Best boy/girl music?
Forgive me if the following are worthless stereotypes: in my experience, I’ve found that 1) a lot of men who think they can sing actually can’t, and 2) a lot of women who think they can’t sing actually can. Maybe they can’t belt out “Respect” or “Me and Bobby McGee,” but they can sing, dammit.
Such is the case with Anna Dennehey, the keyboard twiddler in our band project. She allowed us to record her singing, and lo and behold, she’s way better than me. I can hit notes and that’s about it. Anna’s got a little bit of that je ne sais quoi that singers are supposed to have.
Yet she won’t put up with a female-fronted band — too much pressure. So I’m trying to make an argument for two vocalists. It worked for the Mamas and the Papas (RIP Denny Doherty, by the way), right? And one of my favorite gimmicks in pop music is the call-and-answer duet between male and female vocalists.
So help me out here. What are your favorite songs featuring male and female vocalists? Add to the list below:
- Mamas & Papas songs
- Fleetwood Mac songs
but especially the ones where the vocalists trade off, e.g.
- Head East, “Never Been any Reason”
- Human League, “Don’t You Want Me” (”You were working as a waitress” / “I was working as a waitress”)
- Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell songs: “You’re All I Need to Get By,” etc…. and Marvin Gaye / Kim Weston, “It Takes Two”
- My Bloody Valentine, “Feed Me with Your Kiss”
- The Jesus and Mary Chain (Jim Reid)/Hope Sandoval, “Sometimes Always”
- Johnny and June Carter Cash, “Jackson”
- uhh… “I Got You Babe,” maybe?
- …and the best contemporary boy/girl group, The Stars: “The Big Fight,” “Calendar Girl,” etc. BEAUTIFUL songs.
(and no, Bill Medley/Jennifer Warnes would not make a good argument, thank you very much).
EDIT: Sorry about all of the comments that haven’t been showing up. I’m moderating them these days, and I forgot to check my moderation queueueeueeeue.