Out of the Wardrobe

Most of you are probably familiar with the song "Lola" by The Kinks. It is one of the most famous songs about femulating. But did you know that The Kinks also sung another song about femulating. Titled "Out of the Wardrobe," it was released on The Kinks 1978 album Misfits, eight years after Lola was released as a single. Here are the lyrics to "Out of the Wardrobe."

Has anybody here seen a chick called Dick
He looks real burly but, he's really hip
He's six feet tall and his arms are all brown and hairy

Well, he married Betty Lou back in '65
When you had to be butch to survive
But lately he's been looking at his wife with mixed emotions
You see, he's not a common place closet queen
He shouldn't be hidden, he should be seen
Cause when he puts on that dress
He looks like a princess

The day he came out of the wardrobe
Betty Lou got quite a surprise
She didn't know whether she should get angry or not bat an eye
She really couldn't call up her mother
Mama would positively die
Should she go or stay or should she try to get a trial separation

You see, he's not a faggot as you might suppose
He just feels restricted in conventional clothes
Cause when he puts on that dress
He feels like a princess

He's not a dandy, he's only living out a fantasy
He's not a pansy, he's only being what he wants to be
Now his life is rearranged and he's grateful for the change
He's out of the wardrobe and he's got no regrets

Betty Lou didn't know what to do at first
But she's learning how to cope at last
She's got the best of both worlds
And she's really in a state of elation
She says it helps their relationship
She says a change is as good as a rest
And their friends finally coming 'round to their way of thinking
She wears the trousers and smokes the pipe
And he washes up
She helps him wipe
Cause when he puts on that dress
He looks like a princess

He's out of the wardrobe and he's feeling alright
He's out of the wardrobe and he's feeling satisfied
Now it's farewell to the past
The secret's out at last
He's out of the wardrobe and now he's got no regrets

Out of the Wardrobe lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Wearing New York & Company (Source: New York & Company)

Femulate reader and ham radio sister Peggy Sue

Christmas in Women’s Underwear

Driving to my aunts' for Christmas Eve dinner about 15 years ago, I heard the beginning of a familiar Christmas song playing on the radio, but when the vocal began, I realized that the words were different and the song was a parody of Winter Wonderland with a crossdressing theme.

The parody was Bob Rivers' Walkin' 'Round In Women's Underwear. It is available from Amazon.com and on YouTube in various flavors.

When I heard Walkin' 'Round In Women's Underwear the first time, I was inspired to write my own Christmas song parody. Mine is called Miss Stana's Song and it is sung to the tune The Christmas Song, that is, Nat King Cole's big Christmas hit ("Chestnuts roasting in an open fire... yadda yadda yadda").

Here are my lyrics:

Miss Stana's Song
(Sung to the tune of The Christmas Song)

Breast forms resting in my Wonderbra,
Corset nipping at my waist,
Lacy garters attached to sheer hose,
My knee-high leather boots are laced.

Everybody knows a mini-skirt and low-cut blouse,
Help to make my look complete,
Tiny teats taped together so close
Make cleavage possible for me.

They know that Stana's on her way,
She's loaded lots of thick beard cover on today,
And ev'ry mother's child is gonna look
To see if Stana really knows how to tuck.

And so, I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Altho' it's been said many times, many ways,
"I'm a tranny, what's it to you!"

Danger, Danger, Will Robinson! This post is a rerun!

Wearing Rent the Runway.

Daniel Finlan

Weekend in Drag

For your weekend enjoyment, I proffer you a must-see music video: "Andrew In Drag" by The Magnetic Fields.

Wearing JustFab.

Hibiscus, an early-1970s crossdressing rock group

Moaning Lisa Smile

I watched the Grammy Awards Monday night primarily to see Eagles perform live one more time. Sans Glenn Frey, Jackson Browne sang lead on “Take It Easy.” That was the highlight of the show for me, although I also enjoyed the Lionel Richie tribute.

I was not familiar with 95% of the rest of the music, so the rest of the show was not of much interest and I headed for bed with an hour of awards left to go. However, just before I shut off the TV, my trans-radar went off when there was a snippet from a music video by Wolf Alice for their song titled “Moaning Lisa Smile.”

I viewed the video on YouTube and the three make members of the band appear en femme throughout the video. See the screen captures of the video above and below or see the video for yourself here.

Wearing Saint Laurent.

Wolf Alice femulates in their music video for "Moaning Lisa Smiles."

A Very She & Him Christmas

I attended the local Avon representative Christmas party Tuesday evening, but am composing this Tuesday morning, so as I write this, I don’t know what happened at the party yet! Perhaps I will have time to post a photo from the party before I go to bed Tuesday night. If not, as Ms. O’Hara would say, “Tomorrow is another day.”

Anyway, I am a big Buddy Holly fan and awhile back, I bought “Rave On” – a Buddy Holly tribute CD on which various contemporary artists recorded Buddy Holly songs in their own style.

I had the MP3 queued up on my Apple Victrola the other day and after hearing She & Him’s version of Oh Boy!, I fell in love with that group’s female vocalist and wanted to hear more. So I started sampling other tunes by She & Him, liked what I heard and eventually purchased all five of their albums!

Curious about who was She & Him, I explored the Internet and quickly discovered that the female vocalist of the band is actress Zooey Deschanel.

I had no idea!

 

 

 

Wearing Bebe.

 

 

 

Britney Smith in her Christmas dress.

Gimme Femulation

Wednesday, I wrote about singing along with songs sung by girl groups as they played on the radio.

Coincidentally, ham radio sister Trish e-mailed me about a news CD/album released by one of my favorite punk rock groups  Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Titled Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!, the Gimme Gimmes cover 12 songs made famous by female singers including such diva standards as "On the Radio" by Donna Summer, "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul, and "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand.

If you like Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, you will like their Diva album. And to make things even more interesting, the group's lead singer, Spike Slawson, appears en femme on the cover of the album!

 

 

 

 

 

Spike Slawson (center) of the rock group Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
femulated for the group’s new album Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!

Boys’ Girl Day

By Cheryl

It seems that it is common for boy bands in South Korea to perform while crossdressed. Recently, I was surfing the Internet and found this example of a great femulation in South Korea.

Music Core is a South Korean music television program. The show features popular artists who perform live on stage.

It recently completed its 400th show and to celebrate this milestone, they featured a popular girl band called Girl’s Day. As part of the special show, they asked members from four different boy bands to join forces, create a group called “Boy’s Day” and to perform on the show. The catch was that the boy band members were to perform dressed as girls.

Here are links (one, two, and three) to websites displaying photos of the group and here are links (one and two) to YouTube videos of the group’s performance.

This is not just some quickly thrown together crossdressing; rather it is excellent femulation. A lot effort was made to make each member look as feminine as possible.

By the way, each of these boy band members has previously crossdressed. Just Google the name of each band member or the name of their original group to see many examples of their fondness for heels and lipstick.

 

 

 

A pair of stylish femulators in 1929.

 

 

 

Doris Day

Random Verbiage

While browsing eMusic, I came upon an album cover that set off my trans radar. The album is Popmusic Is My Life by a musical group named CRèME. The album cover reminded me of the back cover of Lou Reed's Transformer LP, which featured a person dressed as a female and a male.

I Googled and Binged, but did not find anything about CRèME that helped explain the album cover. I may be wrong, but I may be right.

***

Some people were apoplectic over the appearance of drag queens in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The actors who paraded as drag queens are performing in Kinky Boots, the Broadway musical version of the film of the same name.

The apoplectic are the same people who don't want transwomen using ladies’ restrooms. They are so sad.

***

My wife’s surgery went well and she is recovering. Thank you all who asked about her and passed along your positive thoughts.

***

"There are so many qualities that make up a human being . . . by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant."  –  Paul Newman

 

A blushing bride and her lovely femulating groom.

 

Wearing Madeleine.

Lou Reed RIP

Sad news: I just heard on the tube that Lou Reed passed away - age 71.

I recall finding his Transformer long-player in the racks at Caldors. Rumor was that Lou posed in drag for the photo on the back of the LP. It turned out that the rumor was false, but at the time, I did not know the truth and I stood in Caldors staring at the back of the LP for a long time taking in Lou's excellent femulation.

So long, Lou. I will miss you.

When I Was Hip

Exactly 43 years ago today, I was sitting in a pasture on Max Yasgur's farm listening to Canned Heat.

Femulating at Queer Music Heritage

JD Doyle collects recordings and other stuff related to LGBT music. He has a radio show that features queer music and he has a website where his collection is on display.

His collection is vast (1700 webpages) and it gets vaster every day.

While searching for female impersonation information a few years ago, his website came up in the search engine results and I have been visiting his site regularly ever since.

Being a collector of various stuff, I am in awe of his collecting prowess, particularly in the realm of female impersonation. He has collected a lot of stuff from the professional femulation world and I highly recommend that you visit his site and see it all for yourself; you will be amazed.

Queer Music Heritage is JD Doyle's website and his “Drag Artists & Female Impersonators” collection begins here.