# Strangest Duets **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2004, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876 "2004-10-24T09:13:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/21 "2004-10-25T20:16:34Z")
There is a duet with Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan on some collection that we have. This isn’t a hugely weird pairing, but it does starkly illustrate that Bob Dylan should never do a duet with anyone. At least not with any other singer. ---
**Author:** ![Graycat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Graycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graycat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/22 "2004-10-25T21:01:04Z")
Are you talking about Girl From the North Country on _Nashville Skyline_? I love that duet; I think they both sound great; I think Johnny Cash may be the only other singer that would sound natural with Bob Dylan. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/23 "2004-10-25T21:14:02Z")
Yes, that’s the song, but I heard it on some other collection. It’s just my opinion obviously, but I thought the contrast of Dylan’s nasal tones and Cash’s voice was not a good mix. I like Dylan just fine on his own, though. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/24 "2004-10-25T23:37:36Z")
The “Patridge Family” recording (actually just Shaun Cassidy & Shirley Jones - the only two musical family members in real life) of “I Think I Love You.” In real life and on the show they were mother & son (okay, stepmother & stepson IRL, but still) - that makes for a creepy, creepy duet. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/25 "2004-10-26T00:56:50Z")
Bono and Frank Sinatra did a couple of duets, as I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/26 "2004-10-26T01:01:34Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Buffett doing _Mack the Knife_. I actually thought that was pretty good. Beats all the versions I’ve heard of Sinatra doing it alone, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/27 "2004-10-26T09:43:18Z")
If they had just stuck to the song, it probably would have been okay. But the banter between Sinatra and Buffet falls flat, and then Frank just abandons the actual lyrics and starts singing about other people who have performed the song. It doesn’t work for me. There have been many, many sucky versions of _Mack the Knife_, and one perfect one. I’ve heard references that two albums of duets recorded very late in Sinatra’s career (including this song) were done without the two performers actually singing together. Apparently Frank recorded his track first, and Jimmy Buffet (or whoever) would sing their part later to be mixed in. If that’s true, it makes this ‘duet’ even more bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/28 "2004-10-26T10:33:14Z")
Freddy Mercury and the opera singer Montserrat Caballé on ‘Barcelona’. Some of the Beach Boys and Status Quo on ‘Fun fun fun’. ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/29 "2004-10-26T11:05:19Z")
I could only respond “WTF?” when Julio Eglesias and Willy Nelson teamed up on “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before”. Who comes up with some of these pairings? I gotta believe it invloves mind-altering substances. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/30 "2004-10-26T14:47:15Z")
Getting onto ‘you’d think it was strange but actually works’ duets, I’d take Willy Nelson with anyone. I caught a Saturday Night Live re-run with Willy Nelson and Paul Simon. Good-ol’ country boy and New York intellectual seems enough of a contrast right there, but they did “Graceland”, so add the bizarre contrast of a South African band behind them. And Willy made it work, bless him. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/31 "2004-10-26T15:41:50Z")
I always thought Cher and Peter Cetera’s duet “After All” was an odd combination because Cher’s voice is so deep and Cetera’s is so high… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Roboto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr.Roboto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Roboto)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/32 "2004-10-27T16:12:35Z")
Bobby Darin & Freda Payne Don’t remember the song,but it was Hot and Steamy! ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/33 "2004-10-27T17:21:08Z")
> [@Jeff Lodoen](#): > > Gwyneth Palterow and Huey Lewis… I don’t think that was too weird, because it was actually their characters in a movie signing. And hell, I think it was pretty good; she has quite the respectable voice. Now what was the name of that movie… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/34 "2004-10-27T18:32:58Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > -Eminem and Elton John Didn’t Elton and Axl Rose pair up once…for singing? I remember seeing the Eminem duet and thinking Elton was either losing his mind or not performing his entire range of tastes. The Travelling Wilburies always struck me as a REALLY odd comination of talents. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/35 "2004-10-27T19:07:30Z")
Travelling Wilbury’s=genius One odd pairing would be Jack White and Loretta Lynn for her album, _Van Lear Rose_. He produced the album and sang with her on one song, it was actually pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/36 "2004-10-27T20:56:39Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > The “Patridge Family” recording (actually just Shaun Cassidy & Shirley Jones - the only two musical family members in real life) of “I Think I Love You.” In real life and on the show they were mother & son (okay, stepmother & stepson IRL, but still) - that makes for a creepy, creepy duet. _David_ Cassidy. Not Shaun. I’ve always liked the Crosby/Bowie duet, ever since I first saw the video clip from that special on…either Friday Night Videos or Night Tracks. I forget which '80s video show it was. Let us not forget the tragic pairing of Paul McCartney and Michael - I was still seminormal then - Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/37 "2004-10-27T21:04:38Z")
> [@photopat](#): > > Let us not forget the tragic pairing of Paul McCartney and Michael - I was still seminormal then - Jackson. You notice they didn’t do any more of those after Jackson sniped the Beatles copyrights out from under Macca’s nose? ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/38 "2004-10-27T21:15:32Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Devo doing a cover of “Ohio” really isn’t that strange. At least one member of the group (Devo fans, please tell me who) was a student at Kent State in May 1970 and actually witnessed the shootings by the National Guard that was the subject of the song. I hit “reply” to say, please tell me nobody in Devo is that old, because that would mean that _I’m_ that old, which just bums me out. Then I decided to do a search on Google and came to another startling realization: Why is there no Internet Music Database… it could be imdb2 dot com? It just sucks. Mention any actor, movie or television series and you can probably get more information on the IMDB… Try to find a centralized place for bios, discography, tour dates, video, mp3s, lyrics, there’s a million crappy web sites to sift through to find a fraction of that. Someone needs to organize all those fan sites. [grumble grmble] Alas, I was unable to find the answer to your question, but I did find a web site that said Devo was formed in 1972 In Akron, so it’s entirely possible that one of them witnessed the Kent State shootings. Which confirms that I am, indeed, _that_ old. ::heavy sigh:: ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/39 "2004-10-27T21:18:37Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#): > > I don’t think that was too weird, because it was actually their characters in a movie signing. And hell, I think it was pretty good; she has quite the respectable voice. > > Now what was the name of that movie… 😉 And my point about the imdb2 has been made. With one quick search, the name of that movie was [\*\*Duets](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134630/)\*\*. See what I mean? We need an internet music database. ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876/40 "2004-10-28T10:24:53Z")
On his early 90s solo album “Monster”, Fred Schneider of the B52’s has a song entitled “It’s Time to Kiss”, which is a duet with Patti LaBelle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-duets/270876.md?page=3)