There’s something about the blending together of two distinct voices that can bring the sunshine out of any cloudy day! The vocal interplay, the harmonizing, the balance…when laced together properly, a duet can freeze a moment in time for even the most casual music connoisseur.
I was reminded of this a few mornings ago while driving up I-95. It was a beautiful, sunny morning on the way to being a hot, summer day. My sunroof was open (one of my few luxuries in life), my sunglasses were on, and one of the morning radio shows was playing a new song from Jill Scott and Anthony Hamilton, “So In Love“. The upbeat, bouncy love song was the perfect compliment to my morning ride.
Then, as if reading my thoughts, the music programmer followed the one new hit with another, “4Evermore” by Anthony David featuring Algebra Blassett and Phonte’. Nodding my head to the two-steppers groove, I could only imagine how many couples would be making their first appearance as husband and wife (or husband and husband or wife and wife…go NYS!!), using this song as the backdrop for their first dance.
And that’s the magic of a classic duet…it makes you remember love and with whom you shared that love. Like anytime I hear Rick James and Teena Marie belt out “Fire and Desire“, I’m instantly transported back to 10th grade and the powerful, three week romance I had with a young woman in my class. We claimed that as our song and anytime one of us called the other, we’d have it playing in the background. Then I remember her literally disappearing from my life, only to reappear three months later already five months pregnant with someone else’s child!
Or the first time I heard “Nothing Has Ever Felt Like This“, by Will Downing and Rachelle Ferrell. It was the night before the last day of my freshman year of college, and I was in my dorm room packing when it came on the radio. It was such a significant song for me, at the time, because I was completely in love with this young lady at my school…but we were both seeing other people! Listening to the song everyday that summer didn’t help matters much.
Please excuse my seemingly tragic experiences related to my favorite duets.
Okay, so for the normal person, a duet is simply magical in the way that it fills your spirit up with that feeling of being loved. From Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack to Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb, from Rick James and Smokey Robinson to Luther Vandross and Gregory Hines, there’s definitely nothing better than a duet about love!!!