Two-part Harmony

The human voice is the thing humans like to listen to above all else. The history of western music begins with monks chanting and progresses through choral harmony until the invention of musical instruments, but instrumental music has always been a pastime for a small (and often wealthy) minority, whereas popular music through the ages has been sung.

Since singing was discovered, (probably around a fire in the Pleistocene age) humans have known what an improvement it is to sing in groups, and when it was discovered that different members of the group could sing different notes from each other and sound even better, things took off: at first it was just monks singing in parallel fourths, but before long we had massive choral works sung by 50-voice choirs accompanied by full orchestra. But even as the serious devotional works were being enjoyed in churches, the popular music was still songs, minstrels and operettas playing for loose change to the working folk. It has carried on to this day, and although 20th Century music made stars out of certain singers, they were often accompanied by (underacknowledged) backup singers.

There is a special magic, though, about a duet; it's two people singing together, without the depersonalizing mask of a section of singers doubling their parts, sometimes even singing as though to each other, depending on the lyric. When the third voice is added, it's as unwelcome as a chaperone on a date; if there are to be more voices they have to recede into the background the way the Motown backup singers updated the Greek Chorus concept.

The Everly Brothers sang dozens of these, like "Let It Be Me" and "When Will I Be Loved," and Lennon and McCartney had some classic duet moments like "Love Me Do" and (especially) "If I Fell." But I will always love the duets sung by a male and female singer, with lyrics that cast them as lovers, whether wanton or bittersweet. From the pop innocence of "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher to the stressed-out couple depicted by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush singing "Don't Give Up," there's a recognizable connection when a couple sings to each other.

I got the same chills again a few weeks ago when I tuned in to "Nashville" and heard this: