Don's vocal mannerism

[chaim]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but there's a certain mannerism that Don seems to love so much that I can't help paying attention to it. In the sentences that are in pairs the first one often ends with a note that goes high, and the next one ends with a note going down.

Nobody on the road (up), nobody on the beach (down)

Now, where you going? (up) Now, what's the rush? (down)
You listen here (up) No, you just hush (down)

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here (up)
I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear (down)

You say you haven't been the same since you had your little crash (up - sort of)
But you might feel better if they gave you some cash (down)

They knew all the right people, they took all the right pills (up)
They threw outrageous parties, they paid heavenly bills (down)

I'm not too familiar with his solo albums. Is there a lot of this on those?

[VAisForEagleLovers]

They knew all the right people, they took all the right pills (up)
They threw outrageous parties, they paid heavenly bills (down)

I'm not too familiar with his solo albums. Is there a lot of this on those?
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It's actually heavily instead of heavenly.

There's a name for what you are talking about it, I remember learning about it in music class. I do know that in church when we chant the Psalms, we always do the same thing regardless of the tune used... 'up' on the first part and 'down' on the second part.

[chaim]

It's actually heavily instead of heavenly.

There's a name for what you are talking about it, I remember learning about it in music class. I do know that in church when we chant the Psalms, we always do the same thing regardless of the tune used... 'up' on the first part and 'down' on the second part.

I always criticize people for trusting internet sources too much - on lyrics and chords. Now I just copied the lyrics without checking them myself! Well, I probably wouldn't have noticed anyway...
Yeah, it's probably common to do it like that, but for some reason it really catches my ear when Don does it. I don't know why. Sometimes it makes one song sound a bit like another to me.

That thing about chanting Psalms is interesting!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I always criticize people for trusting internet sources too much - on lyrics and chords. Now I just copied the lyrics without checking them myself! Well, I probably wouldn't have noticed anyway...
Yeah, it's probably common to do it like that, but for some reason it really catches my ear when Don does it. I don't know why. Sometimes it makes one song sound a bit like another to me.

That thing about chanting Psalms is interesting!

I think that a lot of singers just sing an entire verse, and maybe they do go up and down. Don has a habit of pausing a bit between the two lines and so it emphasizes it more.

Don't feel too bad about 'heavily' vs. 'heavenly'... In English, "They paid heavily bills" doesn't make a lot of sense, at least not to me. So most people get it wrong. Even when Glenn did the Songwriters lecture at NYU in 2011, they put the lyrics to LITFL and HC up with errors. They had 'heavily' and they had 'Benz' instead of 'bends' in HC. I'm not sure Glenn noticed because he had his back to them.

[shunlvswx]

All She Wants To Do Is Dance he goes up and down in all the verses.

The Heart of the Matter is he starts down and then goes up when he sings "I'm learning to (down); live without you now (up).

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Re: heavenly bills vs. heavily bills in Life In the Fast Lane, there are discrepancies all over the internet about which is correct, including much debate on this board over the years. I could be wrong, but, to the best of my knowledge, there hasn't been any credible source to confirm which is correct. Personally, I have never heard it as anything other than 'heavenly' and, to me, heavily doesn't even make any sense. So, at this point, no one will ever convince me that it is 'heavily' until a very reliable, credible source confirms otherwise.

And BTW chaim, I had never paid attention to the 'up' and 'down' mannerisms in Don's voice. You make a very interesting observation and I' need to start taking more notice of it.

[chaim]

Re: heavenly bills vs. heavily bills in Life In the Fast Lane, there are discrepancies all over the internet about which is correct, including much debate on this board over the years. I could be wrong, but, to the best of my knowledge, there hasn't been any credible source to confirm which is correct. Personally, I have never heard it as anything other than 'heavenly' and, to me, heavily doesn't even make any sense. So, at this point, no one will ever convince me that it is 'heavily' until a very reliable, credible source confirms otherwise.

And BTW chaim, I had never paid attention to the 'up' and 'down' mannerisms in Don's voice. You make a very interesting observation and I' need to start taking more notice of it.

Don't start taking too much notice of it. At some point it may start bothering you!

[chaim]

Don and Glenn should combine their mannerisms:

Don: Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here (up)
I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear (down)
The extra phrase from Glenn: No, I don't

[DivineDon]

Very interesting topic - I think Don's style is very much influenced by his poetic and literary background as there is a definite 'poetic' feel and rhythm to how he delivers his lines. Up and down, balancing each other almost like a rhyming couplet. I'm sure Soda would be far better able to explain the technique.

As for Life in the Fast Line that line has always intriqued me. Having listened and looked at Don very closely (ahem!) it sounds as if he says 'they threw outrageous parties, they paid heavily bills'. I used to think he sang, 'they threw outrageous parties that they heavily billed' which would make more sense but perhaps he means they paid heavily bills in so far as they suffered for their excesses and it just fitted in better for the rhythm albeit if it is a little awkward grammatically.

[Brooke]

I've always heard 'heavenly' and it makes much more sense to me. The two words are very close either way.

One mannerism I've noticed about Don is he tends to lick and smack his lips when talking. I first noticed it on HFO where he talks about the song Get Over It. And I've noticed it a lot since. But it's very cute!