Thirteen female vocalists

Last week’s YouTube Thirteen was so much fun (for me, anyway) that I decided to do another. This one will be musical.

I’ve always preferred women’s voices to men’s, and unusual voices at that. You’ll find some boring old standards here, but I hope a few of these will be new to you.

1. Kate Bush. Damn, she has a weird voice. How does she do that? And why would she want to?

I recalled Kate Bush having a unique performing style in her videos — um, a theatrical flair, yeah, that’s polite — but she certainly inspires people to get the hate on over at YouTube:

My friend recommended this video to me, telling me that her friend made fun of it by dancing along to it. After the summary rape of my eyes, along with the unholy violation of my eardrums, I feel that this video is not fit for human “enjoyment”. I’m sure it goes down a treat in Sado-Masochism circles, but to those of us who actually have taste, it’s nothing more than a very, very painful to watch joke. Burn in hell, Kate Bush.

But I like Wuthering Heights. Even if it does go on. And on. And on.

2. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. I’ve fixed the link. It’s still Bull in the Heather, but no Beavis and Butthead with this one. Sorry.

If you listen to enough Kim Gordon, you’ll eventually think, “Hey, she kinda sounds like Courtney Love.” Then you’ll realize Kim Gordon came way before Courtney Love, and she does her thing way BETTER than Courtney Love. Derivative, much?

Cool fact about Kim Gordon:

Her daughter, Coco Hayley Gordon Moore (by Sonic Youth guitarist/vocalist Thurston Moore) has her own web page, which includes this tidbit:

She also appears on Sonic Youth’s SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century double album, screaming a cover of Yoko Ono’s “Piece for Soprano”.

. . . and no one could tell the difference.

3. Natalie Merchant. Ooh, great sound quality on this one, and Natalie’s just adorable. Long-timers here know she’s one of my big celebrity crushes. What can I say? That voice. That face. Mmmm. Here’s another great one.

And here’s Natalie . . .

4. Julee Cruise. No, not Tom’s sister, the one who got all the talent, but close. If you ever watched Twin Peaks, you’ll remember Julee Cruise; if not, this might be a pleasant surprise for you. Here she is singing in Blue Velvet, a must-see movie for any David Lynch fan. Cruddy sound quality, but I do love that song.

>5. Kate Pierson of the B-52’s: here, singing one of my favorites, Give Me Back My Man. I love a gal who can belt one out. Speaking of belting ’em out . . .

6. Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane — singing, what else? White Rabbit, on the Smothers Brothers show. If you’re wondering whatever-happened-to, here’s the Wiki:

Slick left Starship (and the music business) in 1988 at age 48. During a 1998 interview with VH1 on a Behind the Music documentary featuring Jefferson Airplane, Slick stated that the main reason she retired from the music business was that “all rock-and-rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire.”

And, most recently,

In 2006, Grace suffered from diverticulitis, a common digestive disorder particularly found in the large intestine. After initial surgery, she had a relapse requiring further surgery and a tracheotomy. She was placed in an induced coma for two months and then had to learn to walk again.

Speaking as a surgeon, I can tell there’s a lot more story there. What really happened, I wonder?

Here’s another blast from the past . . .

7. Should Laurie Anderson be called a meta-performer? As my son said when I played this video, “Is that even singing?” Well, Wikipedia calls her an experimental performance artist, and notes several interesting things: she did some voice-acting for The Rugrats Movie, might have been romantically involved with Andy Kaufman, and is NASA’s only “artist in residence.” Check out the Wiki — she’s a very interesting woman . . .

Anderson, who rarely revisits older work (though themes and lyrics occasionally reappear) went on tour performing a selection of her best-known musical pieces in 2001. One of these performances was recorded in New York City only a week after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and included a performance of “O Superman”, a song containing lyrics eerily relevant to the attacks (“Here come the planes; They’re American planes; Made in America; Smoking or non-smoking?”). This concert was released in early 2002 as the double CD, Live in New York.

8. Jacqui McShee of Pentangle. Thanks to Suisan for pointing me in this direction. Here, Pentangle performs Hunting Song, a work with appealing complexity, musically and vocally. “A Thirteenth Century rock and roll song,” they call it. Cool.

9. Annie Lennox. Whatever happened to my CD of Diva? And what about Medusa? I’m always bitching that I’ve run out of things to listen to, and yet Annie Lennox has four solo albums. FOUR. And I don’t own a single Eurythmics CD, either. I have no right to bitch.

She has a slick website. Right now, I’m listening to her cover of Take Me to the River (on Medusa). Not sure I like it better than the Talking Heads version; guess it would depend on my mood.

10. Judy Collins. Yup, more nostalgia. In the linked video, Judy “sings an abbreviated version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Dream,'” whatever that is.

Did you know that “Both Sides Now” was the first song I ever considered a favorite? Guess I was four or five at the time. Soon after that, Judy got bumped aside for the Animals’ “The House of the Rising Sun” (karaoke version of the video — dig those mod outfits!) I’ve always been a sucker for songs in a minor key.

11. Suzanne Vega. Remember Name That Tune? If you don’t remember the title, “Tom’s Diner” (I didn’t), you’ll recognize the tune after four bars.

When I searched YouTube for Suzanne Vega, I found a version of this song which she performed in the virtual world, Second Life. Here’s the link, but I bet you’ll be bored silly by it. Anyway, this was a Significant Event.

On the 3rd of August 2006, Suzanne Vega became the first major recording artist to perform live within a virtual world in avatar form. Suzanne was interviewed by The Infinite Mind’s John Hockenberry within Second Life.

Big deal. You know what? Second Life sucks. When the avatars speak, their lips don’t move. I can’t begin to tell you how much that disturbs me.

12. Billie Holiday, singing “Strange Fruit.” No one sounds like Billie Holiday. It’s so cool that these films exist. Hmm, I wonder if anyone ever filmed/recorded Lotte Lenya?

YES!

Here’s Lotte Lenya singing my favorite song from Threepenny Opera, “Pirate Jenny.” That’s a two-fer, folks, Billie and Lotte for the price of one.

13. Grace Jones. Wow. I’d forgotten how otherworldly she is — voice, performance, everything. She reminds me of a female Henry Cele, and hot damn! She co-starred with Cele in Shaka Zulu: The Citadel. I think if she and Cele were on screen together, my eyes wouldn’t be able to figure out which one to watch, and they’d pop clean out of my head.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give you a link to “Slave to the Rhythm.”

Time for feedback, folks. Have I missed any must-watch female performers? Let me know. Or just say hi. When it comes to linky lurve, I’m a tramp.

Darla’s no obliviot.

Go say something outrageous to sxKitten — she needs something to raise her blood pressure

protected static has his eye on cocaine-smuggling Sri Lankans

Dean and sxKitten, smokin’

Suisan’s kids are back in school

Carrie’s Thirteen New Songs from 2007: I like the Amy Winehouse video, but I want to biopsy that thing on her lip!

Over at Mark’s place, there’s a really dippy college photo of Dubya, and a great link to an Yglesias post

Kate reports that Bam’s book is out. You heard it first. Unless, of course, you heard it at Kate’s place, Bam’s place, Smart Bitches . . . well, you get the idea.

What’s on Sock Monkey’s iPod?

Ishbadiddle has the Onion’s take on Gonzo’s resignation

D.