Jul 30, 2009
How famous musicians shouldn’t grow old.
If you continue performing for decades, it’s easy to become a travesty of yourself.
Nazareth might be a good example.
1974:
2008:
Subscribe to 22 Words
Recent Comments
- Will on How to become a wine expert and other advice for inexperienced wine lovers
- Stephen May on It’s not a slide, it’s a proto-steampunk ghetto park bench for one.
- Stephen May on Who or whom? A clear, simple answer from a professional grammarian
- Stephen May on Elitists in Minnesota town Lino Lakes approve English-only resolution
- Will Adair on How to become a wine expert and other advice for inexperienced wine lovers
Sponsors
Categories
- Arts in General (24)
- Bible (66)
- Blogging (153)
- Brevity (25)
- Constructive Criticism (268)
- Faith (210)
- Food & Drink (54)
- Language (214)
- Literature (104)
- Love (86)
- Miscellanea (286)
- Movies (14)
- Music (155)
- parenting (153)
- Personal (182)
- Questions (255)
- Quotes (41)
- Recommendations (129)
- Sports (8)
- Uncategorized (8)
- Visual Art (27)
- Writing (56)
Archives
- July 2010 (107)
- June 2010 (79)
- May 2010 (89)
- April 2010 (62)
- March 2010 (21)
- February 2010 (25)
- January 2010 (32)
- December 2009 (47)
- November 2009 (63)
- October 2009 (45)
- September 2009 (40)
- August 2009 (40)
- July 2009 (40)
- June 2009 (37)
- May 2009 (47)
- April 2009 (51)
- March 2009 (40)
- February 2009 (31)
- January 2009 (44)
- December 2008 (47)
- November 2008 (54)
- October 2008 (50)
- September 2008 (41)
- August 2008 (45)
- July 2008 (51)
- June 2008 (51)
- May 2008 (66)
- April 2008 (74)
- March 2008 (71)
- February 2008 (19)
Reader Recommendations
Some of the books and music that you, the readers, have recommended here over time:
Twitter Recommendations
Theme based on Derek Punsalan's Grid Focus.
Okay, that hurt. You made your point quite well. :-)
He’s been rode hard and put away wet
AWESOME!
Just one more example why sounding “cool” in your youth may be a bad thing. That was…painful.
I’m sure aging musicians would agree that they shouldn’t grow old… No amount of love, peace and “hippy drugs” could prevent it!
Wow. That song hurt in 1974… (tokin’ with friends) but it hurts worse in 2008.
My vocal chords hurt!
Is this what’s called aging gracefully or refusing to grow-up? :)
Oh my….so that is what I get to look forward to when I get older…oh my….
At least he wasn’t wearing the same outfit as 1974…
and the ‘old’ version was longer…….oh the pain!
Better?
The first very notable difference is the key was changed. The original sounds like it is in the key of G but the newer version somewhere around E (approximately a minor third lower) but the second recording is very warped and the pitch isn’t true. But this can’t be a realistic comparison anyway as the first was more a studio version and the second a live from “within” the audience, probably not on professional equipment. I think all the crackling we hear is actually the audience singing over his voice. We hear more of them than we are hearing him. Recording rock bands from within the audience never gives you a realistic sound. I think your premise is true (the voice deteriorates with age) But the second video makes them sound worse than they are due to the poor quality.
My audio isn’t working, but might you mean parody instead of travesty?
Ridiculous songs of youth become more so when you’re no longer youthful. Even if you can still sing.
No, I meant travesty, though parody is similar.
I’d guess the meaning of travesty is changing because it sounds similar to tragedy and because in many contexts it can seem to mean something akin to tragedy.
But the older definition of travesty is definitely still around. In fact, for now it’s the only one listed in most dictionaries, I think.
I feel a post coming on about it.
I am sure that by now Love is not the only thing that hurts.
First time commenter, long time reader and one thing I LOVE about your blog is that I frequently have to head to my dictionary :) In my early childhood, any time I asked what a word meant, I was told to “look it up!” Not because my mom didn’t have the time or energy, but because she was made to do the same and ended up loving the discipline of using a dictionary. It’s quite a shame to both the author AND reader when the meaning of a word is mistaken for something else, and therefore, the whole intended meaning lost.
With that said, I headed to my dictionary before viewing (glad I did as I was thinking something akin to tragedy) and then audibly laughed out loud at the second clip. I use the 1828 Webster’s and just for your pleasure, the second sentence of the definition… “Travesty may be intended to ridicule absurdity, or to convert a grave performance into a humorous one.”
And all the comments made me laugh today too… thanks!
lol! oh my.
Is that John Mayer under that hair?? lol I’ve got some old family photos with brothers and uncles that look just like that.
All in all, I love this song. I put it on my ipod a couple months ago.
PS. I agree with @Valerie!!
So true. I remember seeing the Pink Floyd airship floating over our driveway in Erie many years ago as we were getting into the car one afternoon. I said half-jokingly, “Are those guys still touring? When are they going to grow up and get real jobs?”
Then preteen Melissa said, “You mean those guys were famous when YOU were kids?”(ancient times, you know)
Yet I can’t blame them for keeping on.
Ouch – that was very painful to watch! And yes it is a travesty by the 1828 dictionary definition and today’s!