I love Johnny Mathis' voice; he recorded a lot of Broadway songs over the years, but in listening to some of his albums it seems he tended to avoid the words above and stuck to "you" "we" and "I" in his selection of songs.
Even in "Gypsy" where he sings a lovely version of "Small World", he does "you're a woman with children", but it then goes on to "we have so much in common" as is written. In his recording of "When Sunny Gets Blue", listening to it one can also think it might be about someone named Sonny which sounds the same to the ear. "Misty" and other songs aren't specifically sung to any one gender.
I find it interesting the paradox that Mathis' music, considered great "make out" music, and certainly with straight couples, was being sung by a gay man.
To also keep this also relevant here, other singers would actually change the gender in the song like Jack Jones and other male singers doing "As Long as SHE needs me" from "Oliver!" which really changes the meaning of that sung (he doesn't play it like a battered man).
Also many folks will bring in songs for other genders at musical theatre auditions or sing in nightclubs or concerts. But Mathis is rather interesting in that it seemed he really went out of his way to avoid most gender-related pronouns, etc. in his recordings. I wonder if now that he has come out for a number of years if he as loosened up his pronouns too.
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- re: Did Johnny Mathis specifically avoid lyrics with "he", she", "his" or & ... - JohnDunlop 11:14 pm EDT 09/08/14
- No, but appears he avoided v - garyd 06:25 pm EDT 09/08/14
- why wouldn't he just use "she" then? - Chazwaza 03:37 pm EDT 09/08/14
- Ok, this random post made me think he died - beagleboy 01:30 pm EDT 09/08/14
- re: Did Johnny Mathis specifically avoid lyrics with "he", she", "his" or & ... - Chromolume 12:42 pm EDT 09/08/14 (15)
- re: Did Johnny Mathis specifically avoid lyrics with "he", she", "his" or & ... - wmgrad1976 12:12 pm EDT 09/08/14 (3)
- re: Did Johnny Mathis specifically avoid lyrics with "he", she", "his" or & ... - Alcindoro 11:58 am EDT 09/08/14
- re: Did Johnny Mathis specifically avoid lyrics with "he", she", "his" or & ... - davei2000 11:56 am EDT 09/08/14 (14)
- re: Did Johnny Mathis specifically avoid lyrics with "he", she", "his" or & ... - Delvino 11:48 am EDT 09/08/14
- re: Did Johnny Mathis specifically avoid lyrics with "he", she", "his" or & ... - twocents 11:34 am EDT 09/08/14 (11)
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