Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women

Subject: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jun 16 - 08:46 PM

There are lots of songs about women disguised as men to do various heroic tasks, but are there any songs about men disguised as women? The only ones I can think of are the ones about the escape of Bonny Prince Charlie.
But there must be others.
Any suggestions?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Felipa
Date: 24 Jun 16 - 09:23 PM

Good question. I'll have to think about that and maybe I'll remember some song. Or at least some Mudcatter will.

Not quite the same, but there are several versions of a song (sometimes called Equinoxial and Phoebe) in which husband and wife swap jobs on the farm. The man swore he could do as much work in a day as his wife could do in seven - but after trying it out he concluded the opposite.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jun 16 - 11:25 PM

This question comes from Robert Rodriquez. There's one song recorded by Joe Stead called "Sister Josephine," about a man who dressed himself as a nun to hide from the law and stays in a convent. We have that one in the Digital Tradition.

There are also songs about men who hide out in a sultan's or king's harem. Anybody have some of these?

And in another one, a man disguises himself as a woman and tricks sailors into bed (sounds like "Some Like It Hot"). Every time the disguised man leaves a sailor, he leaves behind a woman's dress, a wig, and shaving kit. The song seems to take place in a place where there are gold fields, so Robert thinks this song must be in California or Australia. Chorus:

Her lips as red as roses,
Her eyes a deep sky-blue;
Her hair as yellow as the gold,
She stole from me and you.

This is THE CLOSE SHAVE (Bob Bickerton), recorded by Patrick Street. Robert says that the song is also on a CD titled Make the Rafters Roar, by a group called Molly's Revenge.

Any others?

-Joe-

Subject: ADD: Lola (Ray Davies)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jun 16 - 11:38 PM

Oh, gees. Robert called and gave me another song to investigate: "Lola," recorded by the Kinks.

LOLA
(Ray Davies, 1970)

I met her in a club down in old Soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola [LP version: Coca-Cola]
See-oh-el-aye cola
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said Lola
El-oh-el-aye Lola la-la-la-la Lola

Well I'm not the world's most physical guy
But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola

Well we drank champagne and danced all night
Under electric candlelight
She picked me up and sat me on her knee
And said dear boy won't you come home with me
Well I'm not the world's most passionate guy
But when I looked in her eyes well I almost fell for my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola
I pushed her away
I walked to the door
I fell to the floor
I got down on my knees
Then I looked at her and she at me

Well that's the way that I want it to stay
And I always want it to be that way for my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola
La-la-la-la Lola

Well I left home just a week before
And I'd never ever kissed a woman before
But Lola smiled and took me by the hand
And said dear boy I'm gonna make you a man

Well I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man
And so is Lola
La-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola


Source: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kinks/lola.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LemG0cvc4oU

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: GUEST,Barry Oates
Date: 25 Jun 16 - 02:49 AM

I wrote one years ago but I guess now it's not very politically correct.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: GUEST,Georgina Boyes
Date: 25 Jun 16 - 07:06 AM

As far as I know, all versions of "The Tailor's Breeches" involve the tailor wearing women's clothes. And in Alexander Robb's version of "Jock Sheep", the scorned Knight gets his own back on the Lady by initially disguising himself as a pregnant woman. See -

Greig-Duncan 302A, II, 392-393.

There's further discussion of this in my Musical Traditions article
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/singer.htm


Georgina

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Effsee
Date: 25 Jun 16 - 07:28 AM

Step away from the "SUBMIT" button ma'am!

---

Duplicate posts deleted. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 25 Jun 16 - 07:47 AM

Jake Thackray's Sister Josephine, about a burglar on the run disguised as a nun is in the Digitrad.

LFF

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Susan of DT
Date: 25 Jun 16 - 08:08 AM

There are 51 songs in the DT with the keyword transvestite. While most are women as men, some are men as women:
Brown Robin
Dick the Joiner
Grey Jacket
Lumberjack
Jeff in Petticoats
Sister Josephine
Duke of Athol's Nurse

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Susan of DT
Date: 25 Jun 16 - 08:17 AM

More from that keyword:
Male Female Highwayman
Tailor's Britches
Women's Underwear

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jun 16 - 08:18 AM

Hi, Georgina -
The version of Jock Sheep (Child 112) in the Digital Tradition is even more clear about the knight being seen as a woman:

He's taen a mantle him about
wi' a cod* upon his wame*;
And he's on to gude greenwud
Like a lady in travelling.

Then word's cum to her father's castle
And thro' the ha' it's gane
That there was a lady in gude greenwud
And she was a-travelling.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: GUEST,Georgina Boyes
Date: 25 Jun 16 - 08:35 AM

Thank you Joe. (Taps lightly on the Submit Message button)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 26 Jun 16 - 01:18 AM

The Duke of Athol's Nurse [Child #212] , which Susan mentions above, is surely a prime example.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: RTim
Date: 26 Jun 16 - 12:46 PM

There is - "Woman or a Man" by Michael Doucet and Cajun Brew - that includes a great guitar solo by none other than Richard Thompson!!

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 26 Jun 16 - 03:01 PM

I can't see anything suitable in the songbook index, but Singing Together Autumn 1972 has a suitable cover, and reminds me that there are songs about men dressed as women as part of the Rebecca Riots

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 26 Jun 16 - 03:21 PM

Thompson wrote Woman or a Man...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Thompson
Date: 26 Jun 16 - 04:43 PM

There's a difference; women dressing as men in songs do so out of heroism -

In comes the captain's daughter, the captain of the Yeos*,
Saying, "Brave United man, we'll ne'er again be foes.
"A thousand pounds I'll give you, and fly from home with thee
"And dress myself in man's attire, and fight for liberty!"

* Ultra-Protestant militia raised to suppress the United Irishman Risings of 1798-1803

Subject: ADD: A Woman or a Man (Richard Thompson)
From: RTim
Date: 26 Jun 16 - 05:02 PM

A Woman or a Man - Richard Thompson

I stepped on the dance floor feeling very cool
I thought I saw an angel sitting on a stool
I just couldn't tell, you'll think I'm a fool
If she was a woman or a man

She was the kind of woman that a man could crave
From her high-heeled shoes to her permanent wave
Except maybe she was needing a shave
Was she a woman or a man?

I asked her to dance and I took her by the hand
She held me so tight, it was hard for me to stand
Built like a lumberjack, I couldn't understand
If she was a woman or a man

Well, I walked her home at a quarter past four
My heart was thumping as we ducked in the door
And then when she kissed me I thought I was sure
If she was a woman or a man

She stole my wallet and she knocked me off my feet
She tied on her roller skates and made her retreat
All I found was a blond wig lying in the street
Was she a woman or a man?

Well, I don't care if she seemed unkind
She stole my heart and she robbed me blind
I love her so much that I still wouldn't mind
If she was a woman or a man

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jun 16 - 09:54 PM

The roller skates are a great touch...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 27 Jun 16 - 11:36 AM

From http://www.kipperfamily.co.uk/

Title: The Male Female Highwayman - Album: Since Time Immoral - Artist: The Kipper Family

It's of a female highwayman all on a summer's day
She said a frolic I will have and dress in man's array

And I'll ride out along the lea
And hope my true love I shall see
And there I'll test his constancy
With a female highwayman.
With a female highwayman
With a female highwayman
--last two lines of verse--

And so this female highwayman has mounted on a horse
And she's rode out and there she's met her own true
love, of course
" Stand and deliver sir", she said,
" Or if you don't I'll shoot you dead
Or would you rather come to bed
With a female highwayman?"

So they jogged on together till they came unto an inn
And there they called an ostler and boldly they walked
in
They called for liquors of the best,
They went upstairs and got undressed
What happened next can ne'er be guessed
To the female highwayman

For she's pulled off her breeches and likewise her
jacket red
She's taken off her velvet cape and lay upon the bed.
Her true love in amazement stands
It seems the end of all his plans
For she has proved to be a man
This female highwayman.

Her true love stands like one amazed and at her did
stare
But when the joke he did find out he loudly did
declare:
" Fear not my love, it's time to smile"
He threw his clothes down in a pile
He was a female all the while
For the female highwayman

LFF

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: GUEST,Geoff the Duck
Date: 28 Jun 16 - 04:20 AM

If we are listing modern songs.
Drag Queen Blues by Richard Digance.

Someone has transcribed lyrics at the following Blicky
http://tabstabs.com/tab/richard-digance/drag-queen-blues#1351061

Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: banjoman
Date: 28 Jun 16 - 05:11 AM

Nobody mentioned "Make way for the Molly Maguire's"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs of Men Disguised as Women
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 28 Jun 16 - 01:25 PM

'Cadi Ha'

Among the items noted by Ruth Lewis were the words and music of a song linked to the traditional May Day celebrations of Flintshire, the 'Cadi Ha' (literally 'Summer Katie'), a custom especially popular among colliers and probably related to the morris dancing of Lancashire and Cheshire.

The central character in the celebrations was the Cadi (a man dressed either as a woman or else partly male, partly female), who would carry a ladle with which to collect money and would threaten those who were reluctant to contribute, often with a brush.

An 'English' Lady among Welsh Folk: Ruth Herbert Lewis and the Welsh Folk-Song Society

by Dr E. Wyn James, School of Welsh, Cardiff University