I don't have any trouble with men singing women's songs or women singing men's, but it really depends on the song. My bottom line is, am I comfortable with the sentiment? -- Barbara's comment from above

Someone mentioned Gillian Welsh's "Orphan Girl" way up in this thread. I think that one's kinda easy for a guy to do -- just change "girl" to "boy". But there's another song of hers that I absolutely adore but has raised some questions about tastefulness. It's called "Caleb Meyer" and the speaker in the song is a woman who is assaulted by the neighborhood drunk. The man tries to rape her but in the end she finds the neck of a bottle he broke and slashes his throat. (It's a lot more graceful than my little synopsis would lead you to think.) I've had the inclination to sing it in a group setting but have always held back thinking it would be tasteless for a man to sing a song in which rape (even attempted) figures so prominently.

I was thinking about Barbara's comment above. And I'm comfortable with the sentiment -- I kind of think of singing that song as acting -- but I imagine I'd seriously offend some (if not most) women by trying this one.

Thoughts?

Bryant