Not talking “Ooohs” in song titles or repeated in choruses, or even more contrived/mannered “ad libs” such as Damon A’s “Woo-hoo” at the start of Song 2.
We’re talking casually tossed-off interjections or full-on Tourette’s style incomprehensibility
The always reliable Warren Zevon has some good examples. That admiring “huh!” in Werewolves and that defiant almost, triumphant “Ha!” in Desperadoes being two excellent examples.
Lou Reed is also good – that insouciant little “huh” at the start of Sweet Jane speaking volumes about both the singer and the character he’s singing about.
Best of the bunch?
For me, Joe Strummer’s guttural “Wurrrrgggggghhhhh” at 3.10 secs into The Clash’s Right Profile is arguably the gold standard here, Phil Collins’ phlegmy expectorations all through Genesis’s Mama run him close.
Just to get this into recently updated
Surely Michael Jackson is the king of all things “yelp” and “ow” and involuntary/voluntary tic-ing?
https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/13/8597049/michael-jackson-video-grunts-squeal-yelps
I think you’r getting him mixed up with Bubbles the Chimp
The late great Oliver Mtukudzi, from Zimbabwe , early on in his career started songs with a cough and it became his trademark.
My favourite “song that starts with a cough” song:
One of the great tragedies of Michael Jackson is the drama of his life obscured the fact that that vocal style was (and remains) one of the most exciting in the history of recorded music. How unbelievably present in performance was he? It’s unclear the line between singing, dance, and rhythm itself. Extraordinary.
If memory serves, the lyric sheet of the Bad LP actually rendered those adlibs in prose i.e., “shamone” “dah!” “he-he*”
(*incidentally the punchline to my daughter’s favourite joke about Michael Jackson’s pronouns)
Personally I think his adlibs became risible mannerisms.
Oh, by the end it was *all* risible. But at his peak, whoah.
That vocal tics vid manages to be both very funny and deeply disturbing. I wonder what the producer thought when Jacko shouted “shuckatucka!”?
One of the few Oasis songs I really like – Talk Tonight – starts with a cough, if memory serves.
One of my faves is [since I watch it at least twice a year] Grumpy Van Morrison on Caravan with The Band in Scorsese’s The Last Waltz.
Zub a dee day bee doh, not sure of the onomatopoeia, but his vocal scat stylings followed by his theatrical kicks, mic drop and ‘leave em wanting more’ exit stage left are inspired.
One of the greatest live performances in rock history.
Obligatory New Order reference.
Barney does quite a bit of Jacko-style “Whoop” and “Ow!”
See the Temptation 12″, which features the sound of Hooky putting a snowball down the back of his shirt.
He also does it pretty inappropriately when singing Joy Division songs live
And whistling into the mic, which drove Hooky and many soundmen (and me) to distraction.
Gerard Langley of The Blue Aeroplanes is so keen on “Huh!” that it was used for the title of one of their albums.
There has to be a mention-uh for the inimitable Mark E-uh!
Not so much a vocal tic, but Bryan Ferry’s sharply sucked in breath at 5:16 of Roxy’s ‘TheThrill of It All’ is about as cool as it gets.
Never noticed that before, but now I will hear and appreciate it every time. Bravo!
Also, a shortened version of your sentence is also 100% true: “Bryan Ferry’s … about as cool as it gets.”
Ferry’s Mattessons-style “mmm” 6 seconds into Editions Of You is also a favourite of mine.
And when he sings the ‘slinky sirens wail’ he gives a ‘woooo’ later in the song
Then of course there is Dylan’s awful period of monotone line with an upper inflection at the end of each line. Pretty much every song. Can’t remember the period -late nineties or noughties?
Keith Jarrett famous for murmuring and grunting along to his solo piano improvs
From memory, most of the vocal content in Dave & Ansel’s ‘Double Barrel’ is ad lib-ish stuff. And there’s always been something deeply amusing about Kevin Rowland’s ‘Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ in ‘Geno’ (or was it something else?) and Sharkey’s ‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!’ in the chorus of the Undertones’ ‘Jimmy, Jimmy’.
There, There, My Dear – a nod to the Chairmen’s Give Me Just A Little More Time?
Pop is full of “hey!”s, but I’ve never heard one quite like Madonna’s during Like A Virgin, which perfectly conveys the sensation of a person proxy to your part..
It’s Morrissey, so undoubtedly it is classed as a mannered ad lib, but a contender is the shriek before A Jumped up Pantry Boy on This Charming Man.
Of course, this kind of thing is all over folk music, especially sea shanties.
In 80s/90s live performances of ‘Fog on the Tyne’, arranged with a Bo Diddley beat, Lindisfarne’s Ray Jackson would often shoehorn ‘Hooowaaaay yaboogaman!’ in between chorus lines.
Not so much vocal tics but facial tics and the prize would have to go to Loudon Wainwright – never seen anyone so animated or pull so many strange faces.
You’ve never been to a Robin Trower show?
Or Phil Miller.
Or indeed most melodeon players.
Stuart Adamson’s “Shaa!” after the opening drum salvo of In A Big Country
Geraint Watkins does it all the time
https://youtu.be/cgIEyeOjMUA
A slight sidetrack (but what would this place be without those?) on the rare occasions I watch The Chase I always think what a great presenter Bradley Walsh is, and I always wish he would knock off the Woo-Hoo! shrieks he often gives after reading the multiple choice answers.
See also “Has to be”, “Got to be”, etc., when a contestant gives an answer, only to be proved wrongity wrong seconds later.
Astral Weeks fan..
That made me giggle.
I was at school in the early 80s with a few characters who were keen on Echo & the Bunnymen – they called themselves ‘the Waugh Boys’ (that’s very unlikely to be how it would be spelt, but it’s along the lines of Evelyn W’s surname in sound – and likely never needed to be written down). The name came from the sound of the bloke in Echo & TB on a particular track – I never asked which – going ‘Aaaargh-weeuuu-uurrghhh!’ – a rather camp sounding shriek (though I only ever heard second-hand versions from the Waugh Boys, never the original), I wonder what track it was? Any ideas?
Is it the one where he goes on about cucumbers?
I’ve really no idea.
Thorn Of Crowns.
That’s the one!
I was thinking of the The Cutter but that’s more of a wail than a shriek.
Written down it looks about the same though
How about Sir Ronnie James Dio? Does a lovely little “ooomph” at the start of Die Young.
One of my favourite songs of all time ever is Eric Serra’s’ It’s Only Mystery, from the soundtrack to Subway. I always love the delicate, little “mm” after “dreaming’s not the answer” (3.30).
Does Joni’s giggle in Big Yellow Taxi count?
It’s not a patch on Janet Jackson’s giggle
From a Green Man review of Dave Swarbrick Live at Jacksons Lane.
I seem to recall being told that because of his hearing difficulties he would do this to keep in tune. I’m not sure how true that is.
Surely the Boss, the Soul Brother #1, The Hardest Working Man in Showbidness, Mr Dynamite etc etc – the constant volleys of Hah! Good Gad! Huh! Squeal! Huh! Hit me! etc.
Certainly. On some tracks he seems to dispense with actual words completely and his voice just becomes almost like a sound effect. I love that
No-one’s mentioned Edwin Starr’s reaction to War yet…?
David Byrne has a certain repertoire he employs. Some whooping and wailing and on Animals some snorting like a pig.
Mick begins Sympathy with a huh and then what sounds to me like cuh or is it indeed the c-word? Possibly not. Then on Fingerprint File at the end, I don’t know what is going on. Some kind of love making perhaps, with himself? A kiss goodnight.
Surely about the last minute of this epic is the ultimate:
IIRC, Drive All Night features an epic garbled scream. “Hea-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-art and soul”.
Indeed
John Lennon on The Beatles cover of Baby It’s You. The ‘uh oh’ delivered with quavering voice just after he sings ‘it’s not the way you kiss, that tears me apart’. Just wonderful.
Is there a musical term for the expectorating noise that Tony Joe White makes from time time? Also, Stuart Adamson’s “CHAAA!”
Jilted John’s “2 – 3 – 4” after the bass runs
Well, the best laugh in pop – and I will brook no argument on this – is Ian Dury’s on Mischief. I’ve even copied the link at the relevant moment in time for your convenience:
There, don’t you feel better after listening?
Jimbo on Crawling King Snake informed me more about the noises of, um, congress, than much. Plus it seemed not to be with his ma, this time.
I was always very fond of that “hurr haaah” (or whatever) at 2:57. It comes from heart, you can tell.
It’s clearly scripted rather than involuntary, as it’s repeated later, but I’ve loved the “Wooagh” in the intro to the Four Tops’ ‘Reach Out…’ since first I heard it:
Liam Gallagher’s pronunciation of Sheeee-ine