Music Recommendation Sunday!

Journey is the unofficial soundtrack of me scratching my eyes out.

What was it with the eighties and high-pitched male singers? Didn't we get enough of that in the sixties and seventies with Frankie Valli and the Bee Gees?

Let's see, pop had Michael Jackson, Boy George and Prince singing falsetto, wuss-rock-that-only-your-girlfriend-and-your-mom-liked had Steve Perry of Journey, prog-rock had Geddy Lee of Rush, Rik Emmett of Triumph, metal had King Diamond and ten dozen other guys with clothespins on their testes, and punk had Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedies and Doc Dart of the Crucifucks.

Actually, to sing some tunes that are out of a particular vocalists range (like Highway Star), simply change the key, assuming, of course, that the total range of the tune doesn't then go too low. As an example, my band plays the Mary-Chapin Carpenter tune "Down at the Twist and Shout." Mary sings it in the key of A, which makes me strain on a few of the high notes. But we drop it down to the key of G (i.e., play every note one full note lower than in the original) and then when I sing it I don't strain my voice.

The reverse is also true. My current Cajun/zydeco band got hired to play a wedding, and the happy couple requested we learn to play "Ring of Fire." I told them not to expect me to sing it as low as Johnny Cash can sing--we moved the tune up a couple of keys and then it was fine to sing! We also got requested to play the Queen tune "Teo Torriate" for another wedding. We had to drop the key on that one 'cause I can't hit the high notes like Freddie Mercury. Of course, that was interesting all on its own with a Cajun band singing in Japanese instead of just Cajun French!

Of course, not all musicians can change keys on the fly, some can't change keys even with practice. Many folks play "House of the Rising Sun" in either the key of A minor or else in D minor. I knew one guitar player who only played it in F# minor, which was a pain to transpose to on the organ keyboard.