Incredibly Long Note: Difference between revisions

 

Can become an [[Overly Long Gag]] if held ridiculously long—and it often ''is''—unless, of course, it's not meant to be a gag at all. A parodic version, for instance, would demonstrate just how unbearably long the character is holding that note for, and other characters will probably try to stop it. Doesn't have to be the last note of the song, by the way—long notes tend to appear in the middle of the song as well.

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== Parodic Examples ==

* ''[[The Three Caballeros]]'' has Panchito singing the last note of the title song to the annoyance of the other members, who precede to do everything in their power to stop him. Nothing works.

* The end of [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s song ''[[Spy Hard]]'', has him singing an incredibly ''high'' note for so long, that '''his head [[Your Head Asplode|explodes]]!'''

** It's worth pointing out that that last note is also horrendously off-key. Cameron Diaz was unable to hit the note, much less sustain it, so they had to bring in a professional opera singer to do the singing part there. Y'know what they say: [[Hollywood Tone Deaf|it takes a very good singer to sound that bad]].

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jst_T8k8Ojc Martin Short] on ''Late Night With David Letterman'' (which Nathan Lane mirrors to the T for some reason).

** This scene was directly referenced in the ''[[SCTV]]'' "Godfather" parody, with Luciano Pavarotti (John Candy) holding an extended high note.

* In ''Klondike Casanova'' Olive Oyl pulls this off, her neck stretching all the while, as Popeye runs back to the kitchen to whip up sandwiches for the hungry crowd.

* Given how much <s>[[PDQ Bach]]</s> Peter Schickele loves the [[Overly Long Gag]], it's not surprising that he has a bunch of these.

** Parodied in ''The Stoned Guest'': Carmen Ghia takes a breath in the middle of a long note and a voice cries, "I heard that!" In one of her duets with Donna Ribalda, an [[Intermission]] is taken as they hold their penultimate note ("Have you got a stopwatch?").

* Somewhat done by Wayne Brady and Brad Sherwood in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9cOmf1D3BI this playing] of "Greatest Hits" from [[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]], but implied by Colin Mochrie that "they held that 'oooh' for 15 minutes".

* The Israeli band Kaveret's mock-tango "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7_7HPjY3BA Sugar in the Tea]" includes several instances of this. In the album version, another band member interjects the main instance with a sarcastic "In case of a genuine alarm..." - and then the singer goes on for a while more.

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== Straight Examples ==

* Jim Gillette, Lead singer of Michael Angelo Batio's former band, Nitro, belts out a simultaneously awesome and hilarious 30 second falsetto scream in their song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=537hCRIhQKw Machine Gunn Eddie]" (starting at about 49 seconds in).

* Morten Harket, lead singer of [[A-ha]], holds the record in Europe for the longest note ever held in a pop song- namely, their song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiWkqeGuJ0A Summer Moved On]". That note is held for about ''20.3 seconds!''

* "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from ''[[Dreamgirls]]'' is one of the best-known examples in modern theater; it includes not one but '''two''' Incredibly Long Notes at the end, back to back. This is the reason Jennifer Holiday won a Tony in 1982 and Jennifer Hudson an Oscar in 2007. ''There is no mediocrity with this song.'' Performing it is either a singer's [[Moment of Awesome]] or biggest [[Epic Fail]]ure.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb0mRXY6ngs This guy's audition] on ''[[American Idol]]''. Funny for us, but the guy was completely serious.

* "The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side" by The Magnetic Fields ends in a series of "ride"s of increasingly long duration. They go up in pitch as well.

* In ''[[Vampire Musicals|Dance of the Vampires]]'', Michael Crawford held a note at the end of Act I for a very long time, as he was escorting his bride across the drawbridge into his castle. (Though it was pre-recorded, not actually performed live).

* The [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] series has a [[Goldfinger|long]], ''[[Thunderball|long]]'', '''[[Tomorrow Never Dies|long]]''' love affair with this trope. See exhibits [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MagCoUYvIXE A], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTaLhbNQ34o B], and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyMH6q5Fq4w C] for more details.

* "Dim All the Lights" by [[Donna Summer]] once held (and may still?) the record for the longest note held in an American Top 40 pop hit.

* The song "Kiss of the Spider Woman", in the version presented in the revue ''And the World Goes Round'' has two instances of a note scored to last over eight measures. The first, coming at the end of the first chorus, is often cut short for choreography or stylistic reasons, but the final note (a high G#) is an excellent opportunity for a strong male vocalist to hold one of these.

* "Come Alive (War of the Roses)" by [[Janelle Monae]] has this, notable for not only its length (twentyish seconds) but its incredibly high pitch.

** [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]] has some incredibly long notes too, especially in Prince Ali ''and'' the [[Dark Reprise]].

* "I Want Out" by Helloween. After the solo, Michael Kiske sings "leave me aloooooooooooooooooone" for about 20 seconds, overdubbed over the chorus. Immediately after the note is over, Kiske's overdubbed chorus voice sings "to leave my life and to be freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-ohhhhhhh" for the last 13 seconds or so.

** And then he cranks it [[Up to Eleven]] with Break The Vase, which contains THREE incredibly long notes in the ending.

* [[Counting Crows]] did this in the song "Sullivan Street."

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cKjIo80mKE Especially so when played live].

* [[Evanescence|Bring me to Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiffe]]

* Sara Bareilles's ''Come Round Soon,'' at about [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4eaz_GzyTI 2:19.] Gives me goosebumps every time.

* Some performers like to hold a long note over the crescendo of "''Gethsemane''" in "[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]". One outstanding example - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPdxxXoekmk Steve Balsamo].

* "''[[Meat Loaf|Like a bat out of heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllll!]]''" In his prime, Meat Loaf was great at this.

* [[Air Supply]]'s "I'm all out of love, what am I without you? I can't be too late TO SAY THAT I WAS SO WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!"

* Freddy Curci of Sheriff holds a falsetto YOOOOOOOOOUUUUU for 26 seconds at the end of "When I'm With You."

* The last note in the song ''Meditation'' from the musical version of ''[[Shenandoah]]''.

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== People Who Just Like To Hold Very Long Notes ==

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Music Tropes]]

[[Category:Incredibly Long Note]]