Reading/hearing brillig’s recent diaries about cover tunes, I got to thinking about a special category of those.
When I was first coming out, back in the jurassic era, it was difficult for an LGBT performer to be out-and-proud. Sometimes they’d let us know with a wink and a nod. Certain musicians — kd lang, Melissa Etheridge — would avoid gendered pronouns. But c’mon: “Really like your peaches, wanna shake your tree”? We got it:
And LGBT people would listen to certain songs — We Kiss in a Shadow, Town Without Pity, You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away — and we’d hear something that may or may not have been originally intended. Joan Armatrading reportedly denied that Taking My Baby Uptown was about same-sex love, but that didn’t stop Heather Bishop:
Nowadays, of course, LGBT performers can be bolder. Here’s Cam Clarke doing “Son of a Preacher Man:”
Lines like “You make me feel so gay” sound just a little bit different:
Not to mention “Dancing Queen:”
Alas, I can’t find a YouTube of the Rhythm Method’s version of “Only the Good Die Young.” You’ll just have to take my word that “Come out, Virginia” will never sound the same.
On to Top Comments!
From elfling:
This comment from Darksyde. It has this reply, too, from G2geek.
From side pocket:
Top comment from
grover referring to the use of tinfoil.
From watercarrier4diogenes:
Here's a great thread in Jen Hayden's Woman who earned a U.S. Army Ranger tab has smashed another barrier and made history again
The thread starts with an exchange between
Randym77 and
Major Kong and gets even better.
From Railfan:
Here’s one for Wednesday: a2nite's reply to mstep’s comment in Donald Trump runs for president of the He-Man Women Haters Club is, as MBNYC notes, "Comment of the day."
From your humble (if antisocial) diarist:
From the same diary as above, Mark Sumner’s Donald Trump runs for President of the He-Man Woman-Hater’s Club, I loved this succinct comment by UnionMade.
And in another Mark Sumner diary, Warning: Trump does foreign policy, we get a sample Trump speech by CosmicVoop, an excellent pictorial comment from Crashing Vor, and a hilarious correction to the original diary from Witgren.
Top mojo, courtesy of mik:
Picture quilt, courtesy of jotter: