They didn’t, Deo Gratias, but imagine if Deep Purple had written it this way:
[ed. For those who can’t read music, the Tab is that classic electric guitar hook that starts Smoke on the Water, and this version of the vocal melody on top simply sings that same hook along with the guitar, note for note, with the existing lyric added]
Cringeworthy. At best.
Nothing kills a great instrumental hook like singing along with it. You can certainly get away with adding a textless voice to double the melody. Then the voice just becomes another instrument and your ears can argue among themselves about which instrument ‘called it’ (neener-neener). But when a guitar, keyboard or other timbre establishes a memorable, attractive theme, a sung lyric overtop of the same notes just becomes a shmear of graffiti. Even the instruments get pissed off.
There are exceptions, of course. There have been a number of songs in the recorded anthology where the the jealous voice borrows the limelight from the musical brains of the outfit and it actually works, and I’ll look at a couple of those in this series.
Generally, though, these events get on the radar because they’re, well, silly or worse. So we’ll talk a bit o’ shit too. Whee!
Catch ya on the morrow if the crick don’t rise.
