Althouse: "Is this barbershop quartet or doo wop? "

January 25, 2015

"Is this barbershop quartet or doo wop? "

"Seems more like doo woo to me and that the term 'barbershop quartet' is whipped out because they are old. But doo wop people are old!"

22 comments:

Anonymous said...: This would be my nightmare. Trapped in a small space and being forced to listen to that.; 1/25/15, 10:06 AM
Anonymous said...: Doo wop, and I'd be pleased to listen.; 1/25/15, 10:17 AM
John Burgess said...: No, that's definitely barbershop.; 1/25/15, 11:09 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "No, that's definitely barbershop."

At the link, there is some detail to the definition of barbershop and analysis of why this does not meet the rules.; 1/25/15, 11:13 AM
paminwi said...: Anonymous: just put your freaking BEATS, headphones on and turn up whatever kind of music you "groove" to.; 1/25/15, 11:15 AM
Rusty said...: It's barbershop singing do-wop. My step father and uncle sang barbershop as bass and tenor. They even sang at Cubs and White Sox games.; 1/25/15, 11:17 AM
Freder Frederson said...: And Rusty is correct. They bill themselves as a barbershop quartet. Doesn't mean they can't do a little do-wop now and then.; 1/25/15, 11:23 AM
LYNNDH said...: Do-Wop, and very good. Annon, lighten up a little.; 1/25/15, 11:37 AM
Anonymous said...: It's not doo-wop or barbershop. It's beach music.; 1/25/15, 11:45 AM
Big Mike said...: @Anonymous, for a couple of those guys their voices are on their last legs. Still, I think it's nice and I'd be glad to be on that flight if you aren't.

Here's another example.; 1/25/15, 11:47 AM
Fr. Denis Lemieux said...: My understanding is that there are specific harmonies that have to show up to make it 'real' barbershop (something to do with 7th chords, if I recall). I didn't hear too many, if any, of those in that short piece, so doo-wop it is.; 1/25/15, 11:57 AM
lemondog said...: Doo-wop must have the chorography to be complete.; 1/25/15, 12:02 PM
Anonymous said...: I dunno what it has to do with old.

I was thinking more along the lines of there were 4 of them and they were singing. Which seems to meet the definition of a quartet.; 1/25/15, 12:41 PM
Rockport Conservative said...: Singing in harmony; taking the different parts; I've always called that barbershop. I loved listening to it.; 1/25/15, 1:31 PM
richardsson said...: In my opinion, it's neither doo wop or barbershop. It's just an Acapella treatment of a 60's R & B hit. Back in the 1940's, James Petrillo, head of the AFL Musicians unions had a strike against the record companies, and they fought back by releasing their records as Acapella songs. Sinatra, Crosby, Dinah Shore, Perry Como all released voice only records. Those records were so popular that the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers found a market and became a big deal, and they influenced the later doo wop groups of the early 50's. It also contributed to the popularity of the Four Freshmen and the Sportsmen who were barbershop groups in the early 1950's. The Beach Boys early records were basically the Four Freshmen with drums and Fender Guitars. Looking back on it now, Petrillo seriously blundered.; 1/25/15, 2:07 PM
Chris said...: I've been involved with the Barbershop Harmony Society for 25 years and happen to know that this quartet was on their way home after participating in the annual "International Seniors Quartet Championship" at a convention in New Orleans. That being said, the song in question would not have been considered "barbershop" as strictly defined (if you must). I would agree with Richardson's comment that it's an A Capella treatment of a 60's pop tune....sung by a barbershop quartet.; 1/25/15, 3:18 PM
David said...: It's not really a Doo Wop song. It's a song built for a virtuoso soloist and great harmonics. Doo Wop and Barbershop are harmonic, but not all harmonic songs either Doo Wop or Barbershop. Think Everly Brothers or Andrews Sisters.

Nevertheless these guys are pretty good. A very nice tenor and bass on each end and a good blend.

Doo Wop guys are old? Yeah, we are. Doo Wop's real heyday was the 1950's. But there are some young groups (none who have hit the jackpot and probably never will) who sing it magnificently.

It was real street music. Folk music, if you will. Doo Wop will be around for a long time.; 1/25/15, 4:34 PM
David said...: Richardson, first time I took my kids to Disney World (it was also the last) the Mills Brothers were singing at the top floor lounge at our hotel. I went two nights, by myself, because my wife was not interested. Mills Brothers were not Doo Wop but they had the same talents as the best Doo Wop groups. They were old, but so smooth and relaxed. Just great.

I never got to see the Ink Spots in person. Too bad.; 1/25/15, 4:42 PM
Insufficiently Sensitive said...: It's a bunch of white guys expressing their admiration for black singing groups. If they sang white compositions, it would be barbershop. As it is, it's cross-cultural borrowing, something that happens worldwide between all sorts of cultures. Some of the snootier academics in the field assert that the 'originating' culture owns a collective - never individual - copyright on a style, and should be paid off.; 1/25/15, 6:39 PM
richardsson said...: It should be A Cappella, to correct my previous posts.
@ Chris and @David -- When I think of doo wop, I think of the Chords and "Sha Boom" and "Life is But A Dream." Later versions of those songs had instruments but the singing was still the same as the originals.

The Big Hits for the Mills Brothers were "Paper Doll" and "Glow Worm" but they sold a lot of other records as well. The Ink Spots hits were "If I didn't Care" and "Maybe."

Although I'm a baby boomer and I saw a lot of famous Rock and Roll acts in their early days, I like the old music too.

The best source (or maybe the only source) for swing era music (1935-1955) "on the radio" over the internet is Chuck Cecil's Swingin' Years Sunday Nights 8-Midnight EST on an internet feed from WPPB in Long Island, New York.(http://peconicpublicbroadcasting.org/)
Chuck Cecil is 92 years old and he is still a working D.J. He was a long time figure on L.A. Radio and at Disneyland. There, you'll hear the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots, usually on his top ten records for the week.; 1/26/15, 2:52 AM
Anonymous said...: These older guys may usually sing barbershop, but this is definitely Doo-Wop (so called because the groups that started it had NO Instruments other than their voices. So where you'd expect, perhaps, to hear a sax or trumpet, they'd "doo-wop" that music with their voices).
I know its not rap, but some of us don't consider "rap" to be music - it was a very pleasant way for folks to pass their waiting time at the airport.
BTW, original recording was done by the Drifters in, iirc, 1963.; 1/26/15, 9:51 AM
ELC said...: Doo Wop is a style of singing, or of arranging a song, not a genre. Theoretically, you can (to coin a verb) doo-wop any song. For instance, Judy Garland's justly famous song "Over the Rainbow", from the movie "The Wizard of Oz", was doo-wopped by many of the big, and not so big, Doo Wop groups back in the day. One of the specific requirements of Doo Wop is the use nonsense syllables. I believe I heard a few in that snippet, so I'm thinking it's Doo Wop.; 1/26/15, 10:04 AM