Entertainment For Lively Minds
Unintelligible Singers
Posted by Steerpike on 22 April 2009 - 9:29am.
From those warblers purporting to sing in the English language, there are certain notable examples who may as well sing in a made up language all of their own - ala Sigur Ros, as their vocal contortions remain unfathomable. My notable example is Mark Hollis - a beautiful voice IMHO and latter Talk Talk is very dear to me, but what is he going on about?
Any other suggestions for most unintelligible singer?
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Liz Fraser
Of the Cocteau Twins - never knowingly intelligible. But lawks, what a glorious noise.
See also: Thom Yorke and early Michael Stipe.
Stuart Staples surely
Old Mr Club Singer himself. But what a wonderful sound it is.
But does understanding matter? See under Julie Fowlis, Youssour N'Dour etc etc
Elton John
is frequent word-mangler.
It wouldn't be right not to mention
Van at this point, particularly on the recent Astral Weeks live venture, and I speak as one who himself possesses a Belfast accent.
Summertime in England
I've got a 12" single by Van with a live in Belfast version of "Summertime in England" on the b side. Just when Van and Pee Wee Ellis are whispering about "Mr Lawrence" some cheeky wee get in the crowd shouts "Who're yeh talking about?". Was that yourself?
I have that same 12" single
and was indeed at that very show in the Ulster Hall, but can claim no credit for the heckle!
Those were the days when I was prepared to shell out £7.50 per ticket to sit in the front row for up to five nights on the trot (New Vic, 1986). Sadly the vibraphone appeared shortly thereafter and the cabaret years began ...
My Bloody Valentine:
My Bloody Valentine: Loveless is probably my favourite album, but I couldn't tell you more than a couple of the lyrics. No matter though!
Mark E Smith
does some spectacular mutterlicious word carpentry on his latterday (ish) reggae-tinged outings such as Dr. Buck's Letter and Shake-Off. Lubberly!
This thread has reminded me of one of my pet hates, and possibly the only form of music I cannot abide, scat singing.
oh good lord yes
scat singing is awful
Damo Suzuki
Of of Can. Every so often a comprehensible word would leap out, otherwise gloriously baffling. I think there used to be a site where you could speculate on what he was on about.
Demis Roussos
Just all sounds Greek to me.
Boom, and indeed, boom.
John Martyn in his last few years...
took the noble art of slurring to new heights.
The Kissinger of Song
Clive James pointed out many years ago that the remarkable thing about Henry Kissinger's accent was that in his desperation to sound American he voized all the gonzonandz. John Martyn did too, from about "Zerdain Zurbrize" onwards.
Ahhh...
you mean 'Shweetzerdainzurbrize'! Know it well... buggered if I know what he's going on about!
Although!
...on Grace and Danger he seemed to enunciate everything OK. I mean if any track was going to be Kissingered it would have been "Zave Zome (For Me)"
He hadn't completely disappeared down the good road...
unintelligible when he made that wonderful record. I think he started to become a champion slurrer in the mid 1990s. Probably at the same time as his liver started to cry "Help!"...
I thought Ralph McTell's
I thought Ralph McTell's comments in Word's tribute to Martyn provided a credible context for his singing that would explain the lapses into unintelligibility :
"He saw his voice as being like a saxophone - the words were important but they were part of this polyphonous sound he was making with the guitar. It was a symbiosis - one didn't function without the other."
Perhaps...
or that could just be a way of rephrasing "as he got older he slurred more because his liver was buggered and he couldn't process the alcohol like he used to".
Other zedders
Old RT is not beyond giving sibilance a wide berth, but the King of Z muct be the bard of Zcarboro', Mr Michael Chapman.
"Take lots of drugs and kill your friends"
We should probably discount people who are actually speaking a different language.
I'd add Kurt Cobain to the nominations - I was never a massive fan of Nirvana but I've come across their stuff latterly via Guitar Hero.
Also: Michael Jackson (but not the Guitar Hero bit, though he is on there too).
I heard something the other
I heard something the other day by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and struggled to understand a single word.
Perhaps they should rename themselves...
Clap Your Hands And Say Huh?
Very good!
Very good!
I'd have thunk it'd be...
Clap Your Hands Say Eh?
Manics
I was listening to Motorcycle Emptiness and Slash 'n' Burn the other day, and for large parts of either song, it's almost impossible to clearly hear what they're saying. Their later records are, however, notable for their clear diction.
In terms of the most indecipherable song allegedly written in the English language, I think What's the Frequency, Kenneth? by REM is as bad as it gets. I actually like the song, but apart from the the opening line, I'm struggling. At one point, I'm sure Stipe uses the word 'gobbledegook', which would be strangely fitting.
In complete agreement ...
... regards Mr Stipe - a chronic mumbler on early REM records and even later, on Automatic for the People - for years I thought 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite' contained the lyric 'Calling Jamaica'. It made even less sense once I learnt the truth.
yeah
- wasn't he so much better when he mumbled and murmured - for me the rot set in when he started to believe he had a really good singing voice - I remember reading an interview where he reckoned he could sing opera.....
Stevie Nicks - remumbled for stereo
I posted this recently, but it's too relevant to miss out:
I like this thread
It gives me the excuse to post this clip again:
Richard Jobson. Never knowingly understood.
The 'singer' in Metallica
leaves other mumblers and slurrers for dead. What's that all about?
In the same way
one deciphers The Fall by removing the extranous "-ah" from each word, with Metallica, simply remove the extraneous "-yughhh".
Talk Talk? Mumble Mumble, more like
Just what is Mark Hollis singing? From Colour of Spring on, mainly. Still fabulous though.
And lest we forget, Bob Mould has his moments; mainly cos his guitars are to blinkin' loud. See also MBV.
Cannibal Corpse
Napalm Death. Cradle of Filth. In fact, any of those gentlefolk.
Shane
I remeber Denis Miller following an appearance by the Pogues on Saturday Night Live with 'The Pogues - I love 'em, but I've always been a fan of lyrics...'
Shane MacGowan, voice of clarity
To be fair, Shane MacGowan does an amazing job of making his lyrics intelligible.
Try singing something like, say, "Body of an American". Even when you're sober as a judge, there are so many words to fit into a short space of time, and no easy cliches that trip off the tongue either - obscure references to Irish geography and history, sometimes in Gaelic.
Admittedly, some songs are lost - "Bottle of Smoke" for example is just too much - but let's give respect where it's due.
Shaney Mac
The earlier Pogues records are - probably due to Macgowan still having some teeth - actually very clear in enunciation. Anyone who has seen Macgowan live in the last couple of years, however, will recognise the subtle shift from "I looked at him he looked at me all I could do was hate him/ While Ray and Philomena sang of my elusive dream" to "Shhhh hasnkkkkred whistle whistle hisssssssssssssssssssssss grwoooowwllllll".
Gin and phonic
The subtitles in this clip are a phonetic transcription of Shane's howling:
I once saw him walking down Stroud Green Road in London...
wearing only a bin liner. Strange how some things can be incredibly funny and tragic simultaneously.
Kevin Rowland
I got "yes, yes, yes" "anti-fashion" & maybe 2 others but the rest sounds like he's playing keepy-upy with his tongue and a ball of mercury
very true, sir
my favourite track on 'Searching for the young soul rebels' is 'Tell me when my light turns green'. I realised that after listening to it as many times as I had on t'iPod, i still hadn't got the words down. Dug out the CD, opened inlay, played track alongside it and to tell you the Gods honest, I wish i'd not. there's bog all similarity between one and the other, is there?
I can never understand what
I can never understand what Joe Strummer's supposed to be singing about whenever I listen to The Clash.
Misheard Lyrics
For years (and I mean YEARS)I honestly thought that the Beach Boys sang:
"I dig a french bikini on a one-eyed girl, by a palm tree in the sand".
Sounds like fun to me!