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.
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.”
Right, a man could tell his woman, “You stand by your man”.
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…
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.