Hi hi,
I recently had the new experience of putting together a band for New Years, and I wanted everyone to have as much opportunity to sing as possible. The theme is East Coast Canadian stuff, and it was not at all hard to assign songs to the women singing in the group. I found that a number of songs could be "re-gendered" without any pronoun changes and it was neat to hear them sung in a high timbre for a change.
I did do a re-write on "The Leaving Of Liverpool" from the viewpoint of the wives left behind, which I was looking forward to hearing sung, but then, two of the vocalists bailed out, so it'll have to wait. Sheesh. Singers. Anyway.
I've found songs I like, written for and sung by women, and I do them anyway. I don't worry about how they'll sound. I like 'em and that's what counts. I love to belt out "I Know A Heartache When I See One", at bar-gigs. I also do some Indigo Girls stuff. It's great stuff. Why not?
I write songs, and one of them is called,"A Diet Pepsi And A One Way Ticket To Edmonton". Strange title, but true story. I got it from a woman standing in front of me at the Whitehorse Greyhound station. She said those words, and then I went home and wrote it from what I imagined was her perspective.
It's been sung by women friends of mine at festivals and people have expressed surprise to find that it was written by a man.
In the end, I think it's the empathy for the teller of the song's story that matters. Putting yourself in somebody else's shoes for a change. The world gets to be just a little better everytime that happens.
Cheers, Owl.