Writing songs about the other gender as if you were that gender

[ministryman]

My custom is to play a few songs from the discography of an artist when they pass, and to learn random trivia about them. This year has kept me busy.

The late Nickolas Ashford penned the tune "I'm Every Woman", sung by both Whitney Houston and Chaka Khan. Steve "the Colonel" Cropper penned the tune, "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman", sung by Aretha Franklin.

The buzz around my office was, "Ewwww....How do you, as a man, write a song about being a woman?"

So my singer/songwriter/pundit Dopers, how do you do it?

And, which female songwriters have done the same (pen a song about being a man)?

[RealityChuck]

Not songs, but I often write short stories with a woman as the point of view character, sometimes in the first person.

You use your imagination.

[Biggirl]

From the anecdote I heard from Valerie Simpson, it wasn't easy for Nick to write I'm Every Woman. She said she composed it and had a very strong feeling about what the song was about. But she's not a lyricist. She said getting him to write it was like pulling teeth. He kept whining "But I'm NOT every woman!"

[gallows fodder]

I can think of a good number of women who have written songs from the point of view of a man, but not necessarily about being a man. PJ Harvey wrote a song called "Man-Size," but it's pretty tongue-in-cheek.
I'm coming up man-sized
Skinned alive
I want to fit
I've got to get
Man-sized
I'm heading on
Handsome
Got my leather boots on

Got my girl and she's a wow
I cast my iron knickers down
Man-sized no need to shout
Can you hear, can you hear me now?

I'm man-sized
[etc]
(full lyrics) (http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/40514/)


It's more making fun of machismo than it is a song to be played straight (so to speak).

[madmonk28]

Not quite a fit, but in the spirit of the OP: John Prine's Angel From Montgomery is written in first person as a woman.

[SeldomSeen]

Someday Soon Written by Ian Tyson from a woman's point of view

Working Man by Rita MacNiell from a man's POV

[Steophan]

Red Clay Halo by Gillian Welch is written from the male point of view, as are parts of I Dream A Highway.

Bob Dylan's Boots Of Spanish Leather has verses from the point of view of both the man and the woman.

[Sam A. Robrin]

It's not like the author of "I'm a Little Teapot" had to have been a teapot, either.
If the man who wrote "I'm Every Woman" complained, it was probably because of the criticism he knew he'd receive.*
_________________
*In fact, I was unfamiliar with the song, so I looked up the lyrics. Replace the word woman with "may-yun" or some such, and what real difference is made?

[Snooooopy]

The Waitresses scored a minor hit back in the day with "I Know What Boys Like," written by Chris Butler, who is a guy.

[Thudlow Boink]

The vast majority of operas and musicals have been written by men, who have to write for their female characters.

[EinsteinsHund]

Steve "the Colonel" Cropper penned the tune, "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman", sung by Aretha Franklin.

No, that's a Carole King/Gerry Goffin song. Carole later recorded it herself for Tapestry.

[Annie-Xmas]

If people could only write lyrics from their personal genders point of view, most musical theatre would be sorely lacking. Most of Andrew Lloyd Webber's lyricists were men. Song & Dance, a one-woman show, was penned by Don Black. Evita by Tim Rice. Sunset Boulevard by Black and Christopher Hampton....I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

[ministryman]

No, that's a Carole King/Gerry Goffin song. Carole later recorded it herself for Tapestry.

Dammit...Urban Legends! I stand corrected :eek: ....and shamed....:(

[njtt]

No, that's a Carole King/Gerry Goffin song. Carole later recorded it herself for Tapestry.

Goffin wrote the words, though, so it does fit the topic.

[kunilou]

"Ewwww....How do you, as a man, write a song about being a woman?"

From the movie As Good as It Gets: "I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability."

d&r:)

[Krokodil]

Let's not forget "Angel From Montgomery" by John Prine.

"My Heroes have Always Been Cowboys" was written by Sharon Vaughan.

[madmonk28]

Mentioned Prine in post 5.

[Nava]

So my singer/songwriter/pundit Dopers, how do you do it?

Not a songwriter (I can't rhyme to save my life), but I've written stories with male characters and played "cross-dresser" in table RPG games - my RPG male characters stem from a concept which, given the game's setting, would not work as a woman.

I've got more of a problem picturing a woman who really, truly believes herself or any other woman incapable of achieving anything without a man's help (not a specific man's, just the help of anybody with a penis), than I have picturing a young male mage who, upon reaching a new location, will present himself as the servant / apprentice / squire of one of the dudes in plate.

[Made in Macau]

I'm currently having a very hard time finding a female singer to record the session on a song of mine called 'I Have Magnificent Breasts'. Seems they don't see the feminist reclaiming of ones body from the gawps of men that I (a man) wrote.

Rufus Wainwright's 'The Art Teacher' is my favourite example of this cross gender writing.

MiM

[olivesmarch4th]

Not songs, but I often write short stories with a woman as the point of view character, sometimes in the first person.

You use your imagination.
I have written first-person male almost exclusively ever since I began writing fiction. It takes much more imagination for me to write women, even though I am one. I love men and inhabiting their skin is so much fun.

Stephen King is exceptionally talented at writing women.

To answer the OP, Alanis Morissette has a song, A Man (http://www.lyricstime.com/alanis-morissette-a-man-lyrics.html), told from the perspective of a good man tired of getting crucified for the sins of his predecessors. It's pretty thought-provoking.


I am a man who has grown from a son
Been crucified by enraged women
I am a son who was raised by such men
I'm often reminded of the fools I'm among

...

we don't fare well with endless reprimands
we don't do well with a life served as a sentence
this won't work well if you're hell bent on your offense
I am a man who understands your resistance