Tenor Note on SYCMIOYO

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Thanks. I think I understand that about the octaves.
(so what range does Bono have? from the muttering opening in New York to the likes of Kite "i'm a man")
I remember reading somewhere Pavarotti hits two high Cs in a row in "Nessun Dorma", when he sings "vinceeeeero".
 
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TheSniper26 said:
Just a quick question and forgive me if this has already been discussed on here. But on "A Man and a Woman" during the part:

"Brown eyed girl across the street
On rue Saint Divine
I thought this is the one for me
But she was already mine
You were already mine"

...there is some really high pitched falsetto in the background. Is that Edge or Bono?

I think it's Edge...

also there is some falsetto right after the last chorus but before the last "how can I hurt when I'm holding you" line. At first I thought it was "guilty" twice, but now I think it's "you'll see" repeated. Any ideas what that is and who sings it?
 
U2girl said:

At first I thought it was "guilty" twice, but now I think it's "you'll see" repeated. Any ideas what that is and who sings it?

Yeah it's just "you'll see" repeated. And I'm pretty sure that's Bono singing it.
 
Hmm, if that is Bono then I believe it could have been him too in the "brown eyed girl" section.
Sounds more like Edge (comparing it to his Stuck falsetto in the end) but

:shrug:
 
not including falsetto, his range is for sure over 2 and a half octaves. from a really low E in NY to the high Bs and Cs we mentioned.
 
blindinglights said:
also there are "in between" notes and those are the flats and sharps. so what i told you was the primary notes, i.e. the white keys on a piano. but there are also the black keys that are in between the white keys and so subdivide things a bit more.

for example, in between an A and B on the piano you'll have a black key and that's called either an A sharp or a B flat (same thing) and it's simply a note halfway between an A note and a B note.

I don't know much about music, but that second paragraph confuses me.

I always thought that a sharp was a sound just a tad higher than the given note. Given that an A is higher than a B, wouldn't a note between an A and B be a B-sharp and an A-flat, as it's a bit lower than an A but a bit higher than a B?

Or is a B higher than an A and I'm reversing this?
 
Ooh, I'm glad to see some more high notes added.

Anybody want to put together a list by album?

It's amazing that Bono has been able to maintain his upper register and yet develop a very dark and sultry baritone. I guess all the cigarettes and alcohol do have that effect on the lower register.

I remember in UTEOFW (the book - not the song), Paul McGuiness asks Bono if he worries what smoking and drinking will do to his voice. Bono's response was, "That's the problem. I like what it does to my voice."
 
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U2utah2U said:
It's amazing that Bono has been able to maintain his upper register and yet develop a very dark and sultry baritone.

Baritone? Isn't he a tenor, if he can go for those notes?
I think baritone is a voice like Johnny Cash or Eddie Vedder, lower than Bono's.

Yes, it would be interesting to see the notes on some of his early years - on the first three albums.

What about the "feel"s in Vertigo and the "YOUR LOVE is teaching me ..." finish?
One of my favorite moments is on One tree hill when he's losing it at the end.
 
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blindinglights said:
B is higher than an A. :) you are right in principle about sharps and flats.

O.K., I got the sharps/flats idea right..

and...

I figured out what you wrote in a previous post that confused me:
basically the sequence of notes on a scale is . . . A(1) B C D E F G A(2) B C D E F G . . . etc repeating

I learned music in reverse, namely:

C B A G F E D C

where the first C is "high C" and the second C is "low C" (for lack of better terms in this simple illustration). So when I saw what you wrote, I was confused because it was reversed from how I learned some basic music so SO many years ago. :) What you wrote makes perfect sense, it's just my small brain couldn't grasp it initially. :D

So in essence, Bono has hit B's and A's. What is he currently hitting now?
 
haha..we're all forgetting vertigo!
"you give me something i can feel ... FE-EE-EEL!!!!"
the last "feel" is A-B-G#.
I think that B might be the highest full voice note on HTDAAB.
Also in OOTS the "turut-turut-turut" part is G G F# F# A A A A and the "sugar come on" part is the same notes in a different order (A G F# A repeated)
 
I don't know a damn thing about scales, but I'm curious that no one mentioned Heartland. The vocal in that song has always been both incredibly impressive and excruciating to me. It seems like he was ripping his voice apart in an attempt to reach higher notes on that song. I believe Heartland was a highlight of Bono's '80's vocals and the end of his '80's vocals. There is no way he could have continued singing like that long term.
 
hehe, glad i was of some help. :) so basically he's still hitting those A's, that's for sure, and he does hit up a couple of B's in the new one too. as someone mentioned, vertigo has that nice B on the "feeeeeeeeel"s. and the last "Heyaah" on ABOY touches a B also. so the b-man has been doing pretty well on this new one. and of course the high A's are all over the place on this album. i would have liked a couple of Bb's for variety's sake but you can't have everything now can you? :wink:
 
fantastic thread guys, keep the info coming!!!
How about a list of every U2 song, with the highest/lowest note hit in each song written beside it. That would be interesting for comparisons sake! And alot of work to compile!
Keep up the kick ass posts
 
Wow, my thread has taken a life of it's own. Yes, very interesting info here and I'm enjoying it a lot. So, do we have a consensus that Bono's highest note is a C# in I'm WIDE awake? And that is full open voice right? No falsetto?

Now, how high does he get through falsetto?
 
I mentioned earlier that he hits a high D in "Wire" so i would assume thats the highest non-falsetto note he has hit.
Also worth mentioning is on Popmart tour when they sang All I Want Is You in the key of A and Bono would sing "and they can NEVER tear us apart" at the end, I think he hits a C# there, not 100% sure but check the Mexico video.

Bono hits a high C or higher in the following songs: Angel of Harlem, Bad, One Tree Hill, Red Hill Mining Town, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Wire.
There are a few others like If God Will Send.. and New Year's Day that would be C if the recording was in proper tuning and not half a step down.
 
ChargedVT said:
There are a few others like If God Will Send.. and New Year's Day that would be C if the recording was in proper tuning and not half a step down.

well usually the reason people tune down half a step is because it is easier to sing... but you're right, bono's highest now is only about a full step lower than late 80's/early 90's, which was about one full step lower than the early 80's. either way, very few rock singers can hit those notes on a regular basis. also, many singers take a certan pill/muscle relaxer before recording vocals so that they can have the smoothest voice and largest range ... however, i believe there would be serious health effects if one used them continuously during a tour...which is why songs are usually played lower (most u2) or simply just not sung as high (many other bands).

p.s. for any of you singers out there, a little trick i came up with for when i record is to down about a shot or two of dayquil. it clears the voice right up... :)
 
blindinglights said:
A(1) B C D E F G A(2) B C D E F G . . . etc repeating in that sequence. so the first A here would be an octave below A(2).

Is that anything like the "do re mi fa so la ti do" scale most people have in basic music education in school?
 
it's exactly the same except "doh" starts at C. i started from A simply b/c i wanted to start from the beginning of the alphabet.
 
ADecentMelody said:
Wow, my thread has taken a life of it's own. Yes, very interesting info here and I'm enjoying it a lot. So, do we have a consensus that Bono's highest note is a C# in I'm WIDE awake?

I guess that would be the D in Wire.

ADecentMelody said:
Now, how high does he get through falsetto?

Hmmm, interesting question... besides Heartland, which was already mentioned, I can think of Mysteriuous Ways when performed live (after the solo) and Night And Day, towards the end of the song.... BTW, I think Bono hits an amazingly high note on the last "NIGHT and dayyyyyyy..."... which note is that?

And here's another question: which is the LOWEST note Bono has reached? Someone mentioned New York, but I guess the first lines of If You Wear That Velvet Dress are lower (and most of Your Blue Room, for that matter).
 
I was just going to ask about the lowest note? New York (just got a place in New York), If you wear that velvet (..into a glass of water), Crumbs (you ate all your friends) or something else? Blue room is lots of low voice too, and also Until the end of the world.

Heartland is interesting, he does both the head voice and falsetto in the same word in the chorus...right?

Yes, that last niiiiight and day sounds pretty high.
What about the JT/R&H B-sides? He sings high on some of those songs too.
Spanish eyes, Walk to the water (the last "LET ME love you"), Unchained melody (I think it's the second time he sings "I hunger for your touch")
 
I'll tell you where he's really low - Can't Help Falling in Love. He then takes off into a falsetto towards the end. I wonder if this is his highest falsetto and his lowest head voice.

He's obviously going for that effect in this song.
 
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