# Need some songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269 "2005-12-19T06:41:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/1 "2005-12-19T06:41:08Z")
One of my best friends is going to Calgary for a week , on Friday and I want to compile a Cd for her , for the wait on the airplane or to listen to when she has the time. What I would like is a list of songs that are empowering for women, so to speak. Something you would listen to when your depressed , got the blues and so forth. Declan ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/2 "2005-12-19T22:34:00Z")
These may be too trite/too far back for what you’re wanting, but they do meet your criteria FWIW: “I am Woman,” by Helen Reddy, 1972 “I Will Survive,” by Gloria Gaynor, 1999 Just IMHO, but I find this one by Bette Midler also inspiring, but in a different, deeper way: “The Rose,” 1979. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/3 "2005-12-19T23:01:09Z")
I listen to a lot of angry-chick music. Is that the kind of thing? or more folky, “empowerment” political type songs? ---
**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/4 "2005-12-20T00:49:05Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > What I would like is a list of songs that are empowering for women, so to speak. > > Something you would listen to when your depressed , got the blues and so forth. I don’t know if this fits the bill, but the first song I thought of was “Factory Girls” by Flogging Molly & Lucinda Williams. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/5 "2005-12-20T07:20:12Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > These may be too trite/too far back for what you’re wanting, but they do meet your criteria FWIW: > > “I am Woman,” by Helen Reddy, 1972 > “I Will Survive,” by Gloria Gaynor, 1999 > > Just IMHO, but I find this one by Bette Midler also inspiring, but in a different, deeper way: “The Rose,” 1979. Gloria Gaynor is on the list already , I looked at Helen Reddy and Bette Midler and am holding off for now Thanks so far for the replys all Declan ---
**Author:** ![indierock82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f14d63/32.png) [@indierock82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/indierock82)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/6 "2005-12-20T12:20:39Z")
Can’t go wrong with _Coheed and Cambria_🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/7 "2005-12-20T14:23:51Z")
> [@indierock82](#): > > Can’t go wrong with _Coheed and Cambria_🙂 that’s the first thing that popped into my mind, too! you _were_ being ironic, right? ---
**Author:** ![indierock82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f14d63/32.png) [@indierock82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/indierock82)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/8 "2005-12-20T14:39:31Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > that’s the first thing that popped into my mind, too! you _were_ being ironic, right? Hahha… of course. Nothing wrong with the music (my lowly opinion), but it’s hardly motivational or enpowering for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/9 "2005-12-21T01:50:42Z")
C’mon, what can be more empowering than “Die white girls”? ---
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/10 "2005-12-21T03:02:11Z")
“Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves” - Aretha/Annie Lennox. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2005, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/11 "2005-12-21T11:30:44Z")
Uplifting, I got nothin’, but I’ve always thought “White Lightning and Wine” by Heart to be a good song about female _sexual_ empowerment. It talks about women using men for sex without being _overly_ suggestive or hateful. ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-songs/336269/12 "2005-12-21T20:09:38Z")
[Kirsty MacColl](http://www.kirstymaccoll.com), that is. I’d recommend:[ul] [li]“You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby”[/li][li]“My Affair”[/li][li]“There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis”[/li][li]“A New England”[/li][li]“Days”[/li][li]“Free World”[/li][li]“In These Shoes?”[/li][/ul] as a starter set. “You Just Haven’t . . .” is perhaps the best. song. ever. for kicking yourself out of whatever self-pity you may be into at any given time. “My Affair” is, for me, the quintessential Kirsty MacColl song: sharp-witted, self-aware, frank, and fiercely independent. “Days” and “A New England” are a pair of covers that showcase her amazing voice at its best. It’s not for nothing that the name of the official Kirsty MacColl web site is “Freeworld”, and then of course “In These Shoes?” is perhaps her best-known song now, thanks to “Sex and the City” and Bette Midler.