"Some sing low, some sing higher......
Its arrangements are minimal, its rhythms spacious, its melodies exacting, its singing low and wry.
Add a microphone, and karaoke singers can watch the water leap as they shriek, or burble as they sing low.
The rhythms are soporific and mystical, the words sung low and sonorous, the verses many and repetitive.
His staunch approach to articulation is tricky to love, but the payoff comes in the slow movements: Sarabandes sung low and husky, unadorned, flawed and beautiful.
Take a tune, sing high when they sing low, sing fast when they sing slow, and you've got a new tune". Some legendary words of wisdom from an aging Woody Guthrie to a young Bob Dylan on the art of songwriting, and Zimmerman, who once described himself as a Woody Guthrie dukebox, certainly followed this advice to extraordinary success.
"The first time I watched it, the lyrics of our entry went along the lines of 'Singing high, high, high; singing low, low, low', and as far as I can tell the standard of lyrics has declined every since". Slight pause - on to next item.
"Coachman, don't urge the horses on, I have no one anymore to love" are typical of the lyrics, whispered occasionally with a sigh by the men who sing high - in contrast to the women, who sing low, their deep contraltos rich with sultry tone.
The opening lines are sung low and wobbly, as if rough living has done her in, but she regains strength as she goes, and the chorus takes off like a rocket: it's a bracing, extraordinary moment on an album full of them.
The engine of my Pennzoil sounds like singing, low and strong.
