# Favourite vocal presentations of a single line in music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823 "2008-05-27T22:46:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/21 "2008-05-29T07:09:15Z")
_The Beatles_, from “A Day in the Life” - Lennon doing that wail right after McCartney says “Found my way upstairs and had a smoke/ And somebody spoke and I went into a dream”… Another vote for _Heart_. In “Crazy On You”, the power of the titular line just floors me. Not quite music; on _Yessongs_ there’s a little acoustic guitar preamble to Rick Wakeman’s piece, where the singer does this super-understated introduction. You bug up because you _know_ it’s about to get wild. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/22 "2008-05-29T07:27:56Z")
The Mountain Goats - This Year “There will be feasting and dancing in Jerusalem next year.” I don’t know why, either, because that line seems pretty random in a song that’s otherwise lyrically cohesive. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/23 "2008-05-29T09:00:05Z")
**Richard Thompson** singing “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”: “I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome, Swooping down from the heavens to carry me home!” **Grateful Dead** singing “Scarlet Begonias”: “She had rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes; And I knew right then she was into the blues.” **Gary Jules** singing the chorus to “Mad World”: “And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad; The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.” **The Who** singing “Squeeze Box”: “Come on and squeeze me like you do; I’m so in love with you…” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/24 "2008-05-29T09:11:20Z")
For your reading pleasure, here’s an old thread I started along similar lines. > **[One Little Bit of Vocal Phrasing In A Song That Overshadows The Entire Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=304468)** > > Everybody likes to do bad impersonations of Glen Frey growling the word “smugglers” in Smuggler’s Blues. Sorry it went down like that But someone had to lose It’s the politics of contraband It’s the SMUGGGGGGLER’S Blues. What other songs linger... As I did then, I nominate “SMUGGGGLER’S BLUES!” Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/25 "2008-05-29T15:12:10Z")
The first thing that came to mind was Marc Cohn, in Walking in Memphis, when he just wails: “Tell me are you a Christian child?” And I said “Ma’am I am tonight” And one I’m currently listening to over and over again lately, the spectacular [Baby I Love You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5foiUmycaM&feature=related) by Aretha Franklin, which is all awesome, but especially the line: And, oh, what you want, little boy you’re know you got it I’d deny my own self before I’d see you without it. Damn, I love Aretha. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/26 "2008-05-29T15:34:04Z")
[QUOTE=Ceejaytee] The first thing that came to mind was Marc Cohn, in Walking in Memphis, when he just wails: “Tell me are you a Christian child?” And I said “Ma’am I am tonight” [/QUOTE] I was reading this thread and not being able to think of a particular line or song, but this - I love this one too. CHILLS, man. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/27 "2008-05-29T15:36:15Z")
Helter skelter in the summer swelter Where the birds flew off in a fallout shelter _Eight miles high and falling fast_ You can almost see “it” falling fassssssst. ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/28 "2008-05-29T15:51:47Z")
Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket): **Come Back Down** “…just one more time…I’ll be okay…” (his voice cracks) ---
**Author:** ![paffinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@paffinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paffinity)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/29 "2008-05-29T16:12:38Z")
The song **Strange Fruit** by Billie Holiday is haunting from start to finish, but her unbroken crescendo/descendo during the line "For the trees to _drop_ " freaks me out more than anything. I think it’s something about how the way her pitch doesn’t change in steps; it’s continous. It’s kind of hard to explain but you know it if you hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/30 "2008-05-29T16:19:26Z")
“It ain’t Coca-Cola, it’s rice” The Clash, “Straight to Hell” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/31 "2008-05-29T16:24:27Z")
Regina Spektor in **Samson** sings _“And he told me that I’d done all right…”_ with just the perfect mix of frightened defiance, appropriate for a woman who just knowingly crippled the strength of one of God’s heroes for her own gains. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/32 "2008-05-29T16:30:54Z")
_Banks of the Nile_ by Sandy Denny (actually her group Fotheringay): “They’ve robbed us of our sweethearts while their bodies they feed the lions, On the dry and sandy deserts which are the banks of the Nile.” _Hold On, Hold On_ by Neko Case: “I leave the party a 3 am, alone thank God.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823/33 "2008-05-29T16:37:20Z")
[QUOTE=Bearflag70] Band Aid - Do They Know It’s Christmas - “Well, tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.” [/QUOTE] Am I remembering right that it’s Bono who sings that particular line? There’s a spoken bit in the middle of the Kinks song “Cliches of the World (B Movie)” that Ray Davies pulls off brilliantly, > [@](#): > > In his dreams he’s taken away by alien beings to another galaxy, deep in space, > to a planet where a man can live out his fantasies, > and experience unimaginable pleasures. > But morning comes and soon the realities of life will shatter his illusions, > and the clichés of the world will bring him down. > But still he’s waiting for a change. but I especially love the way he says the words “unimaginable pleasures.” (There’s also a live version of the song, which is interesting and maybe even better overall, but the spoken part isn’t as good as in the original studio version from the State of Confusion album.) Also from the same album, in the song “Don’t Forget To Dance,” I love the tenderness with which Ray sings the line “And when they asked me how you dance, I said that you dance real close.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-vocal-presentations-of-a-single-line-in-music/450823.md?page=1)