50 Great Soul Women Songs

[Ngroove]

OK, Lemme Try this list.
Probably admittedly, near a hundred percent of the time, when one thinks of the word "soul", the first name that pops is a "Soul Man": Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, Sam & Dave, Lou Rawls. Well, let's hear it for the "Soul Women"!
Going by preferential, personal tastes this time


50. Slow Hand - Pointer Sisters
49. Feel Like Makin' Love - Roberta Flack
48. Love Hangover - Diana Ross
47. Selfish One - Jackie Ross
46. Maybe - The Chantels
45. Make Yours A Happy Home - Gladys Knight & the Pips
44. Hey There Lonely Boy - Stacy Lattisaw
43. Perfect Angel - Minnie Riperton
42. Love Is Here And Now You're Gone - Diana Ross & the Supremes
41. Hypnotized - Linda Jones
40. Dry Your Eyes - Brenda & the Tabulations
39. Will You Satisfy - Cherrelle
38. Don't Mess With Bill - The Marvelettes
37. Meeting In the Ladies Room - Klymaxx
36. Free - Deniece Williams
35. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Gladys Knight & the Pips
34. I Feel A Song [[In My Heart) - Gladys Knight & the Pips
33. Respect - Aretha Franklin
32. It May Be Winter Outside [[But In My Heart It's Spring) - Love Unlimited
31. Under The Influence Of Love - Love Unlimited
30. Love's Comin At Ya - Melba Moore
29. Oh No Not My Baby - Maxine Brown
28. Day Dreamin' - Aretha Franklin
27. Call Me - Aretha Franklin
26. Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin
25. You'll Never Get To Heaven [[If You Break My Heart) - Dionne Warwick
24. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross
23. Baby Love - The Supremes
22. My Guy - Mary Wells
21. Touch - The Supremes
20. I Need Your Lovin' - Teena Marie
19. It Must Be Magic - Teena Marie
18. Love [[Make Me Do Foolish Things) - Martha & the Vandellas
17. Quicksand - Martha & the Vandellas
16. Bless You - Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
15. I'm Ready For Love - Martha & the Vandellas
14. My Baby Loves Me - Martha & the Vandellas
13. Pick Up The Pieces - Mary Wilson
12. You Are The Heart Of Me - The Supremes
11. Pillow Talk - Sylvia
10. Gimme A Little Action - Sylvia
9. Didn't I - Sylvia
8. Is This A Dream - Carrie Lucas
7. Hello Stranger - Barbara Lewis
6. Make Me Your Baby - Barbara Lewis
5. Baby I'm Yours - Barbara Lewis
4. I Love You for All Seasons - The Fuzz
3. Yes, I'm Ready - Barbara Mason
2. Oh How It Hurts - Barbara Mason
1. I Need Love - Barbara Mason

[soulster]

My opinion is that most of those songs you listed are too smooth to be "soul".

I would save a few Aretha Franklin and Teena Marie songs from your list, but I would get grittier:

If I'm Good Enuff To Love - Laura Lee
Think - Lyn Collins
Ain't No Way - Aretha Franklin
Tell Mama - Etta James
Rescue Me - Fontella Bass
Hurts So Good - Millie Jackson
Want Ads - The Honey Cone
Clean Up Woman - Betty Wright
Got To Be Real - Cheryl Lynn
Nothin' But A Heartache - The Flirtations

[JIVE FIVE Mary G.]

I would list any songs by Gladys Knight, Linda Jones & Etta James!! I'd list The Chantels, Hearts and Barbara English & The Clickettes as early R&B/soul.

~~Mary~~

[robb_k]

What?? No Baby Washington? No Betty Everett? No Theola Kilgore? No Bettye Lavette? No Gloria Jones, Mable John, Mary Love, Patti Drew, Darlene Love???

I'll make my list when I get time.

[splanky]

[QUOTE=soulster;205492]My opinion is that most of those songs you listed are too smooth to be "soul".

Oh, lordy!...So now we're true soul music can't be smooth? I like the gritty stuff too but
check this out. Reversing the gender, Didn't I Blow Your Mind by the Delfonics is IMO one of
the most soulful recordings ever made and I know many who'd agree with me. By the same
token, it's also one of the smoothest. Gimme a break, soulster.....I'll get back to this thread later...

[soulster]

[QUOTE=splanky;205579]

My opinion is that most of those songs you listed are too smooth to be "soul".

Oh, lordy!...So now we're true soul music can't be smooth? I like the gritty stuff too but
check this out. Reversing the gender, Didn't I Blow Your Mind by the Delfonics is IMO one of
the most soulful recordings ever made and I know many who'd agree with me. By the same
token, it's also one of the smoothest. Gimme a break, soulster.....I'll get back to this thread later...

I didn't say that. I just made it clear that I favor grittier sound, and identifiy it more with soul music.

So, remember that before you decide to start a war.

[imnokid]

What?? No Bettye Lavette?

I'm not surprised at all.

[mark speck]

How anyone could make a list of the 50 Greatest Women Soul Songs and NOT have "Stay With Me" by Lorraine Ellison is beyond me.

Best,

Mark

[robb_k]

How anyone could make a list of the 50 Greatest Women Soul Songs and NOT have "Stay With Me" by Lorraine Ellison is beyond me.

Best,

Mark

Or "I Dig You Baby"!

[Jerry Oz]

Come on, y'all. These "list" threads are personal. If Ngroove didn't include your favorite songs, it is because he either wasn't exposed to them or they didn't impact him the way they impacted you. Or maybe they barely missed the cut. In fact, he didn't even mention them as his top 50, so it's all love. You can add yours to his list through your replies, although in my opinion you have a bit more weight to your contributions if you take songs off of his list to replace with your own.

[soulster]

Jerry, I had no problem with his list, which is nice, I just said that I have a slightly different idea of what sounds like soul. I added some of my favorite songs, and Splanky wanted to start a war. Then, as what usually happens in these types of threads in all music message boards, someone complains that their favorites aren't included in the OP's list. It's all par for the course.

[Jerry Oz]

I was cool with your post. Maybe I took them the wrong way, but it seemed like a couple of posters were condescending. We all have a right to our opinions and if somebody does not agree with mine, that is cool. It does not make mine wrong or less valid than theirs, though.

[Ngroove]

Tis' OK, maybe I've seen it coming, based on my previous misunderstandings on other threads. But yeah, personally, I enjoy time-to-time, a good Jackie Moore's "Precious Precious" or Betty Wright's "Clean Up Woman" too, but to be honest, my playlist is more dialed on the "Barbaras": Lewis, with her sense of urgency, that to not "make her your baby", one has to be a complete stonehearted ogre; and Mason, with her wholly girlish voice, and with a "vulnerable" sound that she knows how to use it. And, I've recently gotten my Supremes "Let Yourself Go" CD book, woo! Yeah, I called this thread "Great Soul Women", not "Greatest Soul Women", because to be factually the latter, it'd be Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross running pretty tightly close, with Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle not so far behind. But personally, I've got other CDs, vinyl to play.

[soulster]

When I hear songs like "Make Me Your Baby", which is one of my all-time favorites, I think of "middle of the road" Barbra Streisand-type music. Yes, to me, the music itself is part of the package.