Entertainment For Lively Minds
Has Sophie Ellis-Bextor given us the first RP pop song?
Posted by David Hepworth on 15 March 2010 - 10:55am.
One of the things I like about this single, "Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer" is how Sophie uses the long "a" sound in the word "dancer". Of course, this is how a West London girl would normally say it, speaking in her normal Received Pronunciation, but ever since rock and roll was invented it's been the convention for British singers to use the short "a", as in David Bowie's "Let's Dance", for instance, in imitation of the black American way of pronouncing it. Any more long "a" sounds in British pop?
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i think you could be right, David....
but SEB did this years ago with Murder on the Daaaancefloor.
I have to say...
...that I would always rather singers sing in their own accents. I have a particular animus against British singers adopting an American accent, unless they're in character, but the same is true of anyone singing in an accent that isn't theirs.
I don't know why it annoys me, and to be honest it's only the glaringly camped-up examples (come in, R. Williams) which really get my goat. I like accents, and dislike artificial homogeneity, so it's just that, I suppose.
Never thought I'd post this song on here but...
Interesting comment from five days ago on the you tube post.
FRASER....
Can you bring back the 'down arrows' please?
Sorry Ivan
Whatever credibilty I may have had is now gone I realise. I blame Hepworth fell into his trap.
Cheek...
to cheek.
Bleeuurgh.
I might start a new thread
The unmentionable tracks.
Two
Black Box Recorder
Their output is all very nicely-spoken.
Long and short a's in one word!
Rock the casbaaah from Joe
thought this would be prime...
but his first "dance like Zizi Jeanmaire" is actually a short a.
Rest of it seems to be fairlair prawper.
Calling Kate
Kate Bush has always sung in her own accent, one of the many things I admire about her. So has Annabel Lamb, although she went a bit Country on her last album, and shortened the 'a's. When I was singer in a band, I used to sing in an English accent, notably "chahnce" instead of "chantz". Not sure what the other members of the band thought of that, mind you...
Isn't this also a regional thing though
When George Harrison sings Happy Just To Dance With You he's not imitating an American accent, he's singing in his own Liverpudlian one. Hats off to Sophie though for singing in her own voice and not pretending to be less posh than she is like a lot of middle-class pop stars do. All those private school young gals you get these days with their glottal stops. Tut tut.
The scouse giveaway for me is the way Macca
pronounces 'trouble' in the first line of Let It Be:
"When I find myself in times of trubble"
There is a version of
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (I think from Love), where George sings the word 'alerted' unmistakeably scouse-wise. It's great.
Indeed
it's also on the 3rd (I think) Anthology. However, I am temporarily under the spell of this version:
I think it raises the bar for Mark Ellen somewhat ...
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Spellbound
a lovely long South London/Kent 'a' in 'entranced', as well as 'dance'.
Robert Wyatt
Has there ever been a more quintessentially English singer?
Sadly only 30 secs
Of daughter of Jonathan 'Sword of Truth' Aitken showing us exactly how RP rapping should go, the pronunciation of yacht, lost and rocks would do RADA proud.
The Galway blues
The blues in a Galway accent
Southerners
may say "dahnce" - but up here in the North of England we say dance with a short a.
And while on the same subject, if the BBC are short of cash, why did they commission a series from Nigel Slater on "simple suppers"? How many ways are there to make a cup of cocoa and a slice of toast before retiring to bed?
"Erm, excuse me everyone
could I possibly have your attention, please. I've been thinking of rocking The Fens like a Stone Gone Fothermucker. Would that be acceptable to you all? Jolly Good! As you were!"
Floyd
Singing in a quintessentially English accent always makes me think of Syd Barrett. Who did it before him?
And Pink Floyd, even after his absence, are one of the few bands who seem to be able to pull it off without being too pointed about it ("The lunatic is on the graaaass""). That is, if you accept posh Cambridge tones as RP.
memory has to serve for this
but I think Greg Lake sings a long a in dance and indeed chance in Benny the Bouncer--though the track seems to have a rather odd presence on YouTube
The James Last Cover?
Or the "Lounge" Remix?
What next - Hip Hop Tarkus? Michael Buble covers Karn Evil 9?
In her past...
..she sang a song called 'I've got the Wherewithal'. Of course, 'I Have the Wherewithal would have been a little less inelegant. SEB also tickled her nodules all over 'Mister Doasyouw ouldbedoneby' and 'A Pessimist is Never Disappointed', to name a few.
I kind of liked Theaudience. Saw them at The Astoria supporting someone or other.
Theaudience
I was very lucky to work on a TV show with John Peel many years ago and we were filming in the Isle of Wight. A man came over to our table and introduced himself saying that he worked in television himself (as if that was some kind of passport to sit at our table). He was a bit full of himself but eventually couldn't stop himself saying that his daughter worked in the music industry and sang for the band called Theaudience. Peel said "that's the band without a space between the two words isn't it?". Mr Bextor, visibly excited that the dj had heard of the band said 'that's right', to which Peel said "its the sort of name for a band that if I met the person who thought of it, I'd want to punch them in the face."
Personally I've always had a soft sport for Sophie but even more for her mother.
A soft spot
that clearly is getting harder by the second by the sound of it ;)
This is awfully well spoken/sung...
...apart from the dropped g's - a bit of Estuary creeping in perhaps?
Short a but somehow
as British as it gets ?
Trumped !
I love both The Beatles and Barrett Strong singing Money
But I think the Flying Lizards version is the best.
But, as far as this thread goes, it's meant to be a bit "arch" isn't it?
I see your Flying Lizards and raise you Kit Hain
who wandered between the short a and the long a as far as I can see but whose elocution was faultless ;-). Still fond of this, Coming Home and her first solo album.
Delightfully, Julian Marshall was on keyboards on both tracks
http://www.markallencam.com/soundcollector2001-2.html
As is often the case, the answer is...
Depeche Mode.
In their first single, the No.57 smasheroo Dreaming of Me, Dave Gahan sings of "darncing with a distant friend".
There are many other examples, including "Just Carnt Get Enough" and "Marster and Servant".
I do hope
that (like Mrs Kensington)
you pronounce your name Orstin [and that your middle name is Danger]
Neither I'm afraid
But it brings to mind an experience I had with a professional Austin Powers impersonator at a work do. He had heard there was a "real" Austin in the crowd, got a spotlight on me and forced me to say "Yeah baby!" in front of everyone. God I hate work parties (apart from the free beer).
sorry
you've clearly suffered ...;-)
n
Stevie Winwood
Living here in the States,I don't hear much of it. But what about Stevie Winwood singing Blind Faith's "Caaan't Find My Way Home"?
Steve Winwood
I saw him at Cheltenham on Friday, and he looked about as English as you can get. For a man that grew up trying to sound like Ray Charles.