Yup, ol’ Lyle does a cover. It works surprisingly well.
But “Stand by Your Man” is not really gender specific – the words work fine if sung by a man. In either case, the singer is giving advice to women.
I’ve heard a few versions of the old ballad Johnny has Gone for a Soldier sung by men, with no changes (and unless you were making it a song about Xena, pronoun changes would raise more problems than they fixed).
Marlene Dietrich sang a few songs, even romantic ones, with no pronoun changes, but that isn’t really too freakin surprising, is it?
Listening to it right now, she does not alter the genders. FWIW JJ doesn’t comment about her sexuality - she says you can read what you want into her songs and so she doesn’t need to talk about it in interviews.
Heck, “I Love Rock And Roll” is about picking up a young guy in a bar 
Many of the Indian/ Pakistani folk songs in which the lyrics refer to the singer as female are sung by men, who do not change the gender in the lyrics at all. Interestingly, most of these songs are traditional Sufi songs.
I’ll Tell Me Ma was mentioned above, this song like a lullabye or nursery rhyme and is sung by men/women/girls/boys in Ireland. Irish traditional songs are often done this way. Some singers will change “I wish I wish I wish in vain, I wish I were a maid again” to “youth again” in Love is Pleasing but many don’t.
The Sally Gardens is often sung by women without changing the gender of the lover.
The Lowlands Of Holland, sung from a war widow’s perspective has been done many a time by men. There are countless others. I think it has a nice effect, sometimes lending a complexity to songs they might not otherwise have and also adds even more homoeroticism to Irish balladry.
Another one in this vein is Old Maid in the Garrett as performed by the Clancy Brothers with or without Tommy Makem.
Kate Bush did a cover of Rocket Man on an album of Elton John covers. IMO it stank.
Yes, he sang it from a female perspective, but I thought he did change the lyrics. The only earlier version I’ve heard was by Woody Guthrie and sung from the perspective of a man, a la The Animals.
I guess fishbicycle is offline, because no one has mentioned the **Beatles’ “Boys”, ** sung by Ringo.
Also, I thought that the woman in the Family Stone sang “Que Sera Sera” (with Sly just helping out on the chorus, which has gender-neutral lyrics.)
Ah, but they DID change the lyrics - just not all of them.
The second verse goes, in their version, ‘My girl says/when I kiss her lips/gets a thrill through her fingertips’…they left the chorus (‘Well, I talk about boys…’), which, if you bother interpreting the lyrics makes for an interesting interpretation.
Cher did “You Better Sit Down Kids” with the original lyrics–Your mother is leaving, but I’m going away.
I guess Chastity had two mommies.
And they’re both deserting the kid? Harsh!
Rudy Vallee recorded “There Is a Tavern in the Town.”
Although he does crack up laughing partway through.
:smack: Your mother is staying!
I hope that coffee is finished brewing, cause obviously I really need a cup.
So does Andrew Eldritch of The Sisters of Mercy in his cover of Jolene. It too is a great cover.
Mr Eldritch has also covered Gimme Gimme (a man after midnight …) by ABBA at past concerts.
Along those same lines, also along the lines of Coil’s post, Erasure has performed and recorded a cover of ABBA’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme”, which could go either way since Andy Bell would be interested in a “man after midnight”.
Also in their cover of ABBA’s “Lay All Your Love on Me”, he talks about his situation by saying “A grown-up woman should never fall so easily”.
Agreed. It is hard not to hear Tammy Wynette’s voice though. Also, hearing a guy say:
somehow seems wrong. 
To be fair, Abba-esque was so absolutely gay that it should have come with packs of glitter. Hell, Andy actually got Vince to dress up as Agnetha for the videos…that’s something of a coup…
You know, I’ve thought for 30 years that was Sly singing lead, but according to Wiki, you are correct. As an aside, Sly was supposedly good friends with Doris Day via her producer son Terry Melcher, and I read a long time ago that Sly and Doris were rumored to have had an affair…
A band called Emery covered Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” without changing a lyric. It’s actually kinda hot…