Songs with the name Josephine

Five different songs carry the name Josephine, and each belongs to a distinct musical world. Fats Domino's 1960 track is a slice of New Orleans rhythm and blues, his piano rolling gently beneath a vocal that coaxes the name into something warm and unhurried, the way he did with so many beloved names in that era. Decades later, Chris Rea's 1985 record sets Josephine inside a moody, blues-tinged groove with his familiar slide guitar tone, the name carrying a wistful pull that suits the song's humid, nighttime atmosphere.

Both Magnetic Fields and Tori Amos released Josephine in 1999, though the two have little in common. Magnetic Fields' version, from the sprawling 69 Love Songs project, is a brief, faintly absurd number sung by a male voice addressing a woman he is clearly not destined for; the name sits at the center of a comic lament. Tori Amos treats Josephine far differently, her piano and vocal tracing the name with spectral delicacy, suggesting a private figure glimpsed rather than held. Brandi Carlile's 2007 Josephine leans into Americana warmth, an acoustic record where the name is offered plainly, part of a direct declaration rather than a puzzle.