Voices of distinction: Seeger, Lennon, Simone, Thompson
I was listening to the radio the other day and heard an ad for a Pete Seeger concert.
Pete Seeger? He’s still alive? And singing? I thought he must be a thousand years old now, because he already seemed old when I was young.
No doubt I had a different definition of “old” back then, because Seeger is “only” eighty-nine now. Well-known ex-Communist who at least had the decency to denounce Stalin later and admit he was naive not to have done so earlier, socialist and environmental activist from way back, composer of a host of protest songs that are so iconic they seem to have actually been written by that mythical bunch, “the people” (“If I Had a Hammer;” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”), Seeger’s voice is a sound on which I was raised.
So this isn’t about his politics, it’s about his music. We had a shaky old record player on which I’d play the scratchy Weavers records that featured Seeger’s unique voice and vibrant banjo. I loved those old songs, but I especially loved Seeger’s voice.
Why? It wasn’t pretty, nor was it exceptionally musical. There are many ordinary people who can make far more beautiful sounds, although I’m most definitely not one of them. But Seeger had what I’ve noticed is a prerequisite for great voices: a unique and utterly identifying timbre, much like a fingerprint, and instantly recognizable as that person and no one else.
Seeger’s voice had an uplifting quality mixed with something indefinable, something between a lilt and a sob. Although the lilt always dominated, the sob was always present as well, much like the complexity of a fine wine with a hint of many flavors to give it a special richness and depth.
Seeger played a mean banjo, too. Here’s a video of the Weavers in their prime, singing a typical number, a medley of songs from around the world that supposedly illustrate our oneness (I tried to find one of my very favorites, “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” but no dice). Note, also, the pride of place given to an Israeli song, back when Israel was still beloved by Leftists:
When I think about it, virtually every pop, folk, or rock singing voice that interests me has that same quality of distinctiveness of sound. John Lennon, for example. His voice conveys a mix of irony, mockery, and fun.
Nina Simone, one of my absolute favorites, was an utterly unique talent who managed to convey an extraordinary intensity and depth in every song, with a musicality that came from her long training as a classical pianist. Sorrow, rage, bite, yearning—it’s all there, often mixed together. Her voice is so deep that when I first heard her I thought for a moment that she was a man. But she was all woman (and all artist), and her colorful but troubled life reflected that fact.
Then there’s Leonard Cohen, of course. But you already know that. Some can’t stand his voice because of its low, monotonous tone. I think he packs a thousand feelings into every subterranean note.
And of course Richard Thompson. He’s another singer with both a lilt and a sob in his voice—British version. But this time the sob predominates, with more than a little venom to spice it up.
Here’s a video of the Thompsons, Richard on the left and son Teddy on the right. It’s a great illustration of my point about the unique quality of a less-pretty voice versus the glorious beauty but ultimate blandness of certain far more lovely vocal instruments. Richard displays the former, and he’s great. Teddy is the possessor of the latter, and although he’s awfully good, with an achingly pure tone, ultimately he doesn’t sustain interest in nearly the same way. But their voices blend exceptionally beautifully, with the added poignance of the father-son relationship to give the duet extra depth. It doesn’t hurt that the song’s a winner, either:
Pete Seeger is HOW OLD? Oh my gosh….. So I REALLY am as old as I am, too, then. I’ve been having trouble reconciling the number, so I just have birthdays without the specifics now.
Anyway, I’m NOT as old as Pete Seeger, but old enough so that “If I Had A Hammer..” was probably the first camp song I ever learned (and I’m talking youngster day camp — it was the de rigeur “riding on a bus” anywhere song. And a few years later, when I graduated to sleepaway camp, “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” was the stuff that campfires and those special summers that I will never forget were made of. (Others: “Leavin’ On A Jet Plane,” “One Hundred Miles,”……..
Oh! The ability for certain songs and music to take us to another place in time. It is always a wonder to me…..
Lve them! The only singers I like better have that “achingly pure tone” – Glenn Yarbrough and John Denver. The beauty of their voices still brings a tear to my eye.
I keep confusing Leonard Cohen with Leonard Nimoy.
I have some renewed respect for Seeger for denouncing Stalin. Ronald Radosh’s account of the letter he received from Seeger is here. Here’s subsequent follow-up from the NYT that plays a bit of gotcha with Radosh and makes it clear that people who still care about who was and was not a Stalinist are a bunch of ideologues who need to get a life.
And not just the protest songs — I get a lump in my throat remembering Seeger and Gilbert trading soloes on “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine.”
For a real heart-wrencher, listen to Simone’s “You can have him, I don’t want him”. That woman could sing. Her self-pity re blackness, despite her manifest acceptance as a marvel, more than bipolarity, is what brought her low.
Thanks for the great link for Nina Simone, and related comments, she was truly incredible…
Glad you mentioned Richard Thompson. Great voice, and I think he really knows how to relate the music to the lyrics. Particular favorite is “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” from “Rumor and Sigh”.
Mark me as unimpressed, since Seeger’s recantation took place in 2007. It might have done some good if he’d done it…oh, I don’t know…when the Molotov-Ribentrop pact put the lie to the claim that communism was anti-fascism…or during the imposition of totalitarian regimes in eastern Europe…or after the East German riots of 1953…or the Hungarian revolution of 1956…or the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968…or the repressions in Vietnam after 1975 and the murder of a couple of million Cambodians…
So now, decades after, he says yes, he should have asked about the gulags, of whose existence he was well aware when he was in the Soviet Union. And he has a song that Woody Guthrie might have written, although he didn’t bring it to light until 2007.
It reminds me of a review I once saw of a book that the critic called “an attack of feudalism.” Bit late for attacking feudalism, and a bit late for admitting now that yes, you might have lent a bit of aid and comfort to perhaps the most murderous regime in human history.
you have good taste neoneo – I like all of these musicians as well.
And so does “douglas” – 1952 Vincent Black Lightning one of the greatest:
I’ve seen you in the cafes
It seems
Red hair and black leather
My favourite colour scheme…
(may have forgotten a word or two)
Tyranny has lots of good artists.
I have a nephew doing PhD work in St. Petersburg in theater.
He is astounded at the amount of government resources in what he calls “high culture”, to distinguish it from pop culture and what anthropology calls culture. That hasn’t changed since the fall of the USSR, although the shape of the tyranny has.
Always been that way.
And I don’t consider an accident of sinus cavities and vocal cords excuses shilling for mass murder.
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