Bob Dylan, Kesha reimagine popular love songs to honor LGBTQ couples
"Love is universal. Shouldn't love songs be too?" Musical artists switch pronouns on popular love songs to celebrate same-sex couples.
Kesha and Bob Dylan have reimagined popular love sons to honor the LGBTQ community. AP
By Vanessa Guillen Matheus, NBC NEWS
Bob Dylan, Kesha and St. Vincent are among the musical artists who have reimagined popular love songs to honor the LGBTQ community, and they are doing so by switching pronouns.
The six-song album, “Universal Love,” was released digitally Thursday and includes Benjamin Gibbard of alternative band Death Cab for Cutie, singer-songwriter Valerie June and Kele Okereke of the indie rock group Bloc Party.
"Love is universal. Shouldn't love songs be too?," a website created for the album states.
Universal Love Artists. Album of Reimagined Love Songs Features Artistic Vision of Bob Dylan, Kesha, Benjamin Gibbard, St. Vincent, Valerie June and Kele Okereke.MGM Resorts
Dylan reworked “She’s Funny That Way” into “He’s Funny That Way,” singing lines like “I got a man crazy for me.” Others have changed the pronoun of the classic song in the past, but they were mainly women, including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Liza Minnelli, Etta James and Diana Ross.
Kesha, who has a large gay fan base and has been a longtime supporter of equal rights for the LGBTQ community, closes the album with “I Need a Woman to Love Me,” a spinoff of Janis Joplin’s “I Need a Man to Love Me.”
"I've always been an advocate for equal rights. It's an issue that is so close to my heart. It is something that is part of my family, part of my friends and is a part of me," Kesha said in a video interview released with the album. "When I was approached for this project, I instantly said yes. It was a no brainer, and I fought my entire life and my whole career for equality, and I will continue to do so forever."
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