Do you understand the words to the Mus U listen to

Since the days of the song Louie Louie by the Kingsmen I have not been able to understand all the words to any song with strong electric instruments and/or them screaming into the mike. I think I was 7 back then, so I gave up trying. I like adding my own words to songs anyway; I think it makes them more interesting.

No, Orpheus10, this is not. I like Dead Can Dance and have all their albums on vinyl. I also have their 1994 concert in California on video. Very talented people and very interesting duo. Her singing is quite abstract and he is very earthly.

Inna, the name "Dead Can Dance" is derived from the ability of musicians to make "dead" drums and other musical instruments to come alive and "dance"; of drawing animacy out of inanimacy.

"Dead Can Dance" lyrics: they decided words are too limiting for their music. Lisa Gerrard was listening to her little girl, who hadn't yet learned to talk, "sing"; and decided a musical language unencumbered with words gave her the freedom she needed to express herself. Her language is, "The language of the soul".

They use "goblet drums" from ancient Persia, this gives their music a "mid-eastern" flavor. Lisa Gerrard's dulcimer, is of an ancient Chinese derivation.

I'm sure this is more than you wanted to know about "Dead Can Dance", but I think it clarifies the vocal aspect of this conversation.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itwL5y0He-k

"Listen To Peter Gabriel's Games Without Frontiers - Kate Bush is heard singing "She's so popular" or is she actually saying something else?"

He, he. Shadorne, That's "Jeux Sans Frontieres", or "games without frontiers" in French. Interesting interpretation though...

Exactly, Inna. It is no language, but it works musically. Same with Chocteau Twins.

Has2be, leave Elizabeth alone. Besides, everyone here knows that whatever she gets becomes extremely good or even the best.
Speaking fast in Michigan? Well, try coastal Maine. What an accent but sounds good to my ears.
Personally, I like to understand as little as I can when they sing. Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance mostly did vocalizing, by the way, no language in a usual sense.

I wonder especially with some of the older songs if its a case of all the years we heard them on the radio, in the car or at work where we beleived what we heard were the words, only to be surprised when realize you were not even close. Probably a case of just listening to the music vs music playing while distracted by other activities at the same time.

Sometimes the music itself is what grabs you to a certain song not the vocals first. Might be a genre thing . I say that because the music that my parents listened to the vocals were the prominent force and were clear and understandable. Just my opinion but the song writing today just is not as good and widely diversified as it was.

Bill's suggestion for Long Cool Woman and the words is a good one. Was sitting at work today and asked the six others at the table to say the words to at least the first 2 verses. Then we went on line and looked at the actual lyrics. Hilarious how off the mark we all were.

Cheers

Liz,

In your clarity system can you figure out Jethro Tull's words?

" Has2be: basing your opinion on platitudes and not on actually listening will just leave you wondering why some other folks systems are better than yours..."
Elizabeth (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

Lizzie,
Basing your responses on blind defensive assumptions and not fact will only be a misguided brand specific ownership ideal.
Has2be , a former owner of bryston pp 120's, 3bst, 4bsst,7bsst mono blocks, bp20, bp25p. Current owner of Bryston PP 300sst to drive bass drivers with a pair of Cary rocket 88R driving mids and tweets. I don't wear blinders some old horses do when it comes to name brands biased by ownership, just what I hear from LISTENING !. I have heard ultra expensive systems I did not care for heard low cost systems that impressed me. Your belief yours and others are "better" is as absurd as your nose oil uses. Like it or not Brystons are bright sounding amps. If they were not why would Tanner of gone to the trouble of the SST2 line to provide some warmth they needed. I buy with 2 criteria Lizzie. 1/ what I hear and how it sounds to me and 2/ I conscider the brands ability to service and stand behind their product which Bryston does do the latter well.
By the way when you looked up the word platitude it actually describes the bryston house sound ,however there are many brands that offer the strengths that bryston's have and less of the weekness's at both higher and lower prices . It,s a personal preference not a case of "better" as you believe and state. I also know that I could better my own system as we all try to, but not compared to someone elses as you stated but rather my own and my tastes.
Regardess of personal preferences we all have, all gear has its own sonic signature and like it or not Bryston is well known for it's authoritive bass and its bright sound. But you would know that if your system was as "highly resolving" as you say it is because that IS the sound of bryston with nothing in the chain to lessen your superior resolution claimed.

Cheers

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a tough one!!!!

Ini kamoze Hotstepper sounds like "Curly Rock" instead of "Murderer"

And INXS definitely sound like someone is saying "Better than Oasis" instead of "Elegantly Wasted" on the track with the same title.

Listen To Peter Gabriel's Games Without Frontiers - Kate Bush is heard singing "She's so popular" or is she actually saying something else?

Early R.E.M. had obscure lyrics compounded by M. Stipe's mumbling delivery but they are some of my favorite current albums; they compounded that by refusing to print their lyrics. Radiohead is not a marvel of clarity either, but similarly I love lots of their work. Mahler's "Das Lied Vor Der Erde" is one of my favorite classical works and my German is minimal. Sometimes I'm compelled to hunt down the words or dutifully listen while looking at the words on my laptop or album insert. Lyrics are an ingredient and the art is in the delivery; thankfully music is beyond words.

I do think clarity is the result of good upgrading. When we switched to power cords and dedicated lines I found a few lyrics that I hadn't caught before became intelligible. It shows more clearly that some changes to the system are truly worthwhile. Resolution rules!

I too sometimes have difficulty understanding the meanings of some of Dave Matthews songs, sometimes even when I can hear the words correctly! :-)

09-14-11: Elizabeth
Clarity. I have worked hard to improve the clarity of my system. Half of the gibberish is due to a non resolving system IMO.
Once your stuff actually can provide a clear representation of the singing, then you can understand what they ARE singing. Just my perception.
So, in other words, It's not the singer's fault, and not the recording's fault, it is your crappy system. LOL
Elizabeth (Threads | Answers | This Thread

That is a laugh out Loud. " Clarity" for Bryston amps?.... and all this time I thought they were fatiugingly bright. Who knew the proper term was Clarity.

Cheers

Listen to "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" and then read the words after.

See how close you come to getting them right.

Let's not forget "I'm Your Penis" by the Shocking Blue.

I googled Mondegreen and got this: http://www.fun-with-words.com/mala_mondegreens.html

Has some of the above and some other good ones.

What about " A girl with colitis goes by"? I remember a article by William Safire in which he said that a friend had named these kind of mistakes "Mondegreens". This is from a misheard line from on of my favorite songs, the Scots ballad "The Bonney Earl of Morrey". It goes "They have slain the Earl of Morrey and laid him on the green" which was misheard as "They have slain the Earl of Morrey and Lady Mondegreen". I have found that as I have added room treatment the lyrics get clearer, in fact improving clearity is probably the most important measure I have in judging wheather I have improved it or not.

If the claim in this YouTube video is to be believed, that "here for the first time ever are the true lyrics to The Kingsmen's version of the song Louie Louie," it was 44 years before someone figured out what they were saying.

According to this Wikipedia article the recording was investigated by the FBI amid allegations that it contained obscenities, and "after two years of investigation (they) concluded that the recording could not be interpreted, that it was 'unintelligible at any speed,' and therefore the Bureau could not find that the recording was obscene."

Audiowoman -- good one about Credence. Another possible interpretation would be "third bathroom on the right."

Regards,
-- Al

HA! Pull out Dead Can Dance or Chocteau Twins. Try figuring those out. :-)

"She's got the Mercedes bends." You have to read the lyrics or you'll miss lots of good writing.

Nice try Lizzy.

I moved from Wisconsin to Michigan around six years ago and I still have a hard time understanding the weatherman on the local news channel. Many people in this state talk so fast that they don't enunciate.
I read the liner notes to get a handle on the lyrics whenever possible. Did just that this afternoon listening to "All the Roadrunning" by Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris.

I think song writing in general theses days has fallon off some. The powerfull, emotional and cleverness that made you listen and made you think and relate is less these days , I think anyway. Those clever wordsmiths are few and far between. The words and what they are saying just don't appear to be as important as they once were, IMHO.

Cheers

There are the classic misunderstandings:

1. "every time you go away, you take a piece of meat with you" (Paul Young"
2. "there's a bathroom on the right" (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
3. "scuse me while I kiss this guy" (Jimi Hendrix)