I Can't Sing

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Sibongile Khumalo South African soprano who left us in 2021. If you love opera, you need to get one of her albums, especially this one. What a voice!

Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours.

It’s a classic song that makes people sing-a-long, but that’s the problem. Some folks can't sing. Period. There should be a law against it because they butcher songs and grate our ears.

There I was at the deli last week, waiting in line to pay for my a loaf of sour dough bread (I recently discovered it through a friend). This song, Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours flooded the deli. Some customers started moving their shoulders to the beat, others started singing. Bad move. You can’t sing, so why spoil the mood for everybody at the deli? Hum. Just hum. That way you’ll keep your little problem to yourself.

That’s not fair. Some people have no idea about their limitations. How are they supposed to know that they can't sing? School choir. There you go. Where I was born, you were in the school choir if you had a good voice. The choir master said I should sing alto. As you know, it is a demotion. Girls sing soprano. They grow up to be women and sing soprano in provincial choir competitions. So what? I was not good enough for soprano but I did not complain. Half a loaf is better than no bread, and no bread meant not being in the choir at all. That is why I love Yolanda Adams the gospel singer. The church scene in Diary of a Mad Black Woman made me cry when the pastor joined the song relay race.

I digress big time. Where was I? Yes. People in the deli who did a sing-a-long to Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours. The school choir master felt I was only good for alto and I understood. Surely, there must be some ways you can find out about the state of your vocal chords. You must, because singing-along in public places when you can’t sing, constitutes public nuisance. There, I said it, in my alto voice.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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