The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....- Page 2

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 12:34am

^I wholeheartedly agree. I also agree with carlodowd; my favorite musical theatre songs tend to be exciting belt songs, which is a exclusively female territory.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 12:38am

"But none of those songs are iconic/famous in the mainstream"

I'm not sure what that has to do with it, but if you are suggesting that there aren't any, here's a little list:

Well known songs originated on stage by men:

Who Can I Turn To?
What Kind of Fool am I?
Gonna Build A Mountain
Feeling Good
Once in a Lifetime
Look at that Face
The Joker
Try to Remember
I've Gotta Be Me
The Impossible Dream
Consider Yourself (male led group song)
Who Will Buy? (male led group song)
Where is Love?
She Loves Me
Step to the Rear
I've Got Your Number
It Only Takes a Moment
If I Were a Rich Man
Miracle of Miracles
Come Back to Me
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
I Believe in You
Brotherhood of Man
If Ever I Would Leave You
Camelot
Mame
It Only Takes a Moment
Hello Dolly
Where do I Go?
Hair
Make Someone Happy (duet with woman)
Never Will I Marry
She Touched Me
Put On a Happy Face
Kids
A Lot of Livin to Do (duet with a woman)
Comedy Tonight (male led group song)
Once Upon a Time
Wilkommen
I'll Never Fall in Love Again (duet with woman)
Promises, Promises

And that's just the 60s.





Updated On: 5/25/14 at 12:38 AM

[candydog2]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 6:30am

I wouldn't consider most of those mainstream or anywhere near it, Henrikegerman ^^^

I understand people posting lists of male songs to try to disprove this, but it's true. The best, most famous songs for musicals are mostly written for women. As I said, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

I agree with GavestonPS though. It probably does come down to the fact that the bigger more famous songs come from moments of intense emotion, something which until fairly recently was often only seen in female characters.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 9:57am

Well, trying to come up with just one off the top of my head that fits the "criteria" that's been mentioned above might be "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacfic. In addition to the OCR and sound track albums, it's been recorded by:

Perry Como (1949)
Frank Sinatra (1949), (1963), (1967)
Bing Crosby (1949)
Al Jolson (1949)
Jo Stafford - Autumn in New York (1950)
Eddie Calvert (1951)
Giorgio Tozzi (1958 for the film soundtrack, 1967 for the Lincoln Center revival cast recording with Florence Henderson)
Andy Williams (from the 1958 album, Andy Williams Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein)
Carl Mann (1960)
Jay and the Americans (1965)
Jane Olivor, on her debut album, First Night (1976)
José Carreras (1986) for a studio cast recording of South Pacific with Kiri Te Kanawa, Mandy Patinkin and Sarah Vaughan
Barbra Streisand (from her 1993 album Back to Broadway)
The Temptations (1995, For Lovers Only)
Bryn Terfel – Something Wonderful: Bryn Terfel Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein (1996)
Philip Quast for the 2002 London revival cast recording of South Pacific
Art Garfunkel (from his 2007 album Some Enchanted Evening)
Paulo Szot – South Pacific (The New Broadway Cast) (200
Harry Connick, Jr. (from his 2009 album Your Songs)
Alfie Boe, on his 2010 album, Bring Him Home
Jackie Evancho, on her 2012 album, Songs from the Silver Screen
Il Divo, on their 2013 album, A Musical Affair

Updated On: 5/25/14 at 09:57 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 9:57am

Broadwaystar,

"Feeling Good" alone has been recorded dozens of times in the last 50 years. Most famously by Nina Simone, Michael Buble, and Sammy Davis Jr., but also by Sheryl Crow, Sophie B. Hawkins, Jay Z and Kanye West, George Michael, Muse, Eels and Jennifer Hudson.

And the Buble and Hudson covers have been used in recent years on tv commercials

OK, many of the songs on my list are not nearly as crossover big.

But what is this huge list of numbers originated by women in musicals that became more popular than the songs on my list (some of which were hugely popular in the 60s, perhaps you are way too young to realize that)?






Updated On: 5/25/14 at 09:57 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 10:04am

Know this one?
tony bennett

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 10:07am

Or this one?


Sammy

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 10:12am

Or this one?


American Hustle soundtrack Updated On: 5/25/14 at 10:12 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 10:14am

Robert Goulet, Robert Goulet, my God Robert Goulet!
your hair streaked with sunlight, your lips red as flame....

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 10:16am

One of Sinatra's countless records of Broadway Boy Tunes
come back to me

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 10:21am

Even girl singers record show tunes for boys (on her huge hit "Promises, Promises" album she also recorded "Where is Love?")


dionne Updated On: 5/25/14 at 10:21 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 10:25am

Big hit song, big emotion, Broadway male lead origination
not just a star but the best one in the sky

[ethan231h]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 10:56am

good Female songs:
Always Starting Over - If/then
Maybe this time - Cabaret
Cabaret - Cabaret
What would you do - Cabaret
Simple Joys - Pippin (revival)
Fly Fly Away - Catch me if you can
It's a Sign - If/Then
Breathe - In the Heights
Watch what Happens - Newsies
In my own little corner - Cinderella
All falls down - Chaplin
My House - Matilda
Theres a fine fine line - Avenue Q
The Witch - Big Fish

Good male songs:
I believe - Book of mormon
Hey Kid - If/Then
Corner of the sky - Pippin
Best worst mistake - If/Then
Let it sing - Violet
I don't care much - Cabaret

There a clearly more better female songs out there!

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 11:23am

^
You must be very, very young.

[veronicamae]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 12:46pm

It would be nice if, for once, genpop didn't set out to disprove that men were better at everything than women. I tossed out the only two male-sung songs from musical theater I knew about before I knew theater. I knew dozens more by women.

Men overwhelmingly dominate the roles on Broadway - even if their songs don't become MAINSTREAM (some need to look up that definition) popular.

Can we just let women have this one win? Geez.

Updated On: 5/25/14 at 12:46 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 1:17pm

"It would be nice if, for once, genpop didn't set out to disprove that men were better at women"

So, you think women are better at women?! That's a whole separate off-topic thread.

[veronicamae]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 1:25pm

^Thanks for pointing out my omission, I've fixed it. :p

p.s. Speaking as a lesbian, yes I do think women are better at women. LOL Updated On: 5/25/14 at 01:25 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 1:29pm

The problem with the concept of this thread is that we have to accept that something appearing in the "mainstream" is proof that it is better than something that does not get widespread acclaim. Having nothing to do with the sex and/or gender of the person singing, I can't support that premise as true.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 2:24pm

Once again, what are these songs sung by women on stage that become more mainstream popular relative to songs sung by men on stage?

First of all, there are very few songs written for the stage - whether originated by male or female characters - that have become widely mainstream popular (the standard being advanced here by some) in the past 40 years.

But if you go back further, for every I Could Have Danced All Night there was an I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face, for every Wouldn't it be Loverly there was an On the Street Where You Live, for every Someone to Watch Over Me there was an Old Man River, for every I Feel Pretty there was an Impossible Dream, for every My Funny Valentine there was an All Through the Night.



Updated On: 5/25/14 at 02:24 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 2:29pm

"I tossed out the only two male-sung songs from musical theater I knew about before I knew theater. I knew dozens more by women. "

Based on the posts it seems that there are a number of songs that you and some of the other young posters were aware of. A good number of the hits from the Rat Pack members were covers of Broadway songs. I would venture you would find far more people familiar with Sinatra's performance of "Luck Be a Lady Tonight," or any of the numerous other Broadway standards that he covered and made a part of the popular repertoire, over "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina." Don Henley covered "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat" for the Leap of Faith soundtrack and that received a lot of radio play and reached 13 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary charts. What major recording/concert artists have covered "Defying Gravity" and made it onto any of Billboard's charts with it?

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 2:33pm

"Once again, what are these songs sung by women on stage that become more mainstream popular relative to songs sung by men on stage?"

Don't Cry For Me Argentina
I Dreamed a Dream
Defying Gravity
Memory
Don't Rain on My Parade
What I Did For Love
Maybe This Time
I Could Have Danced All Night

etc. etc.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 2:48pm

Maybe this Time was written for the movie of Cabaret.

I would concede that the most famous songs from Broadway of the past 45 years - Memory, Don't Cry for Me Argentina, What I Did for Love, Send in the Clowns, and maybe one or two more, were written for women.

Are there that many show songs from this period that are even that famous? - I agree completely with AEA's point that the crossover of any of these songs pales to the popularity routinely reached by show music in the earlier eras.

But going back further than that, and deeper into the time when theater music was popular music, just as many songs written for men were hits as those written for women.

But that's not the point. I can't agree that the best Broadway songs are usually written for women for the simple reason that there are far too many great songs - in any Broadway era - that were written for men.







Updated On: 5/25/14 at 02:48 PM

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 3:36pm

"I can't agree that the best Broadway songs are usually written for women for the simple reason that there are far too many great songs - in any Broadway era - that were written for men."

I agree.