Just got off the phone with my sister who loves folk music. She quoted a piece about all the lyrics beginning "As i walked out one midsummer morning", etc., saying that this allowed a guy to sing in a woman's voice. For instance, "Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, / I heard a maiden sing in the valley below", that old classic.
She was talking about how people often change up pronouns in cover versions - Joni Mitchell doing "Me and My Uncle" - but Joan Baez almost never does: "Fennario", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Long Black Veil", the list is a long one.
And then there's Johnny Cash doing "A Boy Named Sue": "My name is Sue / How do you do / Now you gonna die!".
Cheers,
John
Mark, i agree it seems a tragedy not to link to The Pogues. And here's Joan Baez, singing "As we marched down to Fennario":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK-SrZhbAyI