This is part one of what will be a six-part series, albeit in various categories for each set of entries. The first installment covers half of all the pre-1980 songs with women's names in the titles that I've gathered. You might call it the "Oldies Edition," although some of the '70s songs here feel a lot more recent than they actually are. If you see a song I left out, don't yell at me yet. There's a part 2 to this one. And there are 2 parts forthcoming for post-1980 songs with women's names in the titles. Then there are 2 posts forthcoming – not separated out by years – of songs with men's names in the titles. If all 6 parts have come out and you still feel I've missed a vital song, you may then feel free to yell at me.
Thank you to Carol, David, Wanda, Martha, Don, Daniel, Martina, Kevin, Penny, Melanie, and Angela for all your contributions via Facebook in advance of these posts. At least one of your suggestions made the final cut of 90 songs! For those of you who suggested songs that didn't make the cut, I truly appreciate your input – I just had to limit myself somewhere, or else these posts could go on for weeks and weeks! Enjoy! ~ JH
1) Rod Stewart ~ "Maggie May"
2) Barry Manilow ~ "Mandy" (This might be the only Manilow song I ever post here – I'm not a huge fan – but this is a good song, so here it is.)
3) Wilson Pickett ~ "Mustang Sally"
4) Ritchie Valens ~ "Donna"
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5) The Turtles ~ "Elenore"
6) Paul Anka ~ "Diana"
7) Ram Jam ~ "Black Betty"
8) The Knack ~ "My Sharona"
9) The Beach Boys ~ "Help Me, Rhonda"
10) Creedence Clearwater Revival ~ "Proud Mary"
11) Neil Diamond ~ "Sweet Caroline"
12) The Police ~ "Roxanne"
13) Eric Clapton ~ "Layla" (Music purists might be annoyed at me for including Clapton's "Unplugged" version of this song instead of the original Derek And The Dominos rock-n-roll version – but this is the one I prefer, so...yeah.)
14) Neil Sedaka ~ "Oh, Carol"
15) Fleetwood Mac ~ "Rhiannon"
