 2 girls and 2 boys. *chuckle*

[boyhowdy]

Amazing work compiling this list, and thanks for the props -- something over half the covers I have are cross-gender, so keep an eye on Cover Lay Down as time goes on...

- Boyhowdy,
http://coverlaydown.blogspot.com