# Worst Vocal Performance On A Recorded Song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812 "2017-11-16T22:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/21 "2017-11-17T02:07:45Z")
> [@golffan1963](#): > > My vote goes to a song I happened to hear last night: Taylor Swift’s version of “Last Christmas”. > > It is the WORST performance of any recorded song I have ever heard. Complete with her signature nasal tones, it’s shrill and from a non-professional standpoint, it sounds to me as if she is completely off key. It’s as if she went into the studio, cut the tune, told them to do with it what they want, and then got out of dodge. The performance is so bad, I’m shocked it was allowed to be distributed to the public. > > Agree, disagree, or provide your own examples…let me know what you come up with. Have you ever seen any videos of her live performances? She can’t sing a note in tune to save her life. ---
**Author:** ![golffan1963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4af34b/32.png) [@golffan1963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/golffan1963)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/22 "2017-11-17T02:42:13Z")
I’ve heard that about her live singing. In “Last Christmas”, it didn’t sound like they used Auto-tune or anything like that. I think she just sang and said “I’m outta here”! ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/23 "2017-11-17T03:01:00Z")
I once heard Keith Richards singing on ‘Happy’ as ‘vocal Alfalfaisms’. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fBcFjNUzFJ0/hqdefault.jpg "The Rolling Stones - Happy") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBcFjNUzFJ0) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/24 "2017-11-17T03:06:49Z")
Was this deliberately bad or what? > **[tiptoe through the tulips tiny tim - Yahoo Search Results Video Search Results](https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=sfp&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=rotz&p=tiptoe%2Bthrough%2Bthe%2Btulips%2Btiny%2Btim#id=3&vid=2a19a4016301d06345010c725bb7a481&action=click)** > > The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web. And I won’t even mention Florence Foster Jenkins. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/25 "2017-11-17T03:35:15Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Gotta go with a classic. “Louie Louie” had a certain class, and it had a beat. But I think it’s a vocal FAIL when you can’t understand at least one fourth of the words in the song (and you can’t, even when you know what they are). Do you mean the famous version by the Kingsmen? Cuz there are [two](https://smile.amazon.com/Best-Louie-Greatest-Renditions-Rocks/dp/B0000032IJ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510889242&sr=8-3&keywords=louie+louie) [discs](https://smile.amazon.com/Best-Louie-2-Various-Artists/dp/B0000032G2/ref=pd_cp_15_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W5WAGE6AR4RB7FJGC71C) worth of records of that song. (Plus others that aren’t on either of those discs, like the Beach Boys’.) [You aren’t the first person to remark on the unintelligibility of the lyrics.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/281/what-are-the-real-lyrics-to-louie-louie) ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/26 "2017-11-17T04:04:03Z")
Another vote for Mrs. Miller. She makes William Shatner sound halfway decent. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/27 "2017-11-17T04:07:34Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Do you mean the famous version by the Kingsmen? Cuz there are [two](https://smile.amazon.com/Best-Louie-Greatest-Renditions-Rocks/dp/B0000032IJ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510889242&sr=8-3&keywords=louie+louie) [discs](https://smile.amazon.com/Best-Louie-2-Various-Artists/dp/B0000032G2/ref=pd_cp_15_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W5WAGE6AR4RB7FJGC71C) worth of records of that song. (Plus others that aren’t on either of those discs, like the Beach Boys’.) > > [You aren’t the first person to remark on the unintelligibility of the lyrics.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/281/what-are-the-real-lyrics-to-louie-louie) Yes, because you can certainly understand Toots and the Maytals version. Sorry to leave that out. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/28 "2017-11-17T04:11:20Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Gotta go with a classic. “Louie Louie” had a certain class, and it had a beat. But I think it’s a vocal FAIL when you can’t understand at least one fourth of the words in the song (and you can’t, even when you know what they are). It may be mostly unintelligible, but god damn that’s one of the great rock vocal takes, in my opinion. It is pure rock and roll, and any other take would miss out on the spirit. My nomination? Now, this may fit into the so-bad-it’s-good, or just purposefully cheekily bad, but Biz Markee’s take on [Benny and the Jets](https://youtu.be/r_l_runP4-Q) is glorious. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/29 "2017-11-17T04:15:51Z")
TT:TTTT (Tiny Tim: Tiptoe Through The Tulips) ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/30 "2017-11-17T06:34:38Z")
Anyone remember William Hung? [Enjoy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etp5rQIggIg)! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/31 "2017-11-17T07:33:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My nomination? Now, this may fit into the so-bad-it’s-good, or just purposefully cheekily bad, but Biz Markee’s take on [Benny and the Jets](https://youtu.be/r_l_runP4-Q) is glorious. Reminded me of a classic [cover by the Beatles](https://youtu.be/RlNYIYK7Itk), taken from a time of wastedness while they were working on _Abbey Road_. I always liked the part at the end, “he’s one alright.” ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/32 "2017-11-17T09:03:56Z")
[Leonard Nimoy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGF5ROpjRAU) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/33 "2017-11-17T09:46:47Z")
Johnny Cash, “Ive Been Everywhere”. Some things need to be left alon e. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/34 "2017-11-17T15:17:53Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It may be mostly unintelligible, but god damn that’s one of the great rock vocal takes, in my opinion. It is pure rock and roll, and any other take would miss out on the spirit. > > My nomination? Now, this may fit into the so-bad-it’s-good, or just purposefully cheekily bad, but Biz Markee’s take on [Benny and the Jets](https://youtu.be/r_l_runP4-Q) is glorious. I was coming in to mention Biz Markee’s “Just a Friend”. The dude could rap, but he certainly could not sing. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/35 "2017-11-17T15:24:24Z")
I just heard Yoko Ono singing on “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”. Not good. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/36 "2017-11-17T15:27:13Z")
My vote has to go to Richard Harris for the original “MacArthur Park.” It’s a complicated story about how he got the tapes for the music accompaniment and recorded the vocals, but it ended up just…weird. I actually like the song, but the vocals are, er, exceptional. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/37 "2017-11-17T15:32:03Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Gotta go with a classic. “Louie Louie” had a certain class, and it had a beat. But I think it’s a vocal FAIL when you can’t understand at least one fourth of the words in the song (and you can’t, even when you know what they are). So you’re not a big fan of early R.E.M.? Sometimes, the lyrics are just another musical instrument. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/38 "2017-11-17T16:05:36Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I just heard Yoko Ono singing on “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”. Not good. Anything by Yoko is a strong candidate for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/39 "2017-11-17T16:16:44Z")
The Cherry Sisters were a famously bad performing group, who lived and performed mostly before the era of recorded music: > **[Cherry Sisters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Sisters)** > > The Cherry Sisters – Addie (1859–1942), Effie (1867–1944), Ella (1854–1934), Lizzie (1857–1936), and Jessie Cherry (1871–1903) – were five sisters from Marion, Iowa who formed a notorious vaudeville touring act in the late 19th century. They were also the plaintiffs in a landmark 1901 legal case heard by the Iowa Supreme Court, Cherry v. Des Moines Leader, which was instrumental in establishing and confirming the right of the press to fair comment. > The Cherry Sisters' vaudeville act, Something ... > **[The Cherry Sisters: Worst Act Ever?](https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/06/27/417439984/the-cherry-sisters-worst-act-ever)** > > How a group of perhaps-clueless farmgirls from Iowa rose to theatrical fame and infamy at the same time. The thing is, three f them lived into the 1930s, and two into the 1940s. They _could_ have recorded their act, and there has been speculation and rumors of a lost Cherry Sister recording. We can only hope this is wrong. In much the same vein, Florence Foster Jenkins was a would-be diva noted for her inability to sing. Her life was the subject of two recent movies (_Marguerite_ (2015)]Florence Foster Jenkins\*(2016lastter starring Meryl Streep). The difference is that Jenkins, unlike the Cherry Sisters, certainly _wasp_ recorded, on audio alone aND on film: > [@](#): > > Recordings[edit] > > Audio[edit] > > The only professional audio recordings of Jenkins consist of nine selections on five 78-rpm records (Melotone Recording Studio, New York City, 1941–1944), produced by Jenkins herself, at her own expense.[2] These include four coloratura arias from operas by Mozart, Delibes, Johann Strauss II, and Félicien David, and five art songs, two written for Jenkins by her accompanist, Cosmé McMoon. Eight of the selections were released by RCA Victor on a 10-inch LP in 1954, and reissued on a 12-inch LP in 1962. The material has since been reissued in various combinations on three CDs: > The Glory (???) of the Human Voice (Sony Classical, OCLC 968787814, 1992) is a reissue of the 1962 Victor recording with the same eight selections, plus a photo of Jenkins in her “Angel of Inspiration” recital costume. > Florence Foster Jenkins & Friends: Murder on the High Cs (Naxos Records, OCLC 873003955, 2003) contains all nine selections. > The Muse Surmounted: Florence Foster Jenkins and Eleven of Her Rivals (Homophone Records, OCLC 58399998, 2004) includes one Jenkins song, Valse Caressante, plus a brief interview with McMoon. > > Film[edit] > > Jenkins commissioned filming of her performances at the Verdi Club’s signature annual event, the “Ball of the Silver Skylarks”, which took place each October at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.[29] While there was ample evidence, in Verdi Club programs and elsewhere, that the performances were filmed,[30] the films themselves were thought lost until prints from the 1934 through 1939 and 1941 events were discovered in 2009.[31] Jenkins historian Donald Collup has announced plans to feature excerpts from her filmed performances in an upcoming documentary.[32] > **[Florence Foster Jenkins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins)** > > Florence Foster Jenkins (born Narcissa Florence Foster;\[a\] July 19, 1868 – November 26, 1944) was an American socialite and amateur soprano who became known, and mocked, for her flamboyant performance costumes and notably poor singing ability. Stephen Pile ranked her "the world's worst opera singer ... No one, before or since, has succeeded in liberating themselves quite so completely from the shackles of musical notation." > Despite – or perhaps because of – her technical incompetence, she bec... I haven’t heard any of them, but these might qualify as The Worst Vocal Performance of a Recorded Song. (I own several of the “Golden Throats” albums that contain some of the nominees people have listed above. A lot of the recordings aren’t necessarily bad, just weird. Some are downright good. But the Cherrys and Jenkins were, by all accounts, simply bad.) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812/40 "2017-11-17T18:13:58Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Do you mean the famous version by the Kingsmen? Cuz there are [two](https://smile.amazon.com/Best-Louie-Greatest-Renditions-Rocks/dp/B0000032IJ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510889242&sr=8-3&keywords=louie+louie) [discs](https://smile.amazon.com/Best-Louie-2-Various-Artists/dp/B0000032G2/ref=pd_cp_15_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W5WAGE6AR4RB7FJGC71C) worth of records of that song. (Plus others that aren’t on either of those discs, like the Beach Boys’.) > > [You aren’t the first person to remark on the unintelligibility of the lyrics.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/281/what-are-the-real-lyrics-to-louie-louie) Oddly enough, I think the most intelligible version I’ve ever heard (Unless you count bar bands. I’ve heard a number who sang it correctly and intelligibly) was Motorhead’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-vocal-performance-on-a-recorded-song/801812.md?page=3)