portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Tuesday, April 01, 2025

The Captain whistling. . . . . . . .

  . . . . interview (sic?) with John Peel



GangleStank says: "From an interview with John Peel, Captain Beefheart displays his freakish self-taught overtonal whistling technique. He didn’t even need a harmonica. Not sure why he never utilised this in any recordings as far as I’ve heard, even his earlier more traditional rhythm and blues/psych rock stuff.

The technique, although I have not figured out how he switches notes so quickly, has something to do with humming and whistling at the same time an octave ratio apart."

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