Old Heavy Voices
Aging artists are in the process of succumbing.
In one of his books, I think Adventures of the Screen Trade, William Goldman laments the tendency of artists’ abilities to deteriorate as they get older. But I think artists also gain something as they get older, and that something is gravitas.
I think this is especially evident with singers. John Prine, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Tanya Tucker, and John Hiatt come to mind. They sing the way your grandparents speak. You can feel the weight of their lives in the gravel of their voices. Maybe that gravel is just a byproduct of aging vocal cords, but I think it also suggests an existential symmetry: The older you get, the more you know; the more you know, the heavier things get; the heavier things get…and eventually you succumb.
What I think makes these old voices so poignant is that they are all in the process of succumbing.