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Old 23-10-2003, 10:46
mrnicelybig
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I have always been baffled as to why English singers feel the need to sing with an American accent. I suppose it goes back to the 50's when Cliff Richard and the like were trying to sound like Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley etc
Then along came Lonnie Donnegan, then the Beatles and they were all singing in American so everyone just seemed to follow suit.

However, there have been a few exceptions; "Lazy Sunday Afternoon" by The Faces, early Bowie, then later on ALL punk music seemed to be sung in English, all Madness songs, some Blur.

Can anyone think of any more?
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Old 23-10-2003, 10:53
FastEddie
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Lazy Sunday Afternoon was even weirder given that it was the only Small Faces song Steve Marriott sung in his 'real' accent - he, too affected an American accent for his usual singing voice.

It's interesting that the genres of music that are uniquely English are the ones that most stress our accent instead of an American one.
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Old 23-10-2003, 11:58
misterpartridge
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I actually wrote one of my dissertations at university on this very issue - it was a lingustics paper. I wrote about Cliff Richard et al, and how The Beatles' accent subtly shifted over time, and became markedly more Liverpudlian the bigger they became. Then bands like The Kinks began to celebrate Englishness, and that became fashionable. Very few singers sing in received English, though (I think Roger Waters era Pink Floyd is an exception, off the top of my head) - most sing in regional accents - Stone Roses - or adopt supposedly working class accents - Blur. I dedicated most of the essay to Tricky, both in his Massive Attack days and laters, and Blur, goign through the song COuntry House line by line and showing how the language and accent were meant to convey a kind of chummy Cockney voice, and I analysed the dropped consonsants and added dipthongs and the rest of it. I think now there's a shift to singing in received pronunciation - Coldplay, for example.
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Old 23-10-2003, 11:59
TOML
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I couldn't care less as along as it isn't sung in a foregin language, english is the language of rock 'n' roll.

I've noticed busted try and sound american
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Old 23-10-2003, 12:08
misterpartridge
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Originally posted by FastEddie
It's interesting that the genres of music that are uniquely English are the ones that most stress our accent instead of an American one.
Up to a point. Sometimes it's most effective when a distinctly American genre is sung in an English accent - Massive Attack's Blue Lines album, Roots Manuva, etc. Mick Jagger has an American accent that is so over-the-top in places that it kind of shifts into Cockney - and of course he's imitating Bo Diddley originally. What distinctly British genres are there? Drum and bass?

Ah, just thought of a band who use received pronunciation: Underworld. Is that kind of gentle commercial tehcno genre English, though? I think it sometimes works because of the contrast between that continental European sound and deadpan English vocals:

"I saw you shopping in Europa on Wardour Street..."
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Old 23-10-2003, 12:26
Skysurfer2000
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Originally posted by TOML
I couldn't care less as along as it isn't sung in a foregin language, english is the language of rock 'n' roll.

I've noticed busted try and sound american
I disagree. All Kraftwerk songs sound best in their native lingo
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Old 23-10-2003, 12:34
mrnicelybig
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Even Abba sing in an american accent! and they're Swedish!

I just thought of an obscure one with a distincly English voice, "The One and Only" by good old Chesney Hawkes. When he sings the line "carnt take that awaye from me" (sic)

Also, when singing with an American voice, sometimes the spoken bits in songs by English bands are said in an American accent, for example, ABC's The Look of Love when Martin Fry says "One day you'll find true love, I say maybe" etc
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Old 23-10-2003, 12:37
TOML
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Look at abba when they sung in swedish they got nowhere and were advised to sing in english.
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Old 23-10-2003, 12:55
Esterhaus
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Originally posted by mrnicelybig
Also, when singing with an American voice, sometimes the spoken bits in songs by English bands are said in an American accent, for example, ABC's The Look of Love when Martin Fry says "One day you'll find true love, I say maybe" etc
Eh? He sounds pretty English when speaking that bit, surely? Or have you been listening to the US remix?
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Old 23-10-2003, 13:21
mrnicelybig
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Originally posted by Esterhaus
Eh? He sounds pretty English when speaking that bit, surely? Or have you been listening to the US remix?
OK, well maybe it's his Sheffield twang!
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Old 23-10-2003, 13:21
Esterhaus
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How about Americans that sing in an English accent? THere can't be (m)any of those. I always seem to remember a bit in a Nirvana song (one of the tracks on Nevermind) where Kurt Cobain sings a line where he sounds very English.... ''Don't know what it means.''

Again, it's all about interpretation and that line probably doesn't sound English at all really
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Old 23-10-2003, 13:26
Esterhaus
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Originally posted by mrnicelybig
OK, well maybe it's his Sheffield twang!
LOL

To be fair, ABC did have that spell in the mid-1980's where they went all out for the American market (with the cartoon image and the little bald guy in specs & the ''leggy'' blonde woman joining the band), so you were probably onto something there!
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Old 23-10-2003, 13:31
FastEddie
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Originally posted by misterpartridge
What distinctly British genres are there? Drum and bass?
I don't mean uniquely British - but archetypally British.

Mod, punk, britpop, baggy, new romantic, 2-Tone ska (well, at least the stuff that was sung by white guys), british urban.

Like you say, a lot of the time it's an affectation - to stand out from the crowd or to play towards the image - new romantic worked with English accents because of the decadent foppery that was part of the scene.

I think that spoken word bit in ABC's "The Look Of Love" is the most archetypally Sheffield sound in music history - it represents in its entirety the pre-eminence of the Steel City in 1980s British music
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Old 23-10-2003, 14:03
misterpartridge
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Originally posted by FastEddie
I think that spoken word bit in ABC's "The Look Of Love" is the most archetypally Sheffield sound in music history - it represents in its entirety the pre-eminence of the Steel City in 1980s British music
LOL. FE - *you* should have written about this at university.

Americans singing in English accents? The only I can think of is pretty obvious: Mike Myers on Ming Tea's excellent track, BBC, a spot-on parody of Brit Invasion pop:

"Missus
Couldja
Make me tea?

Put on the telly
To the BBC
Yeah! Yeah
To the BBC
Yeah! Yeah!

BBC One!
BBC Two!
BBC Three!
BBC Four!
BBC Five!
BBC Six!
BBC Seven!
BBC Heaven!

Spoken: BBC Peace"

Guess it was funnier when it was done, though - most of those channels didn't exist, then.
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Old 23-10-2003, 14:08
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I cant see any of The Jams songs sounding so good if it wasnt for Wellers gruff 'working class home counties' accent in his vocals.
Though he has lost it a lot over the years, he still has a distict accent in his vocals, even more so live.
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Old 23-10-2003, 14:21
FastEddie
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Originally posted by NewWoman
I cant see any of The Jams songs sounding so good if it wasnt for Wellers gruff 'working class home counties' accent in his vocals.
Though he has lost it a lot over the years, he still has a distict accent in his vocals, even more so live.
"Rows and rows of disused milk / Lie dying in the dairy yard / And a hundred lonely housewives / Clutch empty milk bottles to their hearts / Hanging out their old love letters / On the line to dry / It's enough to make you stop believing / When the tears come fast and furious / In a town called malice"

Can you imagine that sung in a Californian brogue? I think not....
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Old 23-10-2003, 14:23
FastEddie
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You missed out a line, bro...i love this song:

"Missus
Couldja
Make me tea?
Make love to me
Put on the telly
To the BBC
Yeah! Yeah!
To the BBC
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

BBC One!
BBC Two!
BBC Three!
BBC Four!
BBC Five!
BBC Six!
BBC Seven!
BBC Heaven!

Spoken: BBC Peace"

Genius at the end too BTW - Ming Tea are actually a cracking band not only for Goldmember's "Daddy Wasn't There"
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Old 23-10-2003, 14:44
misterpartridge
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Originally posted by FastEddie
Make love to me
You got me, FE. And it is a cracking tune. After seeing the film Rushmore - top film - I put together a little compilation of Brit invasion stuff, including a lot of songs from that soundtrack, plus some other gems from the era I like (Richard Cody by Simon & Garfunkel, First Cut Is The Deepest by Cat Stevens, etc). And I included this song for a laugh. I've played the compilation loads of times, but when I mentioned to my wife that this was from the first Austin Powers film - which she saw, with me! - she was gobsmacked. She'd thought it was a real Sixties song! She's not stupid or anything (far from it) - just Swedish, so she hadn't really twigged the deliberately sexist lyrics, etc.
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Old 23-10-2003, 16:38
mrnicelybig
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Originally posted by FastEddie
"Rows and rows of disused milk / Lie dying in the dairy yard / And a hundred lonely housewives / Clutch empty milk bottles to their hearts / Hanging out their old love letters / On the line to dry / It's enough to make you stop believing / When the tears come fast and furious / In a town called malice"

Can you imagine that sung in a Californian brogue? I think not....
Good point FE, in those days Mr Weller seems to have moved from a gutsy Woking accent with the Jam, to a west coast US accent with the Style Council, then settled more in the middle with his solo stuff. Still sounds ok though to me
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Old 23-10-2003, 16:56
Esterhaus
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Town Called Malice was one of my favourite songs of yore but nowadays it just reminds me of Billy Elliot. *mumbles* Sodding film soundtrack compilers.
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Old 23-10-2003, 17:05
mrnicelybig
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oh yes:

Are Friends Electric? - Tubeway Army.

VERY English!
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Old 23-10-2003, 17:11
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Billy Bragg sings in exactly the same accent as he speaks.

Btw, speaking of The Small Faces. My mum went to their first ever gigs as she used to go out with Jimmy Winstone (the original keyboard player) at that point.
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Old 23-10-2003, 17:26
RichardS
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Originally posted by Esterhaus
How about Americans that sing in an English accent? THere can't be (m)any of those. I always seem to remember a bit in a Nirvana song (one of the tracks on Nevermind) where Kurt Cobain sings a line where he sounds very English.... ''Don't know what it means.''

Again, it's all about interpretation and that line probably doesn't sound English at all really
Strange - cause I tend to think most US and UK bands sing with a British accent
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Old 23-10-2003, 18:44
NRG
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then theirs The Proclaimers
wonder were they come from ?
see you jimmy..hehe

NRG
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Old 23-10-2003, 22:46
woodpecker_pie
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Athlete sound very London, but they are still good!
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