Universal Love

Shortly after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, Justice Antonin Scalia attended a party where he signaled his displeasure by singing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin’.”
“He sang with great verve,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told The Washington Post at the time.
Now Mr. Dylan himself is crooning about same-sex love. As part of a new EP called “Universal Love,” he rerecorded the 1929 song “She’s Funny That Way,” from the Great American Songbook catalog, but switched the pronoun to “He’s Funny That Way.”
The six-track set, to be released April 6, also features Kesha, St. Vincent and other noted musicians covering well-known pop hits with a same-sex twist. The performers represent a mix of gay and straight artists.
“If you look at the history of pop music, love songs have predominantly come from one heterosexual perspective,” said Tom Murphy, a co-producer of “Universal Love.” “If we view music as something that brings people together, shouldn’t these popular songs be open to everyone?”
The album was funded by MGM Resorts International and its songs are intended to function as wedding anthems for same-sex couples. Gay weddings account for between 20 percent and 30 percent of the ceremonies performed at the company’s 15 hotels in Las Vegas, said Jim Murren, its chief executive.
Continue reading the main story
To secure the right to perform the songs with altered lyrics, permission was required from the songs’ publishers. “The response was completely positive,” said Rob Kaplan, the project’s executive producer.