Reply #88: Yep [View All]

[ForrestGump]

But I didn't really know it 'til last year.

Well, okay, I sorta figured it before, but I didn't do anything about it. I recorded myself singing and playing guitars 22 years ago, during A Year Of My Discontent, and when I played it for my brother and his best friend (who were and are musicians) they got all excited. But they were the only ones I ever let hear me and from then on I just sang most often when I was out walking the streets, the coast, or the bush by myself. Even my wife, through all the years of our marriage, never once heard me sing in earnest.

I wish I'd done something about it during those two decades. I did sing a Beatles song when I was dragged, kicking and screaming on to the stage -- by a group of surprisingly strong women -- on one of the tropical islands where I was doing research work, but that was the extent of my public performance until last year. Still, I'm having fun now and I think I'm already noticing an increase in my vocal range and ability to do kinds of voices that eluded me before.

I was always a good mimic. Not like some professional impressionist -- more hit and miss than that -- but I could at least suggest the singing or talking voices of quite a few people and cartoon characters.