Great songs for female singers

Subject: Great songs for female singers
From: fi_in_nz
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 08:10 PM

Looking to expand my repertoire...... any suggestions.

I particularly like songs with a good history to them for example:

- Susannah Martin (great song about a Salem witch)
- Little Sir Hugh (contentious but fascinating)
- I once lived in service by Peter Bellamy
etc.

And songs which are told from the woman's point of view.

I usually sing a capella - but sometimes accompany myself on geetar or sing with one of my husband's bands (jazz, irish or bluegrass).... so that leaves plenty of scope.

Looking forward to seeing what turns up here....

F

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 10:01 PM

Oh Johnny, Dear Johnny
Shule Aroon/Buttermilk Hill, etc
Great Storm is Over
Wish I was a Single Girl Again
Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens
Who's Gonna Shoe Your (My) Pretty Litle Foot
Soldier, Soldier Will You Marry Me (paper of pins)
LOTS of the Child Ballads....Mary Hamilton, Daemon Lover, etc.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 10:26 PM

Get yourself some albums by Frankie Armstrong or Judy Collins or Priscilla Herdman or Eileen McGann or Margaret Walters or somebody & listen to what they sing & take your pick.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: muppitz
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 10:33 AM

Kate Rusby and June Tabor might be good women to seek out and hsve a listen to.
I can't really be more specific than that as I, like you, sing acapella and with guitar, but I tend to do songs written for, or by, men, I'm not sure what that's all about!!

Muppitz

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: GUEST,Cats at work
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 10:47 AM

First priority has to be, sing what you like and then make it your own. Don't exclude songs just because they aren't from a female point of view. Jon was told he shouldn't be singing a particular song beacuse it was a 'woman's song'. When it was pointed out that it was written by a man the response was, 'it couldn't be, what do men know about women's feelings?' He should know - he wrote it. There are some lovely sea songs written from the woman's point of view, 'Candles', 'Before the Sea Calls' etc as well as some excellent mining songs, 'Tears behind the Smile', 'Hello Down There' etc. You could also look at some of the songs from the womens support groups from the 84 - 85 Miners strike.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 10:51 AM

1) "She stands on the quay" is a wonderful song from a fisherman's wife point of view. Written by Nanne Kalma (Dutch), it was translated woderfully by Joyce Squire, and Johnny Collins does a wonderful rendition on his last album.

2) "The ladies go dancing at Witsun"; never fails to move me.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: Mudlark
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 10:53 AM

John Prine's Angel from Montgomery
Iris Dement's Our Town
A 2nd for Shule Aroon
Judy Collins' My Father

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 11:00 AM

Try this site and you can listen to many of the songs(some not too well performed) and get some new ideas. Click on any of the titles and can click on MP3 or other player to hear them

http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria/lists/alpha.html

      Just copy and paste into address bar and go straight there.
Best wishes and sure you will find something.....My favourite is "If I was a Blackbird"

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: GUEST,Bill the Collie
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 11:06 AM

If you wish to have a listen to Scottish songs you could seek out Sheena Wellington's version of Brian McNeill's "Strong women rule us all with their tears" or Karine Polwart's "Whaur dae ye lie" (about Srebrenica 1995, despite the Scots lyrics). In fact a starting point could be the album "Scots Women" which was recorded live at Celtic Connections 2001 - includes Sheena, Karine, Gordeanna McCulloch, Cilla Fisher etc, etc.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: GUEST,songsmith
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 02:36 PM

If you like Peter Bellamy's style of writing you should try 'Abe Carman' not the version on 'The Ballad opera', he had rewritten it and sang it at gigs and sessions. It's of the life of a highwayman, very well worded. If your interested I will post the words for you. I haven't seen it on the net anywhere.
Others you may like are.__
Lord Gregory (child ballad)
Bonny Blue Eyed Lassie (or. Top of the Mountain)
Jacket so blue
There too many to suggest, LEARN THEM ALL!

cheers songsmith

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: alanabit
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 03:27 PM

George, (Mudcat's own El Greko) was too modest to mention it, but his own song "Scullery Maid" is a charming little piece. It is a character sketch written from the point of view of a scullery maid in a noble house at around the turn of the century.
Owen Hand's "My Donald" is a fine song about a fisherman's wife.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: Willa
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 05:01 PM

Suil Aroon,Testimony of Patience Kershaw, Collier Lass, Harriet Tubman, Grace Darling, Blackwaterside, Sovay, Tell Me Who I'll Marry, Recruited Collier/Jenny's Lament, Must I Be Bound, Fisher, True-hearted Girl, Come All You Maids Who Live at a Distance, Bedlam.

CD's by Eileen McGann, Anne Briggs, Judy Collins, Janet Russell.

The list is a long one;good advice above- try them and take your pick.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: PoppaGator
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 05:12 PM

If you're inclined to check out contemporary female singer/songwriters to learn their songs (as someone suggested), definitely add Lucinda Williams to your list.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: GUEST,Murkey
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 06:36 PM

I love Blue Bleezin' Blind Drunk, I really powerful song about a beaten women who turns to alcohol 'just to give Mickey a warning'. Think it's on the database. It's quite intense, there's a thread about it elsewhere where poeple say it makes the audience nervous, but I think it's worth it.

I know a version by Cilla Fisher. I think it's from the album Cilla & Artie, but I've got it on a Topic compilation called First Person Singular: A Woman's Voice, which is all first person folk songs sung by a woman from a woman's point of view. Might be a good place to get some ideas.

Good luck, Murk

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: fi_in_nz
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 07:14 PM

Great stuff, thanks for all the input. Some great recommendations, some of the lists contain songs that I already sing - so I'll look at them first ;-), and I found Susanna Martin on Contemplator - you're right Georgiansilver, this is a great resource - highly recommended.

It's really interesting how an interpretation of a song can influence whether you like it or not. I sing quite a few songs which are also sung by one of the recommended artists above. Thankfully I found them before I heard her singing them because her depressing (in my opinion) interpretation would almost definately have put me off!!! There's some recommendations for some artists I haven't heard of and I'll definitely give them a try if I can find them here in NZ.

It's great to hear other peoples recommendations because it opens up new ideas.

Thanks

F

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: Willa
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 03:11 PM

Just remembered 'Stitch in Time' which is in the DT here @displaysong.cfm?SongID=5557

Heard it sung recently by Grace Notes, but don't know whether they've recorded it.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: Reinhard
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 08:36 AM

Grace Notes recorded A Stitch in Time on their 1993 album Down Falls the Day.

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 09:31 AM

Waggoner's Lad (Hard is the Fortune of all Womankind)

Lullabies such as:
Can Ye Sew Cushions
Summertime
All the Pretty Horses
Hush Little Baby

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: pavane
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 11:06 AM

If you are still looking...Or if anyone else is looking for women's songs:

Somewhere at home, I have a book entitled 'My song is my own' which is full of women's songs.

Mostly contemporary though, from what I recall. When I get home, I will try and remember to look at it.

Some traditional ones:

Our captain cried all hands
My Johnny was a shoemaker
Lowlands of Holland
Banks of the Nile
High Germany

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: pavane
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 11:07 AM

And how can I have forgotten Tam Lin?

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: GUEST,Talullah
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 06:54 PM

I Am Woman -Helen Reddy
Bitch - Meredith Brooks
Only Women Bleed -Alice Cooper
Naked -Louise
Private Dancer -Tina Turner
My Man -Billie Holliday
Never Been To Me - Charlene
Man I Feel Like A Woman -Shania Twain
Old Fashioned Girl -Eartha Kitt
Like A Virgin -Madonna
Tell Me What He Said -Helen Shapiro
Maybe I Know -Leslie Gore
Love To Love You -Donna Summer
He's A Rebel -The Crystals
You Think You're A Man -Divine
Never Loved A Man -Aretha Franklyn

Subject: RE: Great songs for female singers
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 06:57 PM

Good, trad, songs, sung from a womens point of view.

Far maid on the shore
Renadiene

and I think Gaudete sounds far nicer when sung by women, but you do need more than one person for that.

Bunnahabhain