A WOMAN’S VOICE
The rise of the female voice in
songwriting and the nation.
Alexis Ketchum and Miranda Davis
As an entire nation of women
decided they didn’t want to be
their mothers, these women
stepped into the limelight.
Out of an era of vastly changing roles
and ideals, this group of women
emerged singing their own song, and a
nation of women learned the words.
Free Love*
*Some terms and conditions apply.
In her book Women and Popular Music, Sheila Whiteley
states, “it was apparent that feminism was failing to
confront the realities of women who not only loved, but
liked men and who were equally concerned with equality
and sexual politics.” She goes on to say that, “both the
lifestyle and the music ethos of the period undermined
the role of women, positioning them as either
romanticized fantasy figures, subservient earth mothers or
easy lays…taken to extremes, sexual liberation becomes a
disguised form of sexual oppression. In the past women
were condemned for being whores; today women are
condemned for being virgins.”
*Whitely 76
• Number one album for 15 weeks
• Remained on the charts for six years
• King has written or co-written more than 100 chart hits.
• Song-writers Hall of Fame
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Award for Pop Song
*Caroleking.com
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
(Originally recorded by the Shirelles, but written by King)
I Feel the Earth Move.
(Tapestry, 1971)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QxOZSQdDX4
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down
I just lose control
Down to my very soul
I get a hot and cold all over
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down,
Tumbling down, tumbling down...
http://youtu.be/GLA7sanwnN8
Tonight you're mine completely
You give your love so sweetly
Tonight the light of love is in your eyes
Will you still love me tomorrow?
Is this a lasting treasure
Or just a moment's pleasure?
Can I believe the magic of your sighs?
Will you still love me tomorrow?
Tonight with words unspoken
And you say that I'm the only one, the only one, yeah
But will my heart be broken
When the night meets the morning star?
I'd like to know that your love
Is love I can be sure of
So tell me now, cause I won't ask again
Will you still love me tomorrow?
This song was female centered, told from the
This song reflects the questions that must have
woman’s point of view. It expressed clearly
been on the minds of many young women
what the woman was feeling, what she wanted etc.
who were exploring their sexuality and freedom
Interestingly, “feeling the earth move” was a
and dealing with the emotional repercussions of
euphemism for a female orgasm.
Their actions.
*Carolking.com
That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard it Should Be
http://youtu.be/Ux7HgO9QhAc
My father sits at night with no lights on
His cigarette glows in the dark.
The living room is still;
I walk by, no remark.
I tiptoe past the master bedroom where
My mother reads her magazines.
I hear her call sweet dreams,
But I forgot how to dream.
But you say it's time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be:
You want to marry me, we'll marry.
My friends from college they're all married now;
They have their houses and their lawns.
They have their silent noons,
Tearful nights, angry dawns.
Their children hate them for the things they're not;
They hate themselves for what they areAnd yet they drink, they laugh,
Close the wound, hide the scar.
But you say it's time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be:
You want to marry me, we'll marry.
You say we can keep our love alive
Babe - all I know is what I see The couples cling and claw
And drown in love's debris.
You say we'll soar like two birds through the
clouds,
But soon you'll cage me on your shelf I'll never learn to be just me first
By myself.
Well O.K., it's time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be,
You want to marry me, we'll marry,
We'll marry.
This song takes a very honest look at marriage and love.
Beginning with a look at a parents loveless marriage, the failing
marriages of friends, and then the words of her lover. The song
begins with hesitation to buy into the same lives as her parents
and friends, but the eventual decision to marry.
*Carlysimon.com
Carly Simon’s controversial album
cover to the album Playing Possum.
*Carlysimon.com
Norman Seeff 1975
Due to childhood polio, Joni
had diminished hand strength
and could not play the guitar
as most people did. Out of
necessity, and because of her
creativity, she created a
guitar style completely her
own.
All I Want
http://youtu.be/W17kePv4s3Y
You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSSi4jZsDmo
Oh honey you turn me on
I'm a radio
…
You get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women
'Cause they're hip to your tricks…
*Jonimitchell.com
I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be
Oh I hate you some, I hate you some, I
love you some
Oh I love you when I forget about me
…
Song For Sharon
http://youtu.be/rG0kNny3WlY
I can keep my cool at poker
But I'm a fool when love's at stake…
But all I really want to do right now
Is find another lover…
He showed me first you get the kisses
And then you get the tears
But the ceremony of the bells and lace
Still veils this reckless fool here…
Mitchell herself said; “There
was no free love…It came
with great strings attached. It
was free for men, but not for
women, same as it ever was.”
*Judy Kutulas 691
“Unlike the scattered successful women singers of
some years ago, many of today’s female singer
songwriters talk about what they’re feeling now, not
what society might still think they should feel. Too
often, I think, songs by women have been merely a
reaction to the male point of view, a reaction to what
some man has done to them or what they hope some
man will do for them—i.e. marry them and let them
have his kids.”
*Lynn Van Matre 125
Works Cited
1. "Carole King." Bio. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014. <http://www.caroleking.com/bio>.
2. Carole King, Tapestry, Lou Adler, 1971 by Ode Records, Compact Disc.
3. Cateforis, Theo, and Lynn Van Matre. "Singing- Songwriters (1971 is Woman's World)." The Rock History Reader.
New York: Routledge, 2007. 125-126. Print.
4. Mitchell, Joni, For the Roses, 1972 by Asylum Records, Compact Disc.
5. O’Brien, Lucy. "Ladies of the Canyon." She Bop II: the Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop, and Soul. London:
Continuum, 2002. 179-187. Print.
6. O'Hagan, Sean . "Joni Mitchell: the sophistication of her music sets her apart from her peers – even Dylan."
thegaurdian. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. http://www.theguardian.com
7. Seeff, Norman, Playing Possum Album Cover Photo, Photograph, April 1975.
8. Simon, Carly. "Carly Simon - Biography / Awards." Carly Simon Official Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
http://www.carlysimon.com/Biography.html
9. Simon, Carly and Jacob Brackman, That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard it Should Be on Carly
Simon, 1971 by
Elektra Records, Compact Disc.
10. Simon, Carly and Richard Perry, No Secrets, 1972 by Elektra Records, Compact Disc.
11. Kutulas, J.. ""That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be": Baby Boomers, 1970s Singer-Songwriters, and
Romantic Relationships." Journal of American History 97.3 (2010): 682-702. Print.