Re-visiting "A Song For You"

I finally received my Amazon.com order today that contained A Donny Hathaway Collection. I had to listen to "A Song For You", a few times, which was the first track as I was anxious to compare Hathaway's version to Elliott Yamin's vocal from that historic night on American Idol. Especially since Hathaway was such a major influence on Elliott and his approach to style.

I do love Hathaway's voice and was startled by the similarity in tone to Elliott's voice, especially in regards to nasal resonance. To me Hathaway's voice sounds a bit lighter on the top notes, making Elliott's dusky undercoat in his rendition of that song very distinctive. I think Elliott has really put his own stamp on it and the "edge" in his voice lends it a more dramatic plea.

Of course that's my opinion since I couldn't, in fact...really still can't for the most part, get Elliott's voice on that song out of my head for days after I saw him sing it on the show that night. Something about it haunted me...the bold desperation...I hear it now.

I wasn't too wild though about the arrangement on the Hathaway recording by Arif Mardin. The tinkling-down piano and overall tempi was almost maudlin.

I remember Randy "hated" the arrangement done on the show - was that arrangement by David Foster? I think I may prefer the version I heard on AI actually. I wonder if Randy prefers the Mardin arrangement or just wanted a simple piano accompaniment.

I also sang along at one point - Hathaway's key was the same for Elliott. Once again, the high notes in the passage sound thin and technique-like in my voice. I don't know how Elliott does it. He's just a born soul-singer. I stand by my previous statement: prodigy.

Rg