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 |
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.
Posted by: Dawn Merydith | December 16, 2007 at 07:30 PM
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
Posted by: Heather | December 19, 2007 at 11:41 PM
I don't think you can count ABBA's Dancing Queen because ABBA was 2 girls and 2 boys. *chuckle*
Posted by: goblinbox | February 08, 2008 at 06:42 PM
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
Posted by: boyhowdy | February 22, 2008 at 10:59 PM