Singer Signature Syllables

We saw the Police at Wrigley Field tonight. Despite many negative reviews for the shows up until this point, it was pretty good.

A few disappointments:

• They play the EXACT same setlist every show
• Sting shied away from the high notes sometimes making some songs just sound wrong (for example the line “when their eloquence escapes me…” in “De do do do De da da da” was sung an octave lower, lessening the dramatic lead up to the chorus at that point)
• Sting tried a little too hard to “jazz-ize” some of the tunes
• Man, Andy Summers is looking old, and he needs a style consultant.

But overall, it was still pretty good. They actually rocked out on some of them. They can make a hell of lot a sound for only being a trio. And Stewart Copeland is just the best.[see Mary’s full review]

Anyway, the one thing that I had never realized was that Sting utters: “eeeeeeee ooooohhhhhhhhh” in various incarnations in SO many of the Police songs. He even added “eee oooo’s” to several songs for which the “eeee ohhhh’s” don’t appear on the studio versions. I guess that “eeeeee ohhhhhhhh” is Sting’s “signature” thing.

Here are a few other signature things that I thought of that various singers do:

• Steven Tyler of Aerosmith: that “k-k-k-k-k-ow kow kow kow” thing
• Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses: “aye eeeeee eye” (as in “Sweet Ch-aye-eeeee-eye-LD of M-aye-eeeee-eye-N”, “You Could Be M-aye-eeeeee-eye-n”, “Don’t You Cr-aye-eeeeeee-eye Tonight”, etc.)
• Michael Jackson: “yowww!” and that breathy, grunty thing that he does between lines sometimes.

Can you think of any more singer signatures? I can’t at the moment, but I’ll add ‘em here when I think of ‘em. In the meantime, I’ll get to work on inventing my signature syllables.

For those of you not fortunate enough to have been to Wrigley Field or for those who happen to not be males, here are the world famous Wrigley Field urinal troughs! :