Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Male/female vocal duets

40%

11:05 / 07.05.04

Just thinking about this this morning. I was thinking a male/female vocal duet which was a song about some wider issue could be very powerful. I've personally not heard many, if any, such things. Why are they all based on the two singers being in a relationship, if indeed they are? We've had twists on the happy love duet, obviously, but blah blah blah.

Can anyone suggest any less conventional male/female duets?

TeN

12:07 / 07.05.04

PRACTICALLY ALL THE SONGS BY THE BAND PIXIES.

Mike Modular

12:24 / 07.05.04

Well, they're still mostly about relationships, or at least amorous encounters, but you can't really go wrong with a bit of Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood. They do the best arguing/splitting songs (Jackson, Big Red Balloon) and then of course there's the mighty Some Velvet Morning, which pushes the romance definition quite a bit. Actually, I'm still not entirely sure what it's about... More along the lines of what you're after might be Arkansas Coal (Suite), in which they play three characters (mother, father, daughter) and tell the pretty dramatic and sad tale of a miner killed in a cave-in.

The only other song that immediately springs to mind is Kinky Boots...

But you've definitely set me thinking...

Looby

12:32 / 07.05.04

What about Adrian by the Eurythmics and Elvis Costello? Abiguous lyrics, but it doesn't seem to be particularly romantic:

Adrian - don't you understand?
Fools like us are always dreaming.
And when you go to bed
And cover up your head
It's better if you try to stop remembering.
And the world is slowly dawning
To wake up to a new clear morning.
Some of them just half your age
Get written off, page by page...

Adrian don't you understand?
Fools like us are always dreaming.
And when you go to bed
And cover up your head
It's better if you try to stop remembering.
Some of them just half your age
Get written off page by page...

And the world is softly sleeping
While your fears are in their keeping.
All the planet's making haste
To blow to bits in outer space...
Adrian - don't you understand?

40%

08:06 / 08.05.04

I'm wondering if there are any duets where both vocalists are directly addressing the listener with a shared message i.e. where both are focused on communicating something to the listener rather than on each other and on the dynamics of their relationship.

Jack Vincennes

08:55 / 08.05.04

I'm not sure if this counts, because it's not exactly a duet, but when I saw your thread I thought of Nick Cave's cover version of Death Is Not The End ; it's Nick Cave, Shane MacGowan (I think), Polly Harvey and Kylie Minogue, and they take turns and sing a verse or so each. Because it's a cover version of a song only 'intended' to be sung by one person, there's very much a direct address to the listener throughout - the lyrics are here, if you're interested.

I don't know of any duets that were intended as such and don't focus directly on a relationship, though -will have a think...

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

10:19 / 08.05.04

Bells of New York? Shane McGowan again, and Kirsty MacColl...still kind of relationship=y i suppose...

Bed Head

11:06 / 08.05.04

Charley Patton and Bertha Lee: ‘Troubled ‘Bout My Mother’ and ‘Oh Death’, two beautiful songs about, er, the closeness of death. Blind Willie Johnson - sometimes with Willie Harris, sometimes with unknown vocalists, manages to get through several thoroughly religious songs without making mention of any of yer carnal shenanigans: try ‘John the Revelator’, ‘Jesus Is Coming Soon’, ‘Take Your Burden To The Lord’. And plenty of others I don’t need to list.

Charley Patton/Bertha Lee, and Willie Johnson/Willie Harris are both examples of husband and wife teams, by the way.

No star here laces

13:55 / 08.05.04

MOP - "Ante up" (remix) - about street robbery
Outlaw Breaks and Gemma Fox - "Dutty" - about nothing very much
Lil Kim and 50 Cent - "Magic stick" - not about romance, it's about 50's dick
Len - "Steal my sunshine" - not sure what it's about
2 Unlimited - "No limit" - about a lack of limits
Dye Witness - "Soap on a rope" - a heartfelt call to the youth of holland to indulge in ecstasy rather than cocaine

Add Your Reply