Suggestions for "female" songs?

[mstreck]

We're breaking in a new singer, Amy, to replace our last singer, Todd. She is a great fit (VERY IMPORTANT!) and we're all glad to have her in the band. Simply put, we all love her.

She came to us from a jazz vocal trio so her transition into our rock and roll world has been a little shaky. She is a big fan of Joan Osbourne and Prince. We are big fans of The Rolling Stones and 70s/80s punk. As a band we try to be diverse but still try to focus on balls-to-the-wall rock and/or roll.

Amy is doing her best to learn our song list but most of the songs are primarily testosterone-driven "male" classic rock songs (since Todd was, and probably still is, male). It's just not the same to hear a girl sings "You Shook Me" and "Keep Your Hands To Yourself".

We have a recording of her singing Cheap Trick's "Surrender". And she does a good job. But the song just feels different than when we had a male singing it. It's almost like Belinda Carlisle is singing it (not that there's anything wrong with that).

So we're looking for rock songs that were tailor made for a female vocalist and will drive people onto the dance floor!

Any suggestions? We usually play about 60 songs a night so the more, the better. No rock ballads, please.


Thanks,

Mike

[cherri]

There's so many ...

Some that have gone over well when we did all covers:

"You Were Meant for Me" = Jewel - yeah, I know , but the audience loved it.

We covered Heart's cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll" as well as "Straight On For You". Lots of Benatar, but we avoided "Hit Me With Your Best Shot".

Dig up some Leta Ford, Patty Smyth, Joan Jett. Women were underrepresented in mainstream rock (what's new?), but there are some gems out there.

Also, we covered Journey, Foreigner, and some of the other rock bands that had male vocalists who sang in the higher ranges.

[mstreck]

Originally posted by cherri
There's so many ...

Some that have gone over well when we did all covers:

"You Were Meant for Me" = Jewel - yeah, I know , but the audience loved it.

We covered Heart's cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll" as well as "Straight On For You". Lots of Benatar, but we avoided "Hit Me With Your Best Shot".

Dig up some Leta Ford, Patty Smyth, Joan Jett. Women were underrepresented in mainstream rock (what's new?), but there are some gems out there.

Also, we covered Journey, Foreigner, and some of the other rock bands that had male vocalists who sang in the higher ranges.

You mean like that Steve Perry song:

"Oh, Cherri. Our love
Holds on, holds on"
:D

You probably hear that all the time.

Thanks! That helps! You aren't kidding about women being underrepresented. Amy was looking through the top 40 charts from the 80s trying to find "girl" stuff. She came up somewhat empty-handed. And she was very surprised to do so.

Mike

[Infinite Man]

Why not try a whole bunch of Grateful Dead songs that Jerry used to sing?

How about: Pretenders - Mystery Acheivement (if your bass player can handle it)

Girls don't have to do just girl songs. Try anything.

Or. You could just have your bass player sing all the songs. I hear that guy's a total chick magnet. I bet all the girlies swoon over that guy. Or. Your drummer. I bet he could do a kick-ass version of "Should I Stay or Should I Go". Or. The lead guitar player could sing if he could turn down enough to be heard singing. Or. You could sing a 30 minute version of "You Really Got Me".

[cherri]

"Oh, Cherri. Our love
Holds on, holds on"

Ouch!

During this phase of the band, we used a digitec vocalist processor, and we would do "Lights" - I was the only one singing but it came out in four part harmony. Cheezy stage antic, but the heads would turn. It worked well on the Heart tunes, too.

[GCDEF]

You mentioned Belinda Carlisle. GoGos would be a good place to start. Their album from a few years ago has some good stuff.

Joan Jett has a few that would go over well.

Melissa Ethridge and Janis Joplin too.

I would think a female could cover some Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and CCR pretty well too.

[Singin' Dave]

Barracuda by Heart is a cool song

No Doubt (I'm a girl, etc.)

B52's might have a couple of good ones, particularly early stuff

[pretaanluxis]

Alanis Morissette-You Outta Know is a good one

and anything by No Doubt or Evanescence

[Fr!tz]

Breeders - "last Splash"
Letters to Cleo - "Here and now"
The Pixies - "Cactus" (even though Francis was a man)
The Clah - "train in vien"

[Cortfan]

Sheryl Crow, Pat Benatar, Allanah Myles, Lita Ford, The Donna's have some straight out rock and roll songs, someone already said Blondie, Annie Lennox, The Corrs, there should be enough for at least 4 sets in there.

[doctorno]

If you are still looking for some balls to the wall stuff with a female voice, I would suggest L7, 7 Year Bitch, The Gits.

Back in the day punk? Souxie (spelling sucks) and the Banshees and the Slits.

[Fr!tz]

Originally posted by doctorno


Back in the day punk? Souxie (spelling sucks) and the Banshees and the Slits.


RIGHT!!!

That's the only reason I didn't post them... I was gonna say "Strawberry Girl"

[rim]

"Celebrity Skin" - Hole
"Complicated" "Sk8r Boi" - Avril Lavigne
"Ex-Girlfriend" - No Doubt
"Ready To Go" - Republica
"Call Me" "One Way or Another" - Blondie
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" - Pat Benatar
"Black Velvet" - Alannah Miles (sp?)
"Gimme One Reason" - Tracy Chapman
"Bitch" - Meredith Brooks
"Mother Mother" - Tracy Bonham

[riffdaddy]

If she has the big powerful diva-type sound, any Zep tune will work great.

[Tights]

You should do stuff by Prince. i.e. "Red Cadillac"

[riffdaddy]

Originally posted by Tights
You should do stuff by Prince. i.e. "Red Cadillac"

Do you mean "Little Red Corvette"? I've never heard of a Prince tune called "Red Cadillac".

[Tedster]

I was gonna say "Pretenders"..

Thing is, just like with guy vocals, you can't say "Name some songs that guys sing"...'cuz you'll come up with "Robert Plant" and "Eddie Vedder"...two completely different male voices...when the guy you've got singing sounds like Ben Folds...

And so it is with women. Meredith Brooks doesn't sound like Ann Wilson...so you've got to listen to her sing, and then tailor the setlist to that which she kicks ass on.

Also, it's more acceptable for a woman to sing a "guy's song" than for a guy to sing a "girl's song".

[Thunderbroom]

Here's some songs that might work that our female singers in my rock band do:

Barracuda - Heart
Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar
Volcano Girls - Veruca Salt
Trouble - Pink
Rock & Roll - Led Zeppelin
Only Happy When It Rains - Garbage

[seahorse]

Linda Ronstadt - You're No Good

[cherri]

I had another thought - do any of the guys sing too? You could pull off a duet - "Stop Draggin My Heart Around" or something similar.

[Dave Martin]

We hired a female vocalist for a rock cover band a long time ago because we couldn't find a guy who could do Deep Purple's "Highway Star"... There isn't any reason for your singer to NOT do songs originally done by men unless the songs are obviously meant to be be sung by a man to a woman (Steve Perry's song is an example of that). But with a female singer, we did Humble Pie songs, Blue Oyster Cult's "Cities On Flame with Rock and Roll", Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and Livin' Lovin' Maid" as well as "Rock and Roll". The Stone's "Beast Of Burden" worked just fine as a female song (I dont' remember if Bette Midler or Tina Turner did it a number of years later), And even "Honkt Tonk Woman" (No one's listening to the words, anyway - let her sing it).

Folks have already mentioned Pat Benater, Joan Jett, and a few others, but if you're willing to find more obscure (but really rockin') songs, check out Mother's Finest, Cold Blood (with Lydia Pense), some of the earlier Fleetwood Mac (after the girls had become full members but before "Tusk", and even harder versions of Carole King songs ("I Feel The Earth Move" could be a really interesting Metal track...).

The big thing is to find songs that your singer sounds good on and enjoys singing, no matter who did them first.