This very obscure 17th-century word, from the Latin hirquitallīre means to acquire a strong voice (from hircus he-goat), but when used, pertains to a bleating, squeaky or full-throated cries of delight. There might indeed be some in song. But where has the word actually been used? Let us begin with an example by that king of verbosity, the 17th-century Scottish aristocrat, writer, and translator Sir Thomas Urquhart, from The Jewel (Ekskybalauron, 1652), describing a moment of quite specific erotica, the lady in question crying out in delight at the sight of the excited male member:
“Here it was that passion was active, and action passive, they both being overcome by other, and each the conquerour. To speak of her hirquitalliency at the elevation of the pole of his microcosme, or of his luxuriousness to erect a gnomon on her horizontal dyal, will perhaps be held by some to be expressions full of obscoeness, and offensive to the purity of chaste ears; yet seeing she was to be his wife, and that she could not be such without consummation of marriage, which signifieth the same thing in effect, it may be thought, as definitiones logicae verificantur in rebus, if the exerced act be lawful, that the diction which suppones it, can be of no greater transgression, unless you would call it a solaecisme, or that vice in grammar which imports the copulating of the masculine with the feminine gender.”
Robert Burton also used the Latin verb hirquitallire in his Anatomy of Melancholy Part. 3, Sect. 2 pertaining to acquiring a strong voice:
“But most part, I say, such are aptest to love that are young and lusty, live at ease, stall-fed, free from cares, like cattle in a rank pasture, idle and solitary persons, they must needs hirquitallire, as Guastavinius recites out of Censorinus.”
In Latin, the sound boys make when in puberty have been described as hirquitalli, so called from the lecherousness of he-goats. “hirquitalli pueri primum ad virilitatem accedentes, a libidine scilicet hircorum dicti.”
But are there any songs in which hirquitalliency appears in lyrics? That would be rare indeed, but there is a song with that title, a soft and gentle number from the album from Howls Heaven by Elia Mantius, singer-songwirter from Atlanta, Georgia.
But in terms of voices that can match the qualities of the hirquitalliency, of course there are many. Let us enjoy a few examples, and who better to kick off proceedings than the great Little Richard, with Lucille, who can cry out with delight along with the very best of them.
James Brown, who spent the earlier part of his career being paid to imitate Little Richard, was no slouch either, and lets of a classic scream in the The Payback, matched by his backing singer.
How about some Janis Joplin, with her throaty fusion of rock and soul, and her rendition of To Love Somebody:
Al Green's smooth soul also includes an especially emotional hirquitalliency, on So Tired Of Being Alone:
Ian Gillan, particularly during his Deep Purple days emitted one of the greatest sequences of screaming in Child In Time:
And while we're in rock territory, Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson is no slouch with a devilish scream, most famously on The Number of the Beast:
A Celtic scream is hard to beat especially from the wild delivery of Shane McGowan on The Pogues' If I should Fall From Grace With God
And finally, that king of many disciplines, guitar, dance, songwriting, singing and of course a scream to more than match Little Richard. There are many examples, but Prince does a particularly primal one on Endorphine Machine, around the 3-minute mark.
So then, care to summon up more examples of powerful, joyful hirquitalliency from the deep throat of your music collection? Feel free to peruse a previous main Song Bar topic of songs with screams, grunts, howls and shrieks, with many hundreds of great nominations, and these fabulous playlists that came from them.
Please feel free to share any further examples in songs, instrumentals, on albums, film, art or other contexts in comments below.
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