# Intense songs by women **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216 "2009-06-18T20:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/21 "2009-06-19T02:13:31Z")
Me and Bobby McGee - the incomparable Janis Joplin Where Does the Good Go - Tegan and Sara When You Say Nothing At All - Alison Krauss Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again - Sara Brightman’s version especially Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday Gloomy Sunday - Billie Holiday I Don’t Know How to Love Him - Yvonne Elliman Someone To Watch Over Me - Ella Fitzgerald ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/22 "2009-06-19T02:36:28Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > I Don’t Know How to Love Him - Yvonne Elliman ^5 I almost listed this, but thought people would snork. I kinda saw the OP as asking for grrrrr songs, but I see now that in this case intense can encompass slower songs. I will add all of the “Emily” songs from the Indigo Girls album _Swamp Ophelia_. “Least Complicated” nearly makes me cry after all these years, but then I identify strongly with it. Well, that and “Language or the Kiss.” And if you want to REALLY tear up, try Dar Williams’s “When I Was a Boy.” Or is that just me? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/23 "2009-06-19T02:48:48Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean by intense, but as female vocalists are my favorite kind, here’re a ton: > > (Very cool list abridged) > > Kate Bush – Under Ice Good choice for Kate, although I would have suggested _Pull Out The Pin_ from **The Dreaming** , sung from the perspective of a Viet Cong. Or _A Coral Room_ from **Aerial** , where she deals with her mother’s death. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/24 "2009-06-19T02:49:46Z")
That’s an awesome way to describe the way music can make a person feel. I like it. Walkaway Joe - Trisha Yearwood – depressing, soulful sort of intense _But Fate’s got cards that it don’t want to show_ I’m not sure if it fits quite right, but I bawled when I first heard Sherrie Austin do “Streets of Heaven”. You know how an intense song can bring you back to the place where you first heard it? It probably doesn’t fit into your scheme, but when I first heard the Dixie Chicks’ “Taking the Long Way” I was driving with a friend on a lonely highway and it just seemed, I don’t know, _right._ Yes, I am a music troglodyte who needs to get out more. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/25 "2009-06-19T03:08:10Z")
Shoot, forgot one: Rain – Patty Griffin [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pFbjE7NFmUI/hqdefault.jpg "Patty Griffin - Rain") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFbjE7NFmUI) ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/26 "2009-06-19T03:11:29Z")
LUCINDA WILLIAMS, pretty much anything by her is phenomenally intense, and I see a lot of Nashville copycat by the younger gals lately. I tried to list favorites, but all of her songs are intense and amazing. Just [check her out](http://www.lucindawilliams.com/). The most accessable and popular would be her album “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”. Her newer work is is more sublime, but intense on a different level. Lucinda paved the way for modern Alt-country singer songwriters. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/27 "2009-06-19T05:34:12Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Mine, too. > > _Every Little Bit_, _Let Him Fly_ - Patty Griffin > _Long, Long Time_ - Linda Ronstadt > _You’re So Vain_ - Carly Simon > _Mad, Mad Me_ - Wendy Waldman > _Down to You_, _Song for Sharon_ - Joni Mitchell > _Lose Again_ - Karla Bonoff I have every single one of those songs in my collection, either on vinyl or CD. Wow–a musical twin! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/28 "2009-06-19T06:27:20Z")
Tori Amos: “Me and a Gun” and “Winter” (hell, pretty much everything from “Little Earthquakes.”) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/29 "2009-06-19T07:27:28Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > … Respect - Aretha … I see your _R.E.S.P.E.C.T._ and raise you [_Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTnCHP-9Wdo). (Nowhere near as good as the original recorded version, but it does have Stevie Wonder (one of the writers of the song) on piano and trading verses with The Queen of Soul!) CMC fnord! BTW folks GREAT list of songs that belong in every collection. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/30 "2009-06-19T07:29:54Z")
k.d. lang - Pulling Back the Reins (Not a torch singer. A frakking flamethrower singer.) Sinead O’Connor - This is the Last Day of our Aquaintance Angelique Kidjo - the album Aye (It has been a while since I listened to this album, so I don’t know what to recommend). Linda Ronstadt - the albums Canciones de mi Padre and Mas Canciones (ditto on both counts) ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/31 "2009-06-19T13:12:22Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Hungry Lucy – Rainfall Other people know Hungry Lucy? I’ll be damned. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/32 "2009-06-19T13:35:29Z")
_Somebody Hates You_ by Snake River Conspiracy _Front Row_ by Toby Lightman _Both Hands_ by Ani DiFranco _You Promised Me a Symphony_ by The Gathering ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/33 "2009-06-19T14:37:44Z")
Cowboy Junkies - Tons of songs, but I’ll pick “Spiral Down” and “Misguided Angel”. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/34 "2009-06-19T14:38:22Z")
“Wait for an Answer” - Heart “Missed Me” - The Dresden Dolls ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/35 "2009-06-19T15:56:33Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > Other people know Hungry Lucy? I’ll be damned. Love them and have multiple albums. They’re amazing. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/36 "2009-06-19T16:15:48Z")
_Chain Gang_ by The Pretenders (literally raises the hair on my arms during the bridge section of the song, with those soaring harmonies) _Selling Jesus_ by Skunk Anansie _Human Behavior_ by Bjork Most Karen Carpenter stuff, for some reason. _Ray Of Light_ by Madonna ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/37 "2009-06-19T16:54:22Z")
> [@elelle](#): > > LUCINDA WILLIAMS, pretty much anything by her is phenomenally intense, and I see a lot of Nashville copycat by the younger gals lately. > > I tried to list favorites, but all of her songs are intense and amazing. Just [check her out](http://www.lucindawilliams.com/). The most accessable and popular would be her album “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”. Her newer work is is more sublime, but intense on a different level. Lucinda paved the way for modern Alt-country singer songwriters. This is EXACTLY what I was coming in to post. As for a particular song, off the top of my head I’d suggest _Those Three Days_. ---
**Author:** ![BlueKangaroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BlueKangaroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueKangaroo)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/38 "2009-06-19T19:28:16Z")
The entire album _Haunted_, by Poe did that to me. It’s still a go-to when I’m furious or hurting. In particular, I think **Control** and **Wild** do that. I also think Melissa Etheridge’s songs **Breakdown** and **The Different** fall into the category of “intense” for me. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/39 "2009-06-19T19:53:38Z")
Marianne Faithfull \*\* The Ballad of Lucy Jordan\*\* Song about a woman who slowly goes nuts in her white suburban bedroom in a white suburban town. Emmylou Harris **Red Dirt Girl** , **Bang the Drum Slowly** ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216/40 "2009-06-19T20:19:19Z")
**Ball & Chain** - Janis Joplin **Hound Dog** - Big Mama Thornton **At Last** - Etta James **St. Louis Blues** - Bessie Smith [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intense-songs-by-women/500216.md?page=3)