Gender specific lyrics - mostly just applies to females.

One thing I find amusing is the fact if a girl sang lyrics from a song by a male vocalist, the lyrics are usually genderless unless the lyrics are about wanting to fuck women (unless of course a girl is bi or lesbian). With female vocalists, it's an entirely different situation. I do not listen to very many female artists, but I have 948 plays for Lady Gaga, 739 plays for Lilly Allen, 292 plays for Heart (I seriously need to check out more albums by them), and 190 plays for Nico. All of these artists make songs that are embarrassing for a male to sing. To prove a point, I'm going to take a section of lyrics for some of my most listened to songs by these artists.


Lady Gaga - Marry the Night

I'm gonna marry the night
I won't give up on my life
I'm a warrior queen
Live passionately tonight

I'm gonna marry the dark
Gonna make love to the stark
I'm a soldier to my own emptiness
I am a winner

Lady Gaga - Heavy Metal Lover

I want your whiskey mouth
All over my blonde south
Red wine, cheap perfume and a filthy pout
Tonight bring all your friends
Because a group does it better

Why river with a pair?
Let's have a full house of leather

Lilly Allen - The Fear

I want to be rich and I want lots of money
I don't care about clever I don't care about funny
I want loads of clothes and fuckloads of diamonds
I heard people die while they are trying to find them

And I'll take my clothes off and it will be shameless
'Cuz everyone knows that's how you get famous
I'll look at the sun and I'll look in the mirror
I'm on the right track, yeah I'm on to a winner

Lilly Allen -  Not Fair

Oh, he treats me with respect,
He says he loves me all the time,
He calls me 15 times a day,
He likes to make sure that im fine,
You know I've never met a man,
Whose made me feel quite so secure,
He's not like all them other boys,
They're all so dumb and immature.

There's just one thing,
That's getting in the way,
When we go up to bed your just no good,
its such a shame!
I look into your eyes,
I want to get to know you,
And then you make this noise,
and its apparently its all over

 Heart - Barracuda

So this ain't the end - I saw you again today
Had to turn my heart away
You smiled like the Sun - kisses for everyone
and tales - it never fails!

You lying so low in the weeds
Bet you gonna ambush me
You'd have me down on my knees
Wouldn't you, Barracuda?

  Heart - Magic Man

Cold, late night so long ago
when I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
I never seen eyes so blue
You know, I could not run away it seemed
we'd seen each other in a dream
Seemed like he knew me....he looked right through me....yeah

"Come on home, girl" he said with a smile
"you don't have to love me yet, let's get high awhile
But try to understand...try to understand
Try, try, try to understand.....I'm a magic man"

Nico - Evening of Light

Midnight winds are landing at the end of time
Midnight winds are landing at the end of time
In the morning of my winter
When my eyes are still asleep
In the morning of my winter
When my eyes are still asleep
A dragonfly laying in a coat of snow
I'll send to kiss your heart for me
A dragonfly laying in a coat of snow
I'll send to kiss your heart for me

 Nico - Roses in the Snow

He came your way
And when he had to go
There were roses growing in the snow
Silently you'll go to the shadow of your soul
And you know that it was like this before we had to go

You will never see these lights
Glowing in your nights
Until you feel this way

The only one of these four lyricists that doesn't make very girly music is Nico. I actually struggled to find girly music by her hence why these examples are what I chose. But her music is also creepy as fuck so it makes sense a lot of her lyrics aren't very gender specific. At the same time, she still uses common female lyric choices like referencing roses and talking about kisses.

With Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, and Heart however, they made a lot of music that would be very embarrassing for a male vocalist to cover. I can't think of a single one of the male artists I listen to that made a lot of lyrics that would be embarrassing for women to sing. Hell, even a lot of Beatles songs which talk about girls were sung by a lot of female fans. I just find this a fascinating gender dynamic when it comes to song writing and wonder if it's because of my musical tastes, or if this is pretty typical.

-William