# Songs by women about other women **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 9, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801 "2019-03-09T00:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jerseymule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jerseymule/32/3155_2.png) [@jerseymule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerseymule)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/41 "2019-03-12T18:29:18Z")
Sweet Honey In The Rock / Bernice Johnson Reagon: [Joan Little](https://youtu.be/kubAMvm_z6w) (aka Joanne Little) Sweet Honey In The Rock: [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sonichits.com/video/Sweet_Honey_In_The_Rock/Fannie_Lou_Hamer) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/42 "2019-03-13T23:44:09Z")
> [@jerseymule](#): > > Sweet Honey In The Rock / Bernice Johnson Reagon: [Joan Little](https://youtu.be/kubAMvm_z6w) (aka Joanne Little) > > Sweet Honey In The Rock: [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sonichits.com/video/Sweet_Honey_In_The_Rock/Fannie_Lou_Hamer) Loving these. \<3 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/43 "2019-03-13T23:57:16Z")
Petra Berger is a Dutch classical crossover lyrical soprano who wrote and sang an [entire album](https://www.allmusic.com/album/eternal-woman-mw0001663184) of songs about historical women. _[Eternal Woman](https://www.discogs.com/Petra-Berger-Eternal-Woman/release/982672)_ came out in 2001. It’s still unknown and unavailable in America; I had to order a copy sent from Europe. The songs and their referents: 1. Marie José, the last Queen of Italy: “Terra Promessa” 2. Marie Antoinette: “Close Your Eyes (He’ll Be Just Fine),” based on Fauré’s _Pavane_ 3. Boudicca: “Boadicea” 4. Mata Hari: “The Girl Looking into Me,” based on Borodin’s “Gliding Dance of the Maidens” from the Polovtsian dances from _Prince Igor_ 5. Empress Elisabeth (“Sisi”) of Austria: “If I Had a Wish” 6. Mary Magdalene: “When He Spoke My Name,” based on the Adagio movement from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major 7. Juana la Loca, 16th-century Queen of Spain: “Eres Todo para Mí” 8. Joan of Arc: “I’m Coming Home” 9. Catherine the Great: “Now’s the Time” 10. Mary, Queen of Scots: “Still a Queen (In My End Is My Beginning),” based on Handel’s Sarabande from the Keyboard Suite in D minor 11. Cleopatra: “All for Love” A whole album’s worth of satisfaction for the intent of this thread! Excellent music too. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/44 "2019-03-14T00:10:13Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > This was written by Nile Edwards and Nile Rodgers. _Bernard_ Edwards. I didn’t even realize I made this mistake and I’ve come back to this thread plenty of times. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/45 "2019-03-14T01:47:15Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > _Bernard_ Edwards. I didn’t even realize I made this mistake and I’ve come back to this thread plenty of times. Frankly, I overlooked it too or autocorrected it in my mind somehow. Anyway, it’s clear that it was the disconnect between finger muscle control and brain we all have from time to time 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gvntofly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@gvntofly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gvntofly)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/46 "2019-03-15T17:21:56Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Stevie Nicks wrote a hell of a lot of them, comparatively speaking, for Fleetwood Mac. I cannot think of any other names as big as her who have so many songs written/sung by women, about other women. > > _Rhiannon_ > > _Sara_ > > _Gold Dust Woman_ > > _Gypsy_ > > Stevie Nicks didn’t just sing them, she wrote them all. Great examples. I actually named my second daughter Sara because of that song “Sara, you’re the poet in my heart, never change, and don’t you ever start.” Love, love, love Nicks. She sings, writes, and FEELS them all. Just One Of The Guys by Jenny Lewis comes to mind and also Burn Chile by Beth Hart and also A Sorta Fairytale by Tori Amos. All superb songs. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/47 "2019-03-17T00:39:06Z")
[Petra Berger](http://petraberger.eu/) followed up _Eternal Woman_ with a similar album titled _Mistress_ (2003), about paramours and about women who got cheated on. One song in the latter category is about Hillary Clinton! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/48 "2019-03-17T12:26:41Z")
Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait” was about Orlando, the Virginia Woolf hero/heroine, born a man but became a woman. “Louise” by Bonnie Raitt. “Ruby Red Dress” by Helen Reddy. “The Prodigal Daughter” by Michelle Shocked. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/49 "2020-03-08T05:10:05Z")
Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin - “[Sisters Are Doin It for Themselves](https://youtu.be/drGx7JkFSp4)” _Now this is a song to celebrate The conscious liberation of the female state! Mothers, daughters, and their daughters too. Woman to woman, we’re singin’ with you._ ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/50 "2020-03-08T05:14:52Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait” was about Orlando, the Virginia Woolf hero/heroine, born a man but became a woman. I know this thread is a year old, but this is totally false. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/51 "2020-03-08T06:15:56Z")
Not sure if “Delta Dawn” or “Angie Baby” were mentioned, but I’m pretty sure Fright Wig’s [Punk Rock Jailbait](https://youtu.be/UbcQxOY4yOA?t=613) wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/52 "2020-03-08T12:02:47Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > I know this thread is a year old, but this is totally false. Paula Cole said otherwise in an MTV interview, but she may have been referring specifically to the video. How about “My Sister” by Juliana Hatfield? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/53 "2020-03-08T12:35:07Z")
It wasn’t a big hit, but… Phoebe Legere recorded a song called “[Marilyn Monroe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-v-RErnw2w)” and performed it in the film **Mondo New York**. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/54 "2020-03-08T12:45:44Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > [Jill Sobule] introduced that song by thanking all the confused Katy Perry fans for buying her song. I assume you mean she introduced it that way _in concert_ sometime in the past dozen years; after all, she introduced that song in 1995, 13 years before Perry would release her song with the same title. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/55 "2020-03-08T12:49:26Z")
I wasn’t around here a year ago… Shania Twain has a song She’s Not Just a Pretty Face which would be good for International Women’s Day [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fTK45V5FnQY/hqdefault.jpg "Shania Twain - She's Not Just a Pretty Face") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTK45V5FnQY) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/56 "2020-03-08T13:41:56Z")
I keep wanting to hit the “Like” button that doesn’t exist here. :o Thanks, all! ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/57 "2020-03-08T13:52:10Z")
I thought I posted this last year but I guess I didn’t. This beautiful song by Happy Rhodes is inspired by her friendship with female friends. I made a still images “video” years ago for a friend of mine who loved this song, using photos of his wonderful cats. “Glory” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4ExYUPo6swM/hqdefault.jpg "For Mike Weis") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ExYUPo6swM) Here is a longer, album version, with intro and outro. I made the video using pictures of kitties at an animal shelter. “Glory” (now with 50% more cats!) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/EQ3yaqFsJHo/hqdefault.jpg "For Little Shelter Animal Rescue (Huntington, NY)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ3yaqFsJHo) ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/58 "2020-03-08T15:18:41Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Ani difranco has written a ton of them, mostly about her relationships with other women. Melissa Etheridge also has at least one entire album of love songs to her former partner. I still love “Angels Would Fall:” \*I have crept into your temple I have slept upon your pew I have dreamed of the divinity Inside and out of you I want it more than truth I can taste it on my breath I would give my life just for a little A little death. \* I loved it when I first heard it, but I loved it even more years later when I learned that the French call orgasm “le petit mort”-- little death. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Any parent of daughters will appreciate Martina McBride’s country tearjerker “In My Daughter’s Eyes”: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2SDMOrTZ8U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2SDMOrTZ8U) > > Sara Bareilles’s “She Used To Be Mine,” from the musical _Waitress_, is a recent favorite of mine: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53GIADHxVzM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53GIADHxVzM) If we’re including mothers’ odes to their daughters, we have to include Leann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.” ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/59 "2020-03-08T21:17:44Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > [Electricity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DB1lu3nsy0) by Joni Mitchell is about a woman who is trying to fix an electrical circuit. (I _love_ this song, BTW. It’s in my top-five list of favorite Mitchell songs.) Well, on a superficial level, that’s what it’s about, but it’s not really what it’s about. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801/60 "2020-03-08T22:45:58Z")
Good time to break out that old classic—Helen Reddy’s “[**I Am Woman**](https://youtu.be/xwMOC5i2eRk).” Those of us of a certain age will remember 1972 when that was all over the radio. Younger generations may be familiar with the famous opening line without having heard the song itself. It’s impossible to overstate the impact of “I Am Woman” on society. It was the first time anyone heard anything like it. It was electrifying. This one song did more for feminism than probably all the issues of _Ms_. magazine taken together, with a season or two of _Maude_ thrown in. The title uses a literary device called personification. It isn’t actually saying “I am _a_ woman” slightly ungrammatically. It’s saying “I am Woman” where the capital W signifies all women collectively, personified in the first person singular. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-by-women-about-other-women/830801.md?page=4)