Beer Ears

Why is it that your singing voice always sounds so much better after a few drinks?

We had four friends over the other night for dinner and to watch a movie on DVD. Once we were finished with that, I fired up the CD player with the BeeGees.

Give me a break... they're Gods. Having attended high school in the seventies, it was unavoidable that I would be infected with their falsetto-stylized ballads and disco-laced dance music. Really — they are an acquired taste. And we just happen to love them.

Anyway, once warmed up, I plopped in the Eagles' Greatest Hits, Volume I. Mary, Terri and I make up a trio. We once sang at a wedding. So that makes us legit. We can't seem to decide who sings high, low or melody, so whomever grabs a part first gets to keep it during the rest of the song. We sang the entire CD.

To the untrained, unliquored ear, I supposed one wouldn't realize we were not screaming at the tops of our lungs — we were singing. Damn-it. And we knew we sounded good. Never mind the fact that the cats had disappeared from the face of the earth. Or that the rest of our group in attendance was running around shutting the windows... God forbid any of that happenin' sound actually escape outside.

At the end of the CD, I had to stop. My throat felt like it was bleeding. I had gotten a glimpse of the three of us in the mirror over the wall unit while we were crooning — it looked like we were screaming into each others' faces while stomping our feet and bobbing our heads up and down. How frightening. I don't know for sure if we sounded any where near as good as we thought we did.

The cats came back, though. And I can actually swallow today.

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Article Author: Chari Daignault

Chari tests gear and writes reviews for BackpackGearTest.org and KayakGearReviews.org .

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Article comments

  • 1 - Tim Hall

    Sep 07, 2002 at 12:29 pm

    Of course, the Hee Bee Gee Bees with "Meaningless Songs (in Very High Voices) was the perfect parody.

  • 2 - bigwig

    Sep 07, 2002 at 6:01 pm

    How did you get two albums to appear? I was under the imp that wasn't possible!

  • 3 - Eric Olsen

    Sep 07, 2002 at 8:02 pm

    Dude, you can post up to ten ASINs. Just put a comma (no space) between them.

  • 4 - Beer

    Mar 18, 2004 at 2:27 pm

    You feel much better after a few drinks but you might seem worth to others... Anyway make drinking beautiful with cool beer mugs

  • 5 - BRICKLAYER

    Mar 18, 2004 at 3:01 pm

    Hmmmm, lemme see, ummm, Bee Gees, okay, now the Eagles Greatest Hits...all this, and you have cats? I wanna party with you cowgirl!

    Oh, and Beer, those are some fantastic looking Goblets. The next meeting of the local Viking Appreciation Society, I shall put forth the proposal that we replace the plastic lime green mugs we bought at Target last week with a few cases of your lovely, sturdy vessels! Oh, dang, can't do it, we already sent them to the engravers.

  • 6 - Mark Saleski

    Mar 18, 2004 at 3:37 pm

    when you get to the "throat feels like it's bleeding" part you're supposed to switch to a Tom Waits cd.

    what a wasted opportunity.

    sheesh!!!

  • 7 - Eric Olsen

    Mar 18, 2004 at 4:27 pm

    Since it is indeed fitting and right and germane to the conversation, we will allow Beer's spam to remain.

    Since this was written 18 onths ago, who knows what Chari and her warbling companions are up to these days, but if you are truly interested in a scientific investigation of the intersection of alcohol and vocalization, I wouldn't suggest recordign the performance.

  • 8 - Michael

    Feb 24, 2005 at 3:20 pm

    Wow, Déjà Vu!

    "To the untrained, unliquored ear,... I supposed one wouldn't realize we were not screaming at the tops of our lungs -- we were singing!"

    Do you gals Karaoke in San Pedro (CA)? It seems to me that everyone sounds better AFTER they enforce the two drink minimum! And your throat "...felt like it was bleeding...", ours get that way just trying to talk over everyone's "singing".

    Fellow scabby throat,

    Michael

  • 9 - Eric Olsen

    Feb 24, 2005 at 3:26 pm

    Michael, I am from San Pedro, CA! South Shores Elementary, Dana Jr. High, then moved to Ohio, but then moved back, but then moved to Ohio again

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