My dear husband has told you all that when he sings, the cows weep from pain. As much as I hate to criticize my beloved, he is almost right. He loves music, he is not tone deaf, but he cannot sing, He claims he broke his voice too many times yelling orders over gunfire. It is puzzling to me as he has a very rich bass/baritone voice that has real carrying power like an opera singer. Whatever the reason he cannot sing.
But he can whistle like a bird or anything else. He whistles tunes almost constantly when he is busy doing something. He even adds sound effects when he whistles melodies like in "Afternoon Delight", when they sing "skyrockets in flight...." and there is a sound like a rocket, he does that. He can whistle like a jet or a bird or anything. Canaries, crickets, anything that makes a sound that is even part whistle. He can also imitate a large number of animal sounds. For someone with such a wide range of vocal talents he just cannot sing. He can whistle in harmony with himself and I do not see how that is possible, like two people whistling the same tune in different octaves. He can also sound a little like a bagpipe with an undertone and a melody on top of it that also seems impossible to me.
He can also use whistling as communication. He says he did that in the service all the time. The enemy never knows what he is telling his soldiers. He also says that a whistle is harder to locate than a voice and he can throw his whistle like someone who throws their voice I cannot think of the English word. Ventrilist? He can call me clear across a busy store with a sort of a trill like a raccoon makes. And he can whistle loudly! Without using his fingers he can deafen you when he wants to get someone's attention across the barnyard or call the dog when he cannot see her.
He whistles very beautifully and I love to listen to him when he is working outside the house and I can hear him through an open window.
Some of his favorite songs to whistle are: Afternoon Delight, Back in Black, Highland Fling, Bonny, Popeye the Sailor, The Marine Corps Hymn, Caissons, Scooby Doo, Michele maBelle, One Toke Over the Line, Yesterday, Norwegian Wood, Hey Jude, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Love is Blue, Exodus, Ride of the Valkyries, Magic of the Music of the Night, several olden folk tunes I do not know the name of - sailor's chanties and the like, and one called the Yankee Peddler which he does for the grandson and he sounds like an old fashioned calliope - it is very fast and complicated. And the entire Jesus Christ, Superstar opera.
He also plays the harmonica. He has several. He says that it is a compact and robust instrument well suited for military camps. The one he takes with him everywhere is a Honer Marine Band. He took it overseas to the Philippines and to Afghanistan. He says he has taken it everywhere he has gone. It is very dented. He plays The Wabash Cannonball and he likes to play Blues Traveler songs, especially one called Runaround which is quick and nice. Wabash Cannonball is the grandson's favorite because it sounds so much like a train chugging along and whistling. I like Runaround because it is fast and complicated. He has a very funny album by The Harmonicats of all harmonica music he likes to listen to. He had a friend at a studio record it over on CD for him as he could not find it on CD. Sometimes I play guitar while he plays harmonica. He is trying to teach me to play blues. We do that on the back deck of an evening and sometimes the dog seems to dance around to the music. When he plays Rhapsody in Blue or Take the Long Way Home, she howls along with the first few bars.
VICKY
