Bars And Baritones

On This Day In History
1958: Johnny Cash plays San Quentin Prison

Quote Of The Day
"San Quentin, may you rot and burn in hell.
May your walls fall and may I live to tell."
(Johnny Cash)

I love BIG concerts with spectacular light shows, but Johnny Cash's San Quentin goes to show just how powerful a minimal set can be; it still hits you in the gut 66 years later. I watched it here this morning; damn!

Yesterday I was pondering on what it is about Dave Gahan's voice that makes it resonate so powerfully with me. I know he is a baritone so I did a search on that and found this site, The Greatest Baritone Singers Of All Time. What surprised me first of all was how few rock/pop singers there are on the list; I never realised how rare the baritone voice is in rock and pop. Most rock/pop singers are tenors. Next, I noticed how many of my favourite singers are on this list; most notably, Dave Gahan, Trent Reznor, Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison and David Bowie. Tom Jones is another singer who, while I'm not a great fan of his music, I absolutely adore his voice. Another favourite singer of mine who didn't make the list but is definitely a baritone is Phil Oakey. Gary Numan is also a baritone but, because of his nasal, frontal delivery he doesn't sound like a baritone, although, over the years, his vocal style has rounded, warmed and deepened and he explained in an interview how he now deliberately writes lyrics with lots of round, open vowel sounds to bring out the rounder quality of his voice from the back of his mouth rather than from the front. I think Mick Jagger is another baritone who doesn't really sound  like a baritone for the same reason that Numan doesn't sound like a baritone.

So, there it is, mystery solved; I'm a sucker for a baritone. I wonder, is there an element of narcissism there, since I am also a baritone and I always score highest in karaoke when I sing songs by the baritone singers listed above? Or perhaps it's just some kind of subconscious empathy.

San Quentin