# Learn what "falsetto" means, morons! (lame) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742 "2004-07-19T00:21:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/21 "2004-07-19T05:39:06Z")
> [@racinchikki](#): > > The only Tiger Lillies song I’m familiar with is “Hell,” from the soundtrack to _Plunkett & Macleane_, and I thought it was sung by a woman until about a month ago. I just got a CD of thiers last week as a gift. It’s called _The Gorey End_, and is apparently based on unpublished poems by Edward Gorey. I think [this](http://www.phobos-deimos.com/Edward_Gorey/Main/wpe11.gif) best sums up my reaction. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/22 "2004-07-19T06:52:56Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > The only singer I can think of that records songs in falsetto currently is Jimmy Somerville(formerly of Bronski Beat and the Communards). Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys sings falsetto for a bunch of his stuff (“Closer to Heaven,” for example.) ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/23 "2004-07-19T06:59:01Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I just got a CD of thiers last week as a gift. It’s called _The Gorey End_, and is apparently based on unpublished poems by Edward Gorey. I think [this](http://www.phobos-deimos.com/Edward_Gorey/Main/wpe11.gif) best sums up my reaction. 😕 You have become three men sitting in chairs? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/24 "2004-07-19T07:17:52Z")
Elton John sang a lot of falsetto before his throat surgery. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/25 "2004-07-19T07:19:33Z")
> [@racinchikki](#): > > The only Tiger Lillies song I’m familiar with is “Hell,” from the soundtrack to _Plunkett & Macleane_, and I thought it was sung by a woman until about a month ago. They were on a soundtrack? I must see this (musten’t I? Is it any good?). Hell is fairly atypical really. Funny, the song not sung in fallsetto is the one that sounds like a woman. [Tiger Lilies] _You are my whore, the one I adore_ _You are the one my twisted heart adooooorrrres._ [/Tiger Lilies] ---
**Author:** ![Kegg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Kegg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kegg)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/26 "2004-07-19T12:43:41Z")
Isn’t falsetto used to yodel? * * * Spelling and grammer subject to change withour notice. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/27 "2004-07-19T22:49:59Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons LOL - I heard a comedian talking about him a while back. He proceeded to imitate Frankie, singing in falsetto, “Walk like a man, talk like a man…” and then said, in a pleading voice, "Frankie, _sing like a man!_ **Kegg** - Yodeling uses both full voice and falsetto. It involves shifting between full voice to falsetto without stopping the sound. You can actually hear the “shifting of gears” where the switches are made, and that gives yodelling its distinctive sound. (I heard a yodeller explaining it on the radio a few years ago. NPR, I think.) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/28 "2004-07-19T23:59:16Z")
I have to disagree that there can be no power in falsetto. Ever heard a really decent operatic soprano? Are you willing to bet that, say, Jessey Norman cannot blow out the back of an auditorium falsettily? ---
**Author:** ![Kneepants\_Erasmus\_the\_Humanist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@Kneepants\_Erasmus\_the\_Humanist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kneepants_Erasmus_the_Humanist)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/29 "2004-07-20T01:09:29Z")
I am a fan of bad, overblown falsetto (I have an odd sense of humor). One of my favorite instances of this is the song “Miserable Lie” from the first Smiths album. The song starts off slowly with Morrissey singing in his normal voice…then they begin rocking out a bit…then he careens into the most exaggerated, psychotic falsetto I’ve heard for the last two minutes of the song. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/30 "2004-07-20T02:34:09Z")
I’m sorry, but this whole thread is just sad. It amazes me, the lengths to which some Rush fans will go just to try to deny the plain truth that Geddy is a woman. ::d&r:: ---
**Author:** ![Denis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@Denis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Denis)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/31 "2004-07-20T02:42:44Z")
Philistine! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/32 "2004-07-20T02:55:18Z")
Somebody once said that Geddy Lee sings like he’s got his dick in a thumbscrew. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/33 "2004-07-20T04:15:58Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I have to disagree that there can be no power in falsetto. Ever heard a really decent operatic soprano? Are you willing to bet that, say, Jessey Norman cannot blow out the back of an auditorium falsettily? Women don’t have falsetto ranges. Some of us can just sing really, really high, if we know what we’re doing. It can be a lot of fun to sing really high without hurting myself, but if I do it wrong, OUCH. I was in a college choir once with a guy who could go really high, and the odd part was it didn’t sound like he was going into falsetto though he must have been to be able to sing first soprano parts. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/34 "2004-07-20T04:52:21Z")
I’ve never met a woman who couldn’t sing in head voice. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/35 "2004-07-20T07:06:02Z")
> [@andros](#): > > I’ve never met a woman who couldn’t sing in head voice. But “head voice” isn’t falsetto. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742/36 "2004-07-20T07:49:18Z")
As a baritone, there’s a clear – too clear – distinction between my real voice and my falsetto voice. And no, this has nothing to do w/ head vs. chest voice. I know all about those, and it’s a different concept. But I’ve talked with more than one professional tenor with really high ranges, and they claim not to know what falsetto is. To them, it’s all the same voice through the whole range – allowing for head/chest distinctions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-what-falsetto-means-morons-lame/255742.md?page=1)