# Songs where performer and character are different genders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [December 16, 2025, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-performer-and-character-are-different-genders/1025749 "2025-12-16T12:23:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-performer-and-character-are-different-genders/1025749/81 "2026-02-12T22:28:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Lennox’s version is one of my favorites, but I think it works as a song from a woman to a man. The original version is a male singer accusing his ex-girlfriend of lying when she said she “stood by her man,” but the Lennox version makes it sound like a woman pointing out the hypocrisy of her ex-boyfriend, who insisted that she had to stand by him, but didn’t hold himself to the same standard. I don’t disagree at all, her version is every bit as powerful, if not more so. But the first line she sings in her version is “you say you stand by your man,” identically to the original. Which lyrically is the only way it could work, there is no possible way it would’ve worked as “stand by your gal” or whatever, so the brain does whatever it needs to do to make it fit. And it works. I noticed it the first time and then never thought about it again, until this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-performer-and-character-are-different-genders/1025749/82 "2026-02-12T22:50:44Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I don’t disagree at all, her version is every bit as powerful, if not more so. But the first line she sings in her version is “you say you stand by your man,” identically to the original. Depends entirely on how you punctuate it. The original: “You say you stand by your man,” = “This is the way you claim to behave.” Lennox: “You say, ‘You stand by your man,’” = “This is the behavior you expect women to display.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-performer-and-character-are-different-genders/1025749/83 "2026-02-13T00:27:26Z")
Right, a man could tell his woman, “You stand by your man”. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-performer-and-character-are-different-genders/1025749/84 "2026-02-13T03:08:47Z")
> [@DaveRaver](#): > > RICHARD SHINDELL has a song called “Money for Floods” where he narrates as a woman. And the song he wrote about a Mexican girl being raised by her grandmother, the singer… _Soledad was your mother’s name_ _She fell in love with my Juan Luis_ _They may be gone_ [_But I’m still your Abuelita…_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1AKYUaFHsI&list=RDl1AKYUaFHsI&start_radio=1) That’s a link to a playlist that also has his song sung by Mary Magdalen. Clever but poignant lyrics: _Long ago I had my work_ _When I was in my prime_ _But I gave it up, and all for love_ _It was his career or mine._ _Jesus loved me, this I know…_ _Why on earth did I ever let him go?_ _He was always faithful, he was always kind_ _But he walked off with this heart of mine._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-performer-and-character-are-different-genders/1025749.md?page=4)