I know that it was more than a week ago that Simon Cowell referred to "I Drove All Night" as "just not a great song" after Carly Smithson nailed it, but it’s still bugging me. Do you have to be a woman to love this track?
It was written by two men, who took it to Roy Orbison first, but Cyndi Lauper’s version has become one of the great odes to female sexual empowerment. (As opposed to Celine Dion’s sterile cover.) Maybe that’s all men can hear now. Simon’s comment got me wondering: are there songs that only one sex will "get"?
And which cut of "I Drove all Night" is best? You’ll have to write-in Celine’s, because your official ballot only includes:
Cyndi Lauper’s
Roy Orbison’s (hello, Jason Priestley and Jennifer Connelly!)
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The Tubes’ “Drivin’ All Night”–a much better song.
I like Cyndi Lauper’s version best.
I like both but I think Cyndi’s is better.
A great song is a great song; doesn’t matter what gender you are. Don’t care for ‘I drove all night’ though; no matter whose version it is. The ‘two men’ in question are Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, who wrote a lot of songs of that period(the Bangles Eternal Flame and I believe Madonna’s Like a Virgin) for example. Just not a memorable song.
I prefer the pinmonkey’s version from the rest but I have never been a big Cyndi Lauper fan. After hearing Carly I went straight to my ipod to here theirs.
Cyndi’s vocals, Roy’s video.
I don’t know about individual songs, but I’ve found from experience that the band RUSH has mostly a male fan base. Don’t know why.
Roy Orbison’s a genius, but the Cyndi Lauper version of “I Drove All Night” is the better one. Everything from her beautiful, aching wailing to the opening, powerful strings. Excellent.
I don’t know but I think you nailed why I don’t like Celine Dion. She is completely without emotion. Sure she can hit the notes but who cares if doesn’t mean anything?
I prefer the Orbison version, mostly because Cyndi’s vocal tics tend to annoy me. Eric, you may be right about Rush – I like them but only after my husband spent years convincing me how good they are. In my experience, it’s the singer/band and not the song that divides the sexes…I don’t know one straight man who likes Celine Dion, for example, no matter what song she sings. Even “You Shook me all Night Long.”
Cyndi Lauper’s is the better of the 2 BUT I prefer Celine’s verion above all of them.
Cyndi Lauper’s is the better of the 2 BUT I prefer Celine’s verion above all of them.
Cyndi Lauper’s is the better of the 2 BUT I prefer Celine’s verion above all of them.
Cindy Laupers version of I drove all night is one of the Most Played songs on my Itunes. Tis’ the better one. But, I must ask. Is Jennifer Connelly a vampire? the girl’s been around forever and she still looks the same.
Cyndi’s version is the definitive to me. And I like Celine, but she has a way of sucking the life out of a cover. Heard her version of Heart’s “Alone” on her new album yet? Stunningly clinical and soulless and it may even be a single! She needs new people on her team—that husband of hers doesn’t have an ear to what sells now.
shame on you mandi. first you extol carly for nailing the song and then don’t offer her up as an option for the best cut of this song? i only own one version of this fab song. and it is carly’s! those last two high notes make me smile everytime, even at mile 5 of my half-marathon training. why couldn’t they have done a full treatment of this song for her?
Cyndi all the way. Celine’s version is a big disappointment.
Cyndi without a doubt. I LOVE her version.
Back to the original question — I would say there are definitely songs that only appeal to one gender. A lot of bubblegum pop (Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Britney Spears, etc.) is “chick” music.
Cyndi’s. Music is about mood, headspace and other factors, but gender isn’t one of them.
A good song is a good song.
I like them both, don’t think I could decide on one over the other. I once spent a day driving around to record stores trying to find a copy of Roy Orbison’s. And the observation about Celine has been made before…the Quebecois singer/songwriter Luc Plamondon once said that he found her pretty uninteresting in English but that she was transcendent when singing in French.
Eric,
It is true. Rush has mostly a male fan base. It is one of those weird phenomenons. I am a girl and I always admired Lee, Lifeson, and Peart for thier amazing arragements. Sure a lot of their work is over 6 mins. long but it is like listening to a three man orchestra rather than a rock band.
I like Orbisons video but when I think of “I drove all Night”, I think of Cindi.
Tori Amos would mostly likely fit into the strictly womans artist category.
Seems to me that Pink Floyd has a primarily male fanbase … but the first song that popped into my head was “Radar Love” by Golden Earring. Totally a guy song.
I agree that certain artists and songs may generally appeal to one gender more than the other. However, the discussion here seems to limit that to heterosexuals. If you’re going to discuss something like this, you can’t differentiate simply based on gender. For example, an artist like Madonna enjoys more overall appeal among women rather than men; however, some of her most fervent fans are gay men. To say that music like hers is “chick music” completely glosses over this point and, frankly, ignores a segment of the population that is a voracious consumer of pop culture. At the same time, there are probably lots of gay guys that couldn’t care less about Madonna (although I don’t know any) and would resent being categorized as such (which, um, I guess I kind of just did). In the end, I guess this just shows that you can’t be stereotyped (if you’re an artist) based on who you supposedly appeal to and (if you’re a fan) based on who’s music you enjoy. So basically I could have just summed up my point in two sentences instead of a whole paragraph….
Any time I hear women getting down to “roll b*tch, get out the way” I’m wondering why any woman would dig such a mysoginistic song. For that matter, why would any woman dig on 2 Live Crew? Flipside to that, I’d argue that there are few guys who have a flavor for Tori Amos, Ani Difranco or KD Lang. But be aware there’ll be exceptions to every rule.
I’m with Mandi on the Cyndi version of this song. I have always found it to be a powerful expression of female empowerment and I love Cyndi’s wailing. I think it is hard for me to be objective because I love her version so much. Is that a clear enough answer?
Cyndi’s is a dream. It’s just that great.
cyndi’s. duh.
I don’t think songs are gender specific. I love pure pop music like Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Madonna, Britney, Cyndi, etc. and singer/songwriters like Tori which some have said is “chick music” but I also like “guy music” genres like hard rock and rap. Why do we need to categorize art into these strict categories?
That being said, I like Cyndi’s version better. Roy Orbison’s voice bothers me. And Celine’s song was a good dance bit, but she lacks all passion and emotion.