Our local indie radio station, WXPN, has invited their listeners to vote for their top ten greatest songs by women, which will ultimately be culled to create a playlist (thus far 885 songs deep!) that will run on the weekend of December 5th.
I interpreted the request to mean the greatest female vocal performances…and as such I thought it would be fun to share my list.
- Speak Low – Sarah Vaughan
- I Know – Fiona Apple
- Move on Up a Little Higher – Mahalia Jackson
- Like the Way I Do – Melissa Etheridge
- Feeling Good – Nina Simon
- The Story – Brandi Carlile
- Rolling in the Deep – Adele
- Valerie – Amy Winehouse
- Me and Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin
- Zombie – The Cranberries
Share your own list or favorite female vocal performances in the comments!
The Schleicher Spin 
1. Nina Simone “ne me quitte pas”
2. Billie Holiday “strange fruit”
3. Patti Smith “because the night”
4. Amy Winehouse “back to black”
5. Corinne Bailey Rae “like a star”
6. Aretha Franklin “think”
7. PJ Harvey “come on Billy”
8. Janis Joplin “cry baby”
9. Dusty Springfield “son of a preacherman”
10. Shannon Wright “Father”
Love it! Great list. I thought of Strange Fruit after making the list and was like “how could I have left that off!?”
Thank you.
I didn’t really thought about but I think my choices spontaneaously reflect what I like much.