Whoa, just popped in before going out to sing & I know I won't post again (but ya never know) when I get back in. The post refered to was female singing sea shanties & pup songs or the like, something like that. It seemeed to me that the general answer to the thread wasn't based on voice range, tonal quality or anything of that ilk but more based on gender. Hell "if I were a woman as I am a man "I sing anything I wanted & the world be damned. It sounded as if the advice & examples would more bring the songs from out of the pub & into the parlor all because of the gender of the singer? I've seen & heard more gutsy women shanty/pub singers that would make my stinking socks roll up & down like window shades & thought that "if I could make that song mine & give it half the justice she did, I'd beam for a year". I don't know what it is with women singing shanties but it seems that they're steered into the more gentle realm (if there is such a place) of shantydom. West Indians singing shanties half the time you wouldn't know if it's a woman or not singing in the upper ranges. Take a closer look at the thread & tell me if it seems that the more rowdy the shanty the more distance has been kept from it. Love to be in the middle of a hornet's nest but I gotta go sing the night away. Barry