a request for some music

[meitachi]

Flist, I need a favor from you, if possible, for my Politics of Sexuality class.

From the perspective of Queer Theory, create a “playlist” of at least 5 songs (and no more than 10 songs), which challenge the dominant construction of sexuality in American culture. Explain how the songs that you have selected contribute to the construction of sexual identities and whether they do, in fact, represent a form of cultural politics.

Can any of you who have songs that you feel challenge heterosexuality, heteronormativity, etc. please upload them for me? I've realized that I have an abysmal lack of appropriate songs. One I do have that I hope serves as an example is "The Pipettes - School Uniform" whose lyrics contain the following:

I like a girl in uniform (school uniform)
I like a boy in uniform (school uniform)
'Cause not everything is uniform (school uniform)
I wanna kiss everyone in uniform

This challenges the dominant idea that sexuality is attraction directed at only one gender (the opposite gender). So anything similar to this would be helfpul. Another song I thought I might use is "tatu - Malchik Gay". So if could help, thank you! :D


For once, a non-SuJu related post! Shocking! (For the record though, I am crazy in love with Donghae at the moment. Has anyone subbed the Sohu StarChat yet? Must inflict on the flist...)

Comments

[meiface.livejournal.com]

♥♥ Thank you! (I saw your recent post about taking a step back from LJ and stuff. I hope you're doing all right. ::hugs::)

[aisutennyo.livejournal.com]

Check out any of the lyrics from the Broadway show RENT... You might want to try, like, La Vie Boheme?

If I understood your assignment correctly, that might help you. If you want any of the songs, just comment my journal with the name(s).

[philalethia.livejournal.com]

Broken Social Scene – I'm Still Your Fag (http://www.sendspace.com/file/ua3rkm) [lyrics (http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858516576)] This depends a little on how you interpret the song, whether it's a man having an affair with a married man or a man finding out one of his ex-lovers is now married to a woman. Either way, the song kind of contains the idea that you can't run from or "fix" homosexuality by getting into a relationship with the opposite gender. It either refuses to be repressed, or it's part of your history that will always stay with you no matter what you do (hence the "I'm still your fag").

Loudon Wainwright III – I Wish I Was a Lesbian (http://www.sendspace.com/file/8ib36l) [lyrics (http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858624452)] I don't like this song, but it fits. It challenges the idea that homosexuality is a choice by showing a woman who can't make herself a lesbian just because she wants to be one.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you for both the songs and the thoughtful explanations of why you chose them. These are very helpful. :D

[mezi99360.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have the song, but what about that one that says something about "You've got a boyfriend/who looks like a girlfriend" in the chorus? I can't remember the name of the song, buttttt hopefully you know which one I mean :x

[ilovekennytala.livejournal.com]

the songs called somebody told me by the killers if that helps

[prillalar]

You and Your Friend / Snake River Conspiracy - poly
http://www.sendspace.com/file/za7etl

Who Treats You Right / Pansy Division - queer core
http://www.sendspace.com/file/1n2808

Son of a Preacher Man / Cam Clarke - recontextualized by performance
http://www.sendspace.com/file/573e27

Tim, I Wish You Were Born a Girl / Of Montreal - hmm
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qbr6nv

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, Hal. *___*

[dimloep-suum.livejournal.com]

"Son of a Preacher Man / Cam Clarke - recontextualized by performance"

I am loving this so much! Thank you!

[life-of-eden.livejournal.com]

"Love and Attraction" by Darren Hayes (http://www.mediafire.com/?kljxyjbtuzg) One of my favorite songs ever, actually, and fits what you're looking for pretty well, I think :) Some of the lyrics (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/darrenhayes/loveandattraction.html) include:

"I want her, she wants him, he wants me, I give in.
I want her, I want him, I don't want anything.
I started questioning, the rules of coupling.
This strip is mobius, it's never ending"

and

"Everybody wants someone to hold.
Everybody wants to choose a role.
Ain't nobody willing to break the mold.
No hint of bravery."


Hope this helps!

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Oooh, the lyrics sounds good and applicable. I'm sure I can make it fit. Thank you much, Eden~ ♥

One of my favorites:

[angelinaii.livejournal.com]

Cherry Lips by Garbage Lyrics (http://www.lyrics007.com/Garbage%20Lyrics/Cherry%20Lips%20Lyrics.html)
"With your cherry lips and golden curls
You could make grown men gasp
When you'd go walking past them
In your hot pants and high heels
They could not believe
That such a body was for real
It seemed like rainbows would appear
Whenever you came near the clouds would disappear
Because you looked just like a girl
Your baby blues would flash
And suddenly a spell was cast"

Re: One of my favorites:

[meiface.livejournal.com]

*__* thank you! (I should probably join imeem to dl these things, hah.)

[forochel.livejournal.com]

..............well, I could point you in the general direction of bandom.

Um, I'd say Bang The Doldrums but Pete added in "lipstick" to ", so. Thks Fr The Mmrs (http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858644395)? It's just the one line - "he tastes like you only sweeter", but that kind of just shows Pete's....pansexualness? IDK. He is now engaged to Ashlee Simpson, I say randomly.

I LACK GAY SONGS. what is this. ):

[forochel.livejournal.com]

OH HOLY CRAP HOW COULD I FORGET.

FRANZ FERDINAND'S MICHAEL. LYRICS HERE (http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858494960).

And Cobra Starship's Smile For The Paparazzi -
"Thank you, no
(While it's hot)
But I don't need to go to that spot
(While it's hot)
Get these climbers off my jock
Yeah, gotta step away from my jock
Step the fuck off my jock"

[jaded-skys.livejournal.com]

Michael - Franz Ferdinand
this is who I am, I am a man, so come and dance with me Michael~

If you'd like an upload it'll have to wait until tonight. >.>

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Oooh, irrelevantly, what day exactly are you leaving for Korea? I need to write you fic and I need to make sure I do it before you're gone. :D;

[nightengale.livejournal.com]

Oh hellO.


take your partner by the hand
- self-explanatory. encompasses trans, les, gay, and straight.
- http://www.mediafire.com/?jignvcjnrnw

viz
- i really have no idea what's goin on here, but it's a song that deals directly with sexual attraction by a lesbian band. and the last line is always kicker.
- http://www.mediafire.com/?bozemfzhdih

a better son/daughter
- not sure if this will help. but what this one does is equates the roles of son and daughter as interchangeable - basically saying that being a "child" is the definition, not a gendered child.
- http://www.mediafire.com/?mlgd3gyxyly

hit me baby one more time
- sung by a man. does that count?
- http://www.mediafire.com/?uycliv9yvum

woman like a man
- heh. yeah.
- http://www.mediafire.com/?nwgzmwwndqn

nature boy
- had an instinct to include this one. perhaps because the gender of the boy matters so little. It may not help at all, but am tossing it in in case it does.
- http://www.mediafire.com/?yljs1nm2ylg

down boy
- a clear reversed relationship in terms of gender roles. the woman is giving the orders and the man is the one following, and dependent, on her.
- http://www.mediafire.com/?zikkzutln9l

i'll cover you
- a classic love song of equal dependence, sung by two males (one of whom identifies as female).
- http://www.mediafire.com/?1vwyzclhmjd

la vie boheme
- the song of the otherculture. really, just look up the lyrics on this one - too many useful phrases blow by in the space of ten seconds for you to really get it all on a listen.
- http://www.mediafire.com/?wtd0yqofyjt

tonight i wanna be your man
- more oblique, but it's always struck me as crucially interesting that in this song - a country one, from the genre that never fails to feminize women and butchify men - there is no reference at all to the spoken-to partner's gender. american sensibilities assume it has to be a woman, but nothing HE says forces that, or even suggests it, if you posit the possibility/legality of same-sex marriage and wedding bands.
this kind of inclusion is as important as explicit inclusion, i think, and i will, eventually, get around to making a big opinion post about the difficulty of finding theme/character songs for gay characters and gay relationships (and this is just my flagstaff song for that eventual post. this song is also included on joey's insistence, because it's his Song with one of his boys).
- http://www.mediafire.com/?zolw9lttjmm

I know i have more, and probably a lot more, but digging them out of the library is difficult when I don't know titles (thank god for googling lyrics). How long do i have to remember them and send them to you?

Also, can i have School Uniform, please (which also challenges the default role of men in uniform/women at home, along with the other challenge you mentioned)? :D

[meiface.livejournal.com]

OH WIFE. ♥♥♥ I knew I could count on you. Thank you so much. Uploading School Uniform for you now~

[nightengale.livejournal.com]

oh also -

master and servant
- sex games, role reversal, power play
- http://www.mediafire.com/?j2m1jovmigz

[bobrhyn.livejournal.com]

Haha, well, my Gay playlist is 94 songs long (though some people might say that some don't count, coughcertainPrinceofTennissongscough), but um, here are some that might fit the occasion.

Mika - Billy Brown (http://www.sendspace.com/file/r1bqv3) had lived an ordinary life / two kids a dog and a precautionary wife / and it was all going according to plan / then Billy Brown fell in love with another man (also it's Mika, so it's catchy as hell, and by the way, if you don't have more Mika let me know and I will SPAM YOU LIKE CRAZY OH GOODNESS seek to remedy this)

Blur - Girls and Boys (http://www.sendspace.com/file/n99ne2) Girls Who Are Boys / Who Like Boys To Be Girls / Who Do Boys Like They're Girls / Who Do Girls Like They're Boys / Always Should Be Someone You Really Love

Kinks - Lola (http://www.sendspace.com/file/x9sh6w) Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand / Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man

Stephen Lynch - If I Were Gay (http://www.sendspace.com/file/3zo79g) You probably have this one, and I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for, but just in case.

Rufus Wainwright - The Origin of Love (http://www.sendspace.com/file/v57o26) Kind of one of the most amazing songs ever recorded, and I don't know if it counts but everyone in the world should have it, imo, so.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Your comment is super, super helpful, thank you so much. These songs all seem very relevant and I think I will use at least three of them. :D

I do have Stephen Lynch but the only Rufus Wainwright song I have is him singing "Bewitched" off The History Boys OST (amazing movie, you should see it if you haven't yet). ♥♥

though some people might say that some don't count, coughcertainPrinceofTennissongscough

LOL. oh PoT

[risabet.livejournal.com]

Well, borderline. Weezer - Pink triangle ("I'm dumb, she's a lesbian / I thought I had found the one"). I'm so sorry I can't upload it ;-;


(I thought I should contribute as a byebye before full hiatus ^^;)

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Riiiisaa I will miss you a lot. ♥ But don't spend time feeling bad about fandom, we will always love you and welcome you when you come back. :D

[rawthorne.livejournal.com]

I.. drew a blank, but while this isn't totally American (what with it being a Beatles song) it is sung by an American girl in this version:



Also, it is awesome.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

It's really interesting how the dynamics/intentions of a song change as soon as you change the gender of the singer. "Bewitched" by Rufus Wainwright for example...

[peachpastiche.livejournal.com]

Erm, I don't think I have it on my computer, but there's Jill Sobule - I Kissed A Girl

[efio-47.livejournal.com]

It looks like you've got plenty already, but here's another one anyways:

She Has A Girlfriend Now (http://www.mediafire.com/?d21mze3rayi) by Reel Big Fish
Not exactly deep, but definitely direct about it.
Totally snagging all the songs on this post. The Origin of Love is an amazing song, btw. I like the Hedwig and the Angry Inch version better though.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

thank you! i should go dl 'the origin of love' now... i mostly spent time compiling stuff for my essay and since that one wasn't directly relevant, i didn't dl it at first.

[velvetiine.livejournal.com]

Well, someone already pointed out Garbage's Cherry Lips, so.. here (http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=34119)'s lyrics for their 'Androgyny' ?

I'll attempt to upload it when I'm not supposed to be sleeping, ahah.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

thank you! if you have time to upload, i'd really appreciate it. if you don't, that's all right too. i seem to have quite a selection of songs now. :D

[dimloep-suum.livejournal.com]

I just thought of one! Kinda-maybe! Tori Amos - Raspberry Swirl (http://www.mediafire.com/?0d1yxpzecgi)

Things are getting desperate
When all the boys can't be men
Everybody knows
I'm her friend
Everybody knows
I'm her man

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Oooh thank you for this. :)