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Song lyrics, do they matter?


Chancer
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I mean does anyone actually listen to them?

I have an odd task to do tomorrow, some French friends who are musicians and songwriters have asked me to proof read the lyrics for their new album, they write and sing in English.

I am hardly qualified for the job as my already poor English from a terrible education is getting worse by the week and I am not musical, however being the only native speaker in these parts would seem to qualify me.

They had sent me the lyrics and they dont look bad actually but I hadnt realised the urgency as they are recording the album at the studios this weekend.

I have to admit that whenever I do see song lyrics they are always completely different to the ones that I would sing along to the tune, they are a pop rock group so my deaf old ears cant really hear the lyrics to well anyway although to be fair they are not just all noise and s'exhibe like most French groups and her voice as the lead singer does come out above the music, none of their French fans would be any the wiser if they sang like the Bulgarian girl did with her Mariah Carey hit Ken Lee!!

Its just that she has really worked hard at this and wants it to be gramatically perfect, she is self taught and I have to say a fantastic linguist and I really dont want to let her/them down but I really doubt that I am up to the job.

I am looking for some pointers, is gramattical (cant even spell it!) correctness actually important for lyrics? Surely the melody and rhythm is more important, if a foreign group produces a song in English that sounds typically like the way someone from that country speaks English does it actually matter if the song gets the message across, the problem is I have no reference, I dont really know song lyrics especially ones from other countries, all that comes to mind are some of the succesfull Eurovision songs that were frankly gibberish but popular nonetheless and of course Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg!!

My gut feeling is that the title is primordial followed by the chorus, the rest of lesser importance, what do you think?

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For the french the lyric is an expression of culture perhaps more important than the music.

In anglo-saxon culture it is almost trivial.

About a year ago Tina Arena publicly admitted on stage that she was now aware of the importance of the lyric in french popular culture.

In many ways the french are victims of their ambition for poetical perfection in their lyrics which probably limits he songs popularity in the anglo-saxon charts; a bit like giving pearls to pigs or anglo-saxons will always have pigs ears deaf to poetic nuances.

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Very interesting and thankyou, I can see now where she is coming from, I loved the Tina Arena song I listened to "Entends-tu le monde" I thought I had not heard of her before but it looks like she had some hits in my day.

What a cracking voice and doesnt she look great! I love to hear people that can sing with passion and feeling in another language, to do so they have to really know the language, most French singers/groups fail miserably on that score, Johnnny Halliday being an exception, when I first heard my friend sing it brought a lump to my throat, I didnt know her very well at the time or that she spoke English.

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Do they matter, well you have me thinking now. Look at songs like McArthur Park, did that ever make any sense at all.

 

No probably doesn't matter at all. Good tune, good voice(s) and voila it'll be fine. And some people enjoy trying to work out obscure lyrics.

 

 

 

 

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When I took my O level english literature, we had to pick "American Pie" apart and write about its meaning, now that was food for thought and most managed more than two pages. Some song lyrics are very meaningful and others, well, I think consist of one sentence repeated amongs the music over and over again. As for Rap, well again a lot of words but I cannot ever clearly hear it to make sense of it
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[quote user="pachapapa"]

For the french the lyric is an expression of culture perhaps more important than the music.

In anglo-saxon culture it is almost trivial.

About a year ago Tina Arena publicly admitted on stage that she was now aware of the importance of the lyric in french popular culture.

In many ways the french are victims of their ambition for poetical perfection in their lyrics which probably limits he songs popularity in the anglo-saxon charts; a bit like giving pearls to pigs or anglo-saxons will always have pigs ears deaf to poetic nuances.

[/quote]

Makes you wonder then how the Anglo Saxons managed to turn out some of the worlds finest poets and song writers? ( don't cry for me Argentina etc.) [:P]

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An important reason why Chancer should cast his eye over the lyrics is to avoid any unintentional howlers. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I know they can occur when a non-native English speaker tries to write in English. That's apart from the seeming French obsession with the f word in English lyrics, and other unfortunate coincidences - like the popularity in Normandy a few years back of a Madness track, 'Shame and Scandal' (an old calypso/reggae classic which happens to be about incest). [;-)]

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Cast my eye over the lyrics???? If only!

We started at 14.00 yesterday and finished at 3am this morning, they are now in the recording studio, les nuits blanches may be rock n roll for the young but it aint my bag baby [:D]

I did manage to  slip away in the late evening to do a night dive so I also have the desaturation to contend with, I will post some of the pre edit lyrics, there certainly were some howlers! She told me that once an English girl from the audience discreetly asked her what language she was singing, says it all really!

Still it was a fun experience and I learnt a lot on a subject that I would otherwise have remained ignorant, I can now add Compositeur to my resumé to go with my qualifications in French plumbing, electrics, bricklaying, carpentry etc that I gained on the Speedone Dover to Boulogne crossings [;-)]

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I really think it depends on the song. There are some songs that really do stand on their own as poetry but are enhanced by the tune.... but there are songs where vocal intonation is sufficient (Was it Louie Louie that the FBI thought was subversive because they didn't understand it, so the investigated and..... still didn't understand it)

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