32 Queer Covers Of Songs by Straight Artists Because Everything’s Better When It’s Gayer

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This post was originally published in September 2014 and has been updated and re-vamped with new artists and songs in February 2021.

My friends, I love a cover. I love covers so much I watched every season of Glee. But most of all I love queer covers, aka queer people covering songs. Give me a gay cover! Let us share in this love together? I attempted to only pick songs that had videos where things happened, like people singing for example, but some covers were too good to skip even though their video was audio-only. ALSO I was looking for songs usually by male artists about women so we could have some pronoun fun but also there are exceptions to that as well because of goodness and my personal desires. I also was looking for covers of songs by straight artists but I have indicated where that premise was slightly compromised. Lez begin!

Miya Folick, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” (Death Cab for Cutie)

Tracy Chapman, “Stand By Me” (Ben E King)

Alex G, “Perfect” (Ed Sheehan)

Joy Oladokun, “My Girl” (The Temptations)

Marika Hackman, “Between the Bars” (Elliot Smith)

Be Steadwell, “Use Somebody” (Kings of Leon)

Brandi Carlile, “Wildflowers” (Tom Petty)

Julia Nunes & dodie & Orla Garland, “God is a Woman”  (Ariana Grande)

(as far as i know, orla is not queer, but the other two people in this are!)

Hayley Kiyoko, “Mr Brightside” (The Killers)

Rebecca Black, “Love Me Two Times” (The Doors)

Note: Jim Morrisson may have been bisexual.

Jessica Betts, “I Kissed a Girl” (Katy Perry)

Japanese Breakfast, “Head Over Heels” (Tears for Fears)

King Princess, “Happy Together” (The Turtles)

Joan Jett, “Crimson and Clover” (Tommy James)

Janelle Monae, “I Want You Back” (The Jackson 5)

Sara Ramirez, “Chasing Cars” (Snow Patrol)

Unfortunately she is not the only singer on this track but we have what we have

Demi Lovato, “Take Me To Church” (Hozier)

Kai Mata, “Riptide” (Vance Joy)

k.d. lang, “Crazy” (Patsy Cline)

Katie Melua, “Just Like Heaven” (The Cure)

Melissa Etheridge, “Brown Eyed Girl” (Van Morrison)

Indigo Girls, “Romeo and Juliet” (Dire Straits)

Holly Miranda, “Lover You Should’ve Come Over” (Jeff Buckley)

Me’Shell NdegéOcello, “Who Is He and What Is He To You” (Bill Withers)

St. Vincent, “Lithium” (Nirvana cover, performed with surviving members of Nirvana)

Note: Kurt Cobain was possibly bisexual but this has not been definitively declared. Also Pat Smear is bisexual.

Lily Brown, “Rude” (Magic)

This song is actually unbearable in its heterosexual version but delightful when it’s gay.

Mary Lambert, “Teenage Dirtbag” (Wheatus)

Tayla Parks, “What’s Going On” (Marvin Gaye)

Halsey “Sucker” (Jonas Brothers)

K’s Choice, “Yellow” (Coldplay)

Tegan & Sara, “Dancing in the Dark” (Bruce Springsteen)

Santana Lopez and Brittany S Pierce, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” (Whitney Houston)

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Riese is the 39-year-old Co-Founder and CEO of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, blogger, fictionist, copywriter, video-maker and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and then headed West. Her work has appeared in nine books including "The Bigger the Better The Tighter The Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty, Body Image & Other Hazards Of Being Female," magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

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96 Comments

  3. For some reason the second half of this list won’t load on any internet-having device I own, but I’m hoping against hope that someone has finally made a queer lady cover of “Scotty Doesn’t Know” and that it’s on this list.

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  8. Me and two of my friends played She Will Be Loved at a gig for LGBTQ charities a few months back :) It was one of those songs that if you listen too closely can feel really creepy but if you let it can sound beautiful.

    I’m gonna put most of these songs on a Youtube playlist.

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  9. Wait wait wait. Julia Nunes is confirmed lesbian, queer, or bisexual??? OH MY GOD OH MY GOD how did I miss this? She was totally my middle school crush (pre queer awakening). Also, this post is my new fave thing.

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    • Not much of joiner or one prone to fan-girlishness but I managed to get close to the stage when she started singing Crimson and Clover and suddenly Beatlemania made much more sense to me than I ever though it would….

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  28. I am so thankful this article exists and I am especially thankful for that cover by Melissa Etheridge.

    The Alex Parks cover of “Yellow” is also pretty fabulous. I like it better than the original version.

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  44. Kitty Crimes does a kickass, queerified version of the Violent Femmes’ “Lemme Go On” that I am DYING to find somewhere so I can download it!!

    (As far as I know, it’s on exactly one 8tracks playlist and one live video online)

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  50. there’s a version of The Highwayman (useless name, I know. especially when you’re listening to folk music) that’s sung by a lady who is talking about how the singer became a bandit for their wife.
    also, if you want queer (gender) folk songs, In London so Fair is about a girl dressing up as a boy to become a sailor

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    • You are referring to the title track from the debut album by The Highwomen. They are a folk/country all-female “supergroup” answer to the old-school all-male Highwaymen. The group is Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, Natalie Hemby and Maren Morris. The whole album is AMAZING and also includes a lesbian cowboy song!

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  53. Queer person covering straight people songs and making them gay is kind of my schtick, but with less pop than this list. In the pre-pandemic times, I did schtick-y gigs where I’d cover hardcore, metal, grunge, and punk on piano & talk about music history. I’ve got two albums (one of punk/metal/grunge covers and one called Creepy Christmas: Carols in Minor Keys).

    Anyway, cool list. Enjoyed this.

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