Sorry, just remembered another one from the 70s:
Brandy - Looking Glass
Sorry, just remembered another one from the 70s:
Brandy - Looking Glass
The Hills of Shiloh - Shel Silverstein song, sung by Judy Collins.
Dogtown - Harry Chapin (about that crazy widow Cather)
One from the 80s:
Angel in Blue - J. Geils Band
70s Fem Glurge. We have a name for it now!
I was considering “I’m Not Lisa” by Jessi Colter, which I always assumed was about Multiple Personality Disorder, but apparently it’s more of a “boyfriend keeps calling me by his ex’s name” song.
Not sure “Swamp Witch” belongs on the list, although I had and really enjoyed that album, too. I did not know Jim Stafford was married to Bobbie Gentry. I think he’s generally underrated as a guitarist.
Hattie was misunderstood and antisocial.
The singer of Jolene was insecure and desperate.
What about “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” by Marianne Faithful (among others)?
Yup… The boyfriend’s mental stability is open to question too. “Lisa left you/years ago…”
And then she makes a promise that her eyes won’t leave him (she doesn’t make any assertions about the rest of her) “till the sunshine/lights up your face.” Then, apparently, all bets are off.
“If it Doesn’t Come Naturally, Leave it”, by Al Stewart. Off the Year of the Cat Album.
But that was thirty years ago, when they used to have a show. Now it’s a disco.
There’s ELO’s Evil Woman:
*Hey woman, you got the blues, cos’ you ain’t got no one else to use.
There’s an open road that leads nowhere, so just make some miles
between here and there.
There’s a hole in my head where the rain comes in,
You took my body and played to win,
Ha Ha woman it’s a crying shame,
But you ain’t got no one else to blame
*
Polk Salad Annie, a “wretched, dispiteful, straight-razor totin’ woman, Lord have mercy.”
I’m not sure I’d agree. I think the unnamed woman isn’t deranged or damaged, just cheatin’. Her long-suffering husband, on the other hand…
We always sang than song as “you can’t hide your Cylon eyes”.
Of course, Candle in the Wind (original version) is about the ultimate damaged woman.
That’s what I came in to mention, if only because it’s one of my all-time favorites!
Shel Silverstein’s Queen of the Silver Dollar was covered by both Dr. Hook and Dave & Sugar.
Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town by Kenny Rogers.
I’m sorry, but a lot of these aren’t “damaged woman” songs; they are just “mean woman” songs. That’s a different animal.
Lucille by Kenny Rogers.
I think the guy is the damaged one, he’s talking about killing her by the end of the song.
You’ve got the wrong song. That’s “Ruby,…”