. . .where angels fear to thread.
1) Remember about Sir Winston that he was a man of his times. Born in the Victorian era, first elected to parliament when women could not yet vote, for some reason (he comes across some times as the archetype of MCP) became the target of many suffragettes. Never quite got over that, and why should he have? 2) As the father of three daughters I have tried very hard to convince them that they can do ANYTHING from which anatomy does not bar them. So far so good. . . 3) I didn't post on the sea chantey thread, but I think most people would accept as true that the average woman's voice has a range higher than the average man's voice-- so the only change I would make for a woman singing chanteys would be the same advice I give everybody: Before starting, sing through it and mark the highest note and lowest note. Now find a key you can reach both comfortably. Sing it in that key. 4) I don't find any difficulty with a woman singing a song written in the first person by a man, nor vice versa. My musical hero Charlie Poole recorded "Oh once I was a gipsy girl but now I'm a rich man's bride" (so did Emry Arthur, with some additional verses I am just now learning!) and it was years before I realized the apparent contradiction. So, even if the song were "worded to be sung by a male in the first person" I don't think it spoils the song to be led by somebody of the opposite gender. 5) Somewhere in Joe Klein's biography of Woody Guthrie, in the chapter about Lefty Lou, he said something about "it always seems to work when a man sings in high range, and the woman sings in a low range, and this is what they were doing" (exact words not right, but idea IS) Ithink I agree.