Keepsake (Once Upon A Time)

I recorded this in the convention centre in New Orleans in 1992. This quartet had just been crowned the World Champion winners.You can see why, they are terrific!!!!!

[@keithpennington8259]

I bet I have watched this 50 times over the years. A quartet of Hall of Famers in their prime.

[@nothosaur]

"Once upon a time, the world was sweeter than we knew." Classic lyric.

[@555Kestrel]

Probably the best barbershop song of all time! And Keepsake does it fabulously! ^_^

[@jamestaylor9443]

They displayed such CLASS, even before phonating a single note. The walk-on and recieving of the applause showed incredible dignity, poise, and confidence!

[@RudimentalNico]

I feel like I'm watching a time capsule. I love it.

[@jeffselano2300]

put this in a time capsule as the definition of what we represent

[@bbs4evah]

I spotted Joe Connelly back in Seattle in '83. I said this quartet is gonna win soon. (Interstate Rivals). Four golds later... At Harmony College in '88, me and my brother and Steve Diamond along with Joe sang tags and songs after hours every night. Joe wanted to do "Once Upon a Time" by the great forgotten ' 81 champs Chicago News. This arrangement is by my brother, Rob Campbell.

[@KatanaYurr]

Tom Campbell coolest comment

[@singworthy]

Absolute mastery of the style.

[@jrbedford]

That was about as close to perfect as I've ever seen a barbershop quartet perform a song. Beautiful.

[@larrywomac8404]

I can listen to this song every day for the rest of my life!

[@bshopman]

This song definitely in my Top 10 all-time fave barbershop arrangements- I still get chills when I hear Joe sing it.

[@Goggalor1990]

Such a beautiful performance.

[@T4275585]

Yep...still my all time favourite song.

[@georgesoros6415]

Too bad it fell so short of genius, which these guys could have easily done. George Avener and renee craig could have done much better.

[@jamesmonsour5620]

2:29 Tony's part done so beautifully!

[@hannahmuller5353]

tony...oh my

[@joshbeswick]

That overtone is crazy, and you can see that Joe heard it too, because he looked over at Tony and Don.

[@missmynx1]

That is one young Joe. :)

[@music4sherry]

i love this. I come back to it time and again. It'd be nice to see the PLATINUM version back on here, though. Think it still had te edge.

[@bhsbass]

damn, never heard tony do a sweet solo like that [2:32].. i know this song inside out.. love it..

[@Drillingman]

Sooooo niiiiicccceee. My favorit lead. Ahhh....

[@NikoPorter]

Kenneth Nilsson - Awesome Joe, yeah he’s a beast itn’ee?

[@LCETKEPK239]

@MJkate That's my favorite part too! It's a "we're champs and we know it" kind of moment.

[@TheBigBoombatz]

@Scisco89 Straight up man. The only man in the history of spepsqa to win gold in two different vocal parts that weren't right next to each other. Hail to the king!

[@jaredellison326]

Until Now!

[@jaredellison326]

(Gary Lewis)

[@Icyveins906]

Don Barnick is like I am(except his talent far exceeds mine at this time) On a good day, I can get second E below middle C, but my range for head goes to the A above middle C, and then the falcetto I've got rivals the two culuraturas in my school.(not sure if that is the correct spelling of that female voice quality, but hey, you get my point. He's incredible at what he does. 5/5

[@WilliamAiken]

2:29 yeah Tony

[@Wiener-Doo]

Love Tony D!

[@rarchnick]

Does Tony have a mullet?

[@Icyveins906]

@skitzo429 Well, it technically comes down to (in our context) how high you can go. You just never hear coloratura used to describe anyone apart from women with extremely high range. A quality is also very general term which could mean a talent, a pattern, a certain feel. And while I'm no opera singer by trade, I know how to do it.

[@cidkid1989]

does anybody know where i can find their songs ''Rain'' and ""its a sin to tell a lie''? i've been looking for them everywhere but can't find them :-\

[@choirnerd99]

Does anyone know who arr. this version?

[@skitzo429]

coloratura is a technical agility label (and in some contexts, pertaining to high notes), it doesnt really have anything to do with "voice quality," which im assuming youre using to mean vocal color or timbre. coloratura is also something that is related to operatic voices, which these are not, and im guess you arent either.

[@Heyitscdubs]

This. is. brilliant. Why is "Britney Spears" a tag? Haha. Oh, and "Paris Hilton" too? Haha.

[@Deutschland1093]

2:05, Don screams, or Tony??

[@Icyveins906]

@skitzo429 Interesting take on it. As per the opera, yes, it takes years of training to do it well. And I merely put it into context where the common people without our extensive knowledge would be able to understand it. As per your arrogant remark in thinking I'm some foolish teenager, stuff your head into the training instead of thinking your book theories are enough. Knowledge is only as great as the wisdom with which it is used. Put that in your upperclass pipe and smoke it Cambridge boy.

[@T4275585]

They're good...very good.....but I wish that they'd sacrifice a bit of volume for sweetness. This is borderline shouting. Of course I'm absolutely jealous. I'm quateting this song at SABS convention in 11 days time, so just having a peep here at what the standard should be. I'm sure in a studio environment they'd be near pefect. Still one of my favourite barbershop numbers.

[@skitzo429]

I dont think you really know what youre talking about, coloratura is not a term limited to female voices, its a florid, very technical intense vocal style epitomized by bel canto era music, like Rossini, and is applied to men and women. You also dont "know how to do it" with opera, it takes years of training, im going to guess youre some teenager in high school choir who knows how to make a bad, fake operatic vibrato. operatic terms dont mean anything in nonclassical singing