Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Duh

There are little enunciation tricks vocalists use to make sung syllables more understandable, like pronouncing a long I as "aaa-eee." But I heard one today, on the Platters' "Only You (and You Alone)," that I never noticed before: The lead singer, Tony Williams, actually sings, "Only you/Can-d make this world seem right." Or maybe it's "Only you/Can d'make this world seem right." There's a distinct D tucked between "can" and "make" each of the four times Williams sings it.

I had never noticed that before. But once you know it's there, it's hard to hear anything else.

2 comments:

Marshall said...

I think that's to keep from mushing together the "n" and following "m" sounds. Much the way Italians toss in a "d" when two vowels run up against each other. (I'm a man of the world, kinda!)

Innocent Bystander said...

I agree with Marshall. Actually, I'm saying the two words right now, and I'm finding the "d" sound naturally slipping in without any conscious effort.