Question:
What is the best song named after a woman?



Caveats:

1) These are just my favorites, feel free to name others.

2) These songs only concern women because most rock stars are guys and don't do songs about other men.

3) Songs that contain a woman's name along with another modifier such as "Sweet" or "To" or "No" do not count.



Another related topic is the objectification of women...I recently had a (female) friend tell me that she did not like songs named after women because those songs tend to idealize the woman, and she didn't think this was fair. I pointed out to her that pretty much all love songs idealize their subject, but she is obviously a liberal, so reason did not have much effect on her.

Choices:
"Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel
"Roxanne" by Sting and the Police
"Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones
"Layla" by Derek and the Dominos
"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson

 

Of those, I'd probably pick "Ruby Tuesday", but I'm sure there are zillions more. When I get home in an hour and a half, I'll try to dig up some more.

One that immediately came to mind for me is "Candy" by Morphine. I don't know if it's my favorite, but I do like it better than the others in your poll.

I might start a rival thread with the best songs about guys. Two that I thought of right away are "Daniel" by Elton John and "Jonathon Fisk" by Spoon.

And BTW, I don't think your friend's views have anything to do with being a liberal. It sounds like some weird extreme feminist stance. Most liberals I know, myself incuded, would find this position pretty laughable. "Roxanne" might come closest to objectifying women, since it is indeed about a prostitute, but I don't seeing how writing a song about a person, female or male, automatically objectifies them.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: EricG75,

Some great Bob Dylan songs...

Corrina, Corrina
Sara
Isis

My favorite up there is "Cecelia." There are sentimental reasons I won't get into here. Two more that immediately come to mind are "Veronica" by Elvis Costello and "Anna" by The Beatles. Both are great. I'll have to dig a little when I get home too.
DUH! One more I just thought of. "Peggy Sue" by Buddy Holly. Love that one too!

I thought of another one. This one is newer than previous listed. "Jacqueline" by Franz Ferdinand. They also have a song about a man on that album called "Michael."

For Elvis Costello, I'd go with "Alison".

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

Some other good ones:

"Alison" - The Pixies
"Candy" - Iggy Pop & Kate Pierson
"Maggie May" - Rod Stewart
"Ruby Soho" - Rancid
"Molly" - Sponge
"Ana Ng" - They Might Be Giants
"Deanna" - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

and possibly my favorite...

"Janie Jones" - The Clash

Nice call Eriq75 on "Janie Jones"...that's a great track!
I'll throw in "Gabrielle" by WEEN.

Layla and Alison absolutely.

..Are we absolutely certain that Billie Jean is, in reality..a woman? After all...the song is about Michael Jackson denying his attraction for somebody.

Also..

Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs
Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna


Not in the same class, but also:

Fountains of Wayne - Julie
New Pornographers - Jackie
Prince - Darline Nicki
The Who - Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand

Eleanor Rigby for sure! Tops my list!!!
I voted for Layla from the above list.
Gotta show my love for Darling Nicki, but it goes against caveat #3.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobthespirit:
..Are we absolutely certain that Billie Jean is, in reality..a woman? After all...the song is about Michael Jackson denying his attraction for somebody.

Since Billie Jean has a child, who apparently is not Michael's son, I would have to assume she's a woman, since it would otherwise be a medical impossibility...

...unless she(he) adopted some kid in hopes to trick him into a shotgun wedding.

I considered Eleanor Rigby, but I put Billie Jean on there because Billie Jean is more of a love song and I wanted to include some non-60's stuff. "Alison" is a good one I forgot about along with "Maggie May," and then earlier today I thought of "Ramona" by the Ramones. That has always been my favorite Ramones song. Anyway, I am voting for "Cecilia."

And Eric, feminism is a branch of liberalism. While all liberals are not necessarily feminists, almost all feminists are necessarily liberals.

*This post has been removed by the Metacritic gestapo. The rules of the thread were not followed. Let this be a lesson to all of you. Follow directions!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RavingLunatic,

quote:

Originally posted by paxsoprano:
And Eric, feminism is a branch of liberalism. While all liberals are not necessarily feminists, almost all feminists are necessarily liberals.

Well that's true, but her ideals are feminist ideals, not liberal ideals. Members of the religious right are almost all conservatives, but I'm assuming that you, as a conservative, don't share all their ideals.

quote:

Ben Folds----"Zak and Sara"

I loved that song "Professor Stan" from Rocking the Suburbs album, if that can be considered a name song

I chose "Layla" from the poll.

Non-poll, I'd picked "Janet Greene" by the Sun Sawed in Half as my favorite woman's name song.

Other favorites:
Bob Dylan- "Sara"
Blues Travellers- "Gina"
Wallstones- "Julie"
Bluebells- "Cath"
Donovan- "Jennifer Juniper"
Hot Chocolate- "Emma"
Beatles- "Julia"
White Stripes- "Suzy Lee"
CCR- "Suzy Q"
Them- "Gloria"
Material Issue- "Kim the Waitress"
Paul McCartney- "Sally G"

I don't wanna be more of a wet blanket than usual, but the "rules" ("caveats") were only names (and female, at that) in the title. I strongly considered "Zak and Sara" because my daughter's named Sarah and her fave cousin is named Zack, and she loves that song, but I don't know anybody named and. I know, I'm anal (and/or an asshole), take your pick.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Amy - Ryan Adams
Ballad of Carol Lynn - Whiskeytown
Caroline No - Beach Boys
String Bean Jean - Belle & Sebastian
Venus as a Boy - Bjork
Alison - Elvis Costello
Anna Begins - Counting Crows (I know they suck, but this is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard)
Kim's Watermelon Gun - Flaming Lips

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
I don't wanna be more of a wet blanket than usual, but the "rules" ("caveats") were only names (and female, at that) in the title. I strongly considered "Zak and Sara" because my daughter's named Sarah and her fave cousin is named Zack, and she loves that song, but I don't know anybody named and. I know, I'm anal (and/or an asshole), take your pick.

I totally did not read the rules. If it's supposed to be only female names though, someone needs to change the title of the thread to "female name songs."

"Not I", said the Pig.