Hear Bob Dylan, St. Vincent, Ben Gibbard, & More Sing About Gay Love On New Covers Comp Universal Love
Universal Love is a new six-song compilation on which noteworthy musicians tweak the lyrics on well-known classics to turn them into gay love songs. Funded by MGM Resorts International, the project is designed to be a collection of wedding anthems for same-sex couples, according to a new feature in The New York Times. Universal Love is officially out tomorrow, but the whole thing is already streaming today.
A mix of gay and straight artists contributed to the project. Bob Dylan leads off the comp by continuing his late-career fascination with ancient American standards, transforming “She’s Funny That Way” into “He’s Funny That Way.” St. Vincent is up next, flipping the Crystals’ “And Then He Kissed Me” into a fuzzed-out “And Then She Kissed Me.” Bloc Party leader Kele Okereke then sings the Temptations’ “My Girl” as a solo acoustic “My Guy.”
From there, Valerine June turns Dinah Washington’s “Mad About The Boy” into “Mad About The Girl,” Death Cab For Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard changes the Beatles’ “And I Love Her” into “And I Love Him,” and Kesha converts Janis Joplin’s “I Need A Man To Love” into “I Need A Woman To Love.”