
O! that you were your self; but, love, you are
No longer yours, than you your self here live…
Sonnet 13
Now, take Joe Cocker.
Mr. “You Are So Beautiful” (really high note:) “to me.”
Ever heard him talk?
Here you go: Terrific interview on NPR – great job by Rachel Martin — from earlier this month on Weekend Edition Sunday. Cocker’s torching for his new CD, of course, Hard Knocks. And I want you to hear him talk.
Get a snootful of that dialect.

When he speaks with Martin, does he sound like the singer you know? Never mind the glorious growl, I’m not talking about the kick-ass male-Janis texture of his voice. I’m trying to get you to focus on his speaking-voice dialect.
What do you hear? Yorkshire. Sheffield, to be precise. He’s English. He lives in Colorado now, and still speaks like the Brit he is.
And when he sings? Sounds like one of my fellow bubbas from Charleston. And not from South of Broad Street, either. That singing voice sounds like one of our more lightly educated bubbas. Did I say that graciously enough? One of our less-well-heeled bubbas. One of our down-and-out bubbas. That’s how he rolls. [Read more…]