Jimmy Fallon broke out his spot-on Neil Young impression last night for a heart wrenching rendition of "Pants On The Ground." The tune, penned by 62-year-old "American Idol" contestant General Larry Platt, has been making the rounds this week due to ridiculous lyrics like "Pants on the ground / Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground!" But coming out of Neil Young's emotional voice, those words never sounded more poignant.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/15/pants-on-the-ground-neil_n_424468.html
This was just fun to watch. How is it that two people can sing the same song and have it come out so different? Does Fallon do a good impression of Young? How is our brain fooled by good impressions?
After listening to both the original performance and Jimmy's performance, I decided to try and find out why different tones can evoke different emotions. I found that the part of the brain used to process vocal tones is the same part of the brain that processes and creates emotion. This may be why Jimmy's performance as Neil Young provided a serious feeling to a funny song. Vocal tone definitely matters when speaking also. Think about the phrase, "That's great." This can be said in a way that portrays excitement or in a sarcastic way.
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I agree with Jenny and I also think that this may be the same reason that Jimmy can create such a good impression of Neil Young. Our brain uses that same tonal recognition to identify things as being similar or different and from memory as well. The way that a melody of a song can bring back a memory. We use the tones of sometihng to identify it. All you have to do to impersonate someone is to get the tone of thier voice correct and use the same inflection that they do.
I agree with the overall concept of the two posts before about the brain recognizing tones. But if Jimmy Fallon was trying to imitate another singer, and we were never told who is was I don't think that as many people could key in on who it as well. If it was clearly obvious I think that people could pick up on it more, but not as well the other way around. Also just by looking at Jimmy Fallon when he is imitating Neil Young, you almost instantly know who he is trying to be through his outfit/setup. But, If you don't watch the video & just listen to the song It's not as obvious.
Also, I honestly, can only think of one song that Neil Young sings. So for me to decide whether Jimmy Fallon sounds like Neil Young I would have to agree. But that doesn't really support Jimmy Fallon fans because of the limited amount of Neil Young songs I've heard. People's interpretation of the song is what makes the outcome so different. People have a preference to how fast the song goes along (beat).
Also I think that when people are performing music the way the music comes out is their interpretation of the song. How they think the song should be sung. Other people singing the same song may feel as though the song should have a slower, faster, quieter beat to it. That would be THEIR interpretation of the song. Either is right, but it is up to the general public to decide which version they personally like better. This could possibly be why people have been "remaking" a particular song. Or make one song and tune it a little for a "dance remix" or just an overall "remix".