Train Leaves Here This Morning

[Delilah]

One reason I like this song is because Glenn's background vocal sounds so great--a nice, warm tenor with an ever so slight vibrato towards the end of the lines. But then when I watch the '73 BBC performance, it doesn't look like he's singing. He does the oohs and humming parts, I think. At times his mouth is moving but not enough to actually look like singing. What gives--is it actually Don H I've been hearing all this time?

[GlennLover]

One reason I like this song is because Glenn's background vocal sounds so great--a nice, warm tenor with an ever so slight vibrato towards the end of the lines. But then when I watch the '73 BBC performance, it doesn't look like he's singing. He does the oohs and humming parts, I think. At times his mouth is moving but not enough to actually look like singing. What gives--is it actually Don H I've been hearing all this time?

I have noticed this too.

[Scarlet Sun]

One reason I like this song is because Glenn's background vocal sounds so great--a nice, warm tenor with an ever so slight vibrato towards the end of the lines. But then when I watch the '73 BBC performance, it doesn't look like he's singing. He does the oohs and humming parts, I think. At times his mouth is moving but not enough to actually look like singing. What gives--is it actually Don H I've been hearing all this time?

Yes. With few exceptions, notably TIE and PEF, Don H always sang the 3rd above the lead (unless he was singing lead)

[NightMistBlue]

Thank you, SS. So typically with a Glenn lead vocal, Don H would sing the third and Randy the fifth? Bernie ... I guess it would depend on the song. Felder wrote that Randy's high harmonies were very edgy and unexpected (I'm paraphrasing) so maybe he didn't always do a straight fifth above the lead.

[shunlvswx]

OK. What do you mean 3rd above lead? I should know this, but I have no idea what you mean. LOL I can always picked out Don and Randy's voice when they're harmonizing.

[Scarlet Sun]

A chord more or less consists of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of a scale. When Glenn sang lead, Bernie would do a moving bass part below him or double. He would also sing the root of the oohs and aahs. When Don H would sing lead, Randy would sing a 3rd above him and Glenn with sing the 5th below him. Joe and Timothy took Bernie and Randy roles respectively when they joined the group. Don F would double parts and he sang bass on Seven Bridges Road.

[buffyfan145]

I normally talk about the harmonies like when I was in choir and more like who was Tenor 1 & 2, Baritone 1 & 2, or Bass instead of the chords. There were times in choir we sang 8 different parts, 4 parts in the girls and 4 in the guys (I'm an alto or in the lower of the girls register so I tend to favor singing along with tenors as our ranges overlap). It changes when you have a lead like most of the Eagles songs to it being the lead singer and then either 2, 3, or 4 harmony parts. But that was always a fun part for me to figure out which parts were being sung by which member and another reason I love the Eagles.

But I'm going to have to listen to this again and really amazed at Glenn again for arranging all of these parts.

[Delilah]

Yes. With few exceptions, notably TIE and PEF, Don H always sang the 3rd above the lead (unless he was singing lead)

Thank you, Scarlet Sun. I didn't know Don could sound like that. I thought I could pick out Glenn's voice fairly easily. His backing vocal is usually prominent, like Randy's. I was thinking Glenn and Randy's voices harmonized really well, while Don sounded better with Timothy. Now I'll have to reconsider that.

[shunlvswx]

With Don being a tenor too, he probably always under Randy when they are harmonizing, but we can always pick up Don's voice when he's harmonizing with Glenn. Their are a lot of songs where only Don and Glenn are harmonizing on a verse, but they all come together during the chorus.

I could always pick up Don, Randy(and Timothy) voices when when Glenn is singing lead. I sometimes can hear Glenn's voice when Don is singing lead, but you would always hear the high tenor voices no matter what. The other guys are in between.

The Eagles had a lot of tenors in the band, but I think each guy can sing lower than their range.

I always hear that you harmonize better with your family(ex. The Bees Gees and The Osmonds where they are known for their great harmonies, but the Eagles are an exception. I don't know how Glenn do it.

[GlennLover]

I think that one of the qualities of Glenn's voice is that it blends so well no matter who he is singing with. In harmony singing, the harmony parts are not supposed to "stick out" so to speak.