sing "Off Key?" - a response.
Tingle is, of course, correct here in comments below, Morrissey does sing totally in-key and in tune. Of course he does. However, the same cannot be said for Bernard (had to say that) and many of todays up and coming stars/'pop bands' - where voices can be synthed to sound much clearer and also to have some corrected pitch - quite a clever trick really in the studio.
A modern and up to date example of this effect is Blondie's last single in the UK (during November 2003) and this had deborah harry adjusted to the correct pitch with reverb/echo. The previous single to that, Maria, had been sung just normally and so beautifully - a classic and the new Blondie single was quite a change.
Unfortunately, I believe Mr Ghoul is refering to another aspect, which is really the method of singing that Morrissey has with musicians in the band. What Morrissey does (and some of the other greats) is to sing slightly off-beat - that means that in 4/4 time lyrics that Morrissey sings are never quite in the place that you would expect them to be in, in time with the musical beat. So, students, get out your Metranomes !
Best Wishes for 2004,
Strawberry.
> Er, keeping to the subject:
> 1) I think that a song or tune is written in a 'key' which is a group of
> notes that the tune is based around. A line of written music has a
> signature so looking at it you can see, (if you know what all the sharps
> and flats in their particular places mean), what the key is. eg E flat, C
> major blah blah blah. I'm not sure how you describe the difference between
> a chord and a key though. i wonder if they are the same?
> 2) Singing on-key sounds good - ie your voice is on the right notes for
> the music. When you are singing notes unrelated to the music it sounds
> bad.
> 3) Off-key isn't pretty. Think Bernard out of 'New Order', Eurovision song
> contest, bad karaoke etc
> 4) Morrissey sings on key. People who can't sing, sing off-key. So they
> scream, shout, rap, play drums or whatever instead.
> I hope this helps and doesn't confuse. If I'm wrong please just tell me.
