It’s when a vocalist is on the edge, that their voice comes through.
Turn these up, not so they are loud but so you can hear their flaws.
I was joking. What flaws? [I do think she had a bit of trouble with the bletcherous Irish nationalism in the last verse, though. I usually stop the song before it grows embarrassing.]
I’ve never heard that third verse to “Danny Boy”. An addition to the original (by an Englishman!)? Any idea of its provenance?
I tried to watch several Sinéad O‘Connor videos, but I couldn’t get through more than about a minute of any of them. I can understand how that breathy timbre could be interesting as a special effect; but when that’s all there is, I just get bored. What am I missing?
@billseymour:
I don’t understand what it is we like about one voice or another. There’s the range, tone, overtones, etc. I think it’s a question of personal taste.
And other things! A few years ago I noticed there was a particular male vocalist I did not care for, and I wondered why. That got me thinking. It turned out I realized that there are certain female vocals I really like (Sinead, Vanessa Del Adel, Tarja Turunen, Sarah Brightman, Sissel…) that are characteristically high and clear – Del Adel sometimes sounds to me like a synthesized voice – and deeper male vocals that are in a low range (Til Lindemann, Andrew Eldrich, Peter Murphy…) after more thinking I realized that I have a flat spot in my hearing from the times I fired LAW rockets and my M-60 without good ear protection. My tinnitus is also in that range. I instinctively steer away from it.
Rob Grigjanis@#1:
I’ve never heard that third verse to “Danny Boy”. An addition to the original (by an Englishman!)? Any idea of its provenance?
Nope!
I suppose googling lyrics might help, but I haven’t.
That verse is clunky as hell and I always assumed it was added in the 70s or something. That assumption is based on nothing whatever, except I dislike it.
EDIT: I did not find versions of Danny Boy lyrics with the third verse.
[ireland-information]
<aside>
I had thought that Londonderry Air had been collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams who called it “Irish Tune from County Derry”; but some quick googling told me that I was wrong about that.
I was pretty sure that the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra had recorded it back in the Leonard Slatkin era, so I dug out my copy (Telarc CD-80059) and figured out my confusion: the recording does indeed include “Irish Tune from County Derry (Danny Boy)” attributed to Percy Grainger. The first piece on the record is Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
I wonder how many other false memories I have that I’m absolutely certain of.
</aside>
billseymour@#6:
I was pretty sure that the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra had recorded it back in the Leonard Slatkin era, so I dug out my copy (Telarc CD-80059) and figured out my confusion: the recording does indeed include “Irish Tune from County Derry (Danny Boy)” attributed to Percy Grainger. The first piece on the record is Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
One of my favorite albums. Back in the vinyl days I wore out 3 copies. The fantasia is exquisite.
Marcus @4: I googled a fair bit, and the earliest version I could find with that third verse was from 2014. No attribution for it anywhere, although it may have been American musician John Corr, whose name popped up several times.
@7:
It is indeed. But his The Lark Ascending gives me goosebumps.
My first hearing of it was the version by Fritz Kreisler, recorded some time in the 1920’s I think, as “Londonderry Air,” which I think Kreisler arranged around then. I was surprised when someone called it “Danny Boy,” since I’d not heard that version. Kreisler himself attributed the tune to a different song, “Farewell to Cucullain.” I was a fiddle fan as a kid (still am but not quite so much) and I’m quite sure I could still lay my hands on the Kreisler 78, as well as the later LP, and probably a CD too. Poor old Fritz was a bit schmaltzy at times, and when he got older he pitched a bit wild, but at his best he really was good.
If you really want to hear the Kreisler compositions at their peak, though, hunt down the 1950’s LP “Francescatti plays Kreisler.” ;You can find some of it at least on Youtube, including “Londonderry Air.” Here’s one bit from that recording, in which Zino wrings the individual character out of the violin’s strings in a way few could duplicate (or that’s my story and I’m sticking with it).
https://youtu.be/MwSF2I30aKo
It’s interesting to hear songs that have become so utterly cliché, and to remember that one of the reasons for that is that they really were kind of good. I heard another rendition of it the other day, by an amusing saxophone sextet called “The Moanin’ Frogs,” one of whom happens to be a nephew. They’re all college music teachers, and very good saxophonists indeed, and they did quite a nice version, despite one’s automatic tendency to think “oh no, not that one again!”
Marcus @ 3: Stella Donnelly singing Lunch. I think you’ll like her.
@ 1 Rob Grigjanis
I’ve never heard that third verse to “Danny Boy”.
Me neither. Where did that crap come from?
Here‘s Sinéad O‘Connor singing “Óró sé do bheatha abhaile” (Oh, welcome home). This is the version about Gráinne O’Malley, not the one about Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Translation:
Follow-up to me @2: I contacted Fil at Wings of Pegasus who makes lots of videos about various musicians’ technical abilities (Google for “British Guitarist analyses …” and you’ll get lots of links) about Sinéad O’Connor, and asked whether he’d done a video about her. He responded, “… no I haven’t yet but may do soon.”
I’d love to hear what he has to say about her; maybe I’ll find out what I’ve been missing. (I particularly liked his Everly Brothers video since I remember them from my teenage years.)
badland@#10:
Stella Donnelly singing Lunch. I think you’ll like her.
Excellent!
The first recording I found on youtube was badly mixed and her voice was drowned out by the instruments, but then I found a better one and I like it.
She can certainly hit some high notes, but it’s her ability to break her voice that gives her such great emotive range. Prince gave her Nothing Compares 2U because he thought her version was vastly better than his original song.
I do find her a bit depressing, mostly because she sings so many sad things. Black Boys on Mopeds is a less popular song that is as topical today as it was when it was recorded back in the 80s.
Englands not the mythical land
of Madame George and Roses.
It’s the home of police who kill
black boys on mopeds.
I love my boy
and that’s why I’m leaving.
I don’t want him to be aware that there’s
any such thing as grieving.