ESSENTIAL QUESTION
What did the success of the female Singer-Songwriters of the early 1970s reveal about the changing roles of women in the United States?
- Read Handout 1: Excerpt from Lyrics to "My Guy" and play the of singer Mary Wells performing the song in 1965.
- Answer
- What is the song about? What kind of mood does it create?
- Explain to students that “My Guy” was written by Smokey Robinson, who also co-wrote the Temptations’ hit song “My Girl.” Ask: Why do you think he titled the song “My Guy” and not “My Boy”? What does this suggest about attitudes toward women in this period?
- Do you think a man is qualified to write a song expressing a woman's feelings about her relationship with a man? Why or why not? Was something lost in an artistic way when women were not writing their own songs to sing?
- Look at the lyric "I'm sticking to my guy like a stamp to a letter.” Overall, what does the song suggest about female roles? About what is worth singing about? About what is important in life?
- Play the video clip of another hit from that era, the Shirelles performing "" in 1964. Note that the song was co-written by Carole King and her then-husband Gerry Goffin. Answer
- What is the overall mood of the song? Is it similar to “My Guy?” In what ways? In what ways is it different?
- Play the video clip of, which was included on her 1971 album Tapestry. Compare the two versions of the song, and then answer:
- Compare the performers’ appearances. How are they dressed? What kind of facial expressions do they offer? What image of themselves are they presenting?
- What overall tone/mood does each version convey?
- Compare the vocal styles of each performance. How are voices used in each version?
- What are the performers in each video doing while singing? What message(s) do their actions convey? (Note: Be sure students notice that King is playing the piano, while the Shirelles are not playing instruments.)
- Would you classify the performers in each version as “girls” or “women”? Why?
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