Why are blues singers constipated? Last night on Leno...

[TreasonousBastard]

some guy was singing with Cyndi Lauper and his face was so screwed into dyspeptic pain he looked worse than my Uncle Max trying to cut a loaf.

I never see Wagnerian baritones in that sort of agony unless they maybe got stabbed by a Valkyrie, but then that's part of the show.

Is it the pain of going all the way through their whole half octave range that gets them?

[tigereye]

1. hmm, the many I have seen did not look constipated

so I can't really help you. Passionate, yes, constipated, well, no. :rofl:

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Because he's a talented person forced to work for peanuts for over-paid untalented Jay.

[mikeytherat]

6. ftw

On a tangential note, one of favorite moments from the 1996 presidential campaign was Bob Dole appearing on Leno or Letterman (forget which). As Bob staggers out, the band breaks into "So What?" by Miles. I wonder how many people got the joke.

mikey_the_rat

[MilesColtrane]

3. Because he's making one twentieth of the Most Constipated of All, Michael Bolton.

"When a maaaaan's got some blockaaage!"

[Orsino]

4. Because that train is in the station...

...and the engine won't make it roll. There ain't enough coal to get down to Memphis, so I got me them stuck-in-the-depot blues. Know what I'm sayin'?

[Demoiselle]

5. You're right about the tightness, T.B.

Although the effect doesn't really reach the colon. An opera singer makes that big open sound by being...well...opened up, all the way down to his diaphragm at the base of his lungs. The long deep column of air supports the voice...and a Wagnerian baritone can make a helluva lot of volume without appearing to strain himself.
Blues, pop and rock singers often make their characteristic sounds by narrowing that column of air below the throat and forcing the voice from the throat, unsupported.
Hence, the strangled cat sound. It's much harder work, and much harder on the vocal chords, much more difficult to sing a wide range of pitches, too.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. That makes sense. Truth is, I always thought they were so tied up in the moment...

that it was more orgasmic than anything else. Taking their song far more seriously than is warranted. There's that shouting and moaning thing, too.

Untrained vocal technique would be a much simpler explanation.

[Kat45]

8. That was Jonny Lang.

He's a pretty good young blues guitarist.