Worst singing accent.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Cllr
Date: 26 Dec 03 - 06:23 PM

He he he, MH I think I know who you mean if not I know someone exactly like you describe. Cllr

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Maryrrf
Date: 26 Dec 03 - 06:20 PM

What is "mid atlantic"?

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Mary Humphreys
Date: 26 Dec 03 - 06:13 PM

What makes me cringe are people who speak in broad regional English accents when introducing songs - I love that - then they go into 'Mid-atlantic' accents to sing the songs. Yuk!
Naming no names of course.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Cllr
Date: 26 Dec 03 - 06:12 PM

Sting is originally from up north anyway and the beatles sang with an american accent to make themselves sound more hip.
Worst accent is not so much when an accent is faked but when it is either faked badly or they move around during the song. IMHO Cllr

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Dec 03 - 05:47 PM

An hour or two ago, I posted a comment to the "Best Singing Accent" thread that included responses to several aguments put forth here in the "Worst Singing Accent" thread.

Sorry that I can't seem to keep the distinction straight -- must be a result of coming to work dead tired on the day after Christmas, with little else to do except surf the net and hang out at Mudcat.

I have no objection to a certain degree of consciously put-on accent, appropriate to the genre of song one is singing. As a New Jersey-born white blues singer (who can now usually pass for a native New Orleanian), I have to believe that! Of course, some do a better job than others of finding an appropriate vocal personna for their efforts.

Another half hour or so I can go home and go to sleep. Bye!

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Joybell
Date: 26 Dec 03 - 04:57 PM

I agree. Opera is part of theatre. So is a music hall turn or an item within a musical play. The difference is, I think, that if you are performing AS YOURSELF and telling a story or making a comment -AS YOURSELF, then it is inappropriate to use a fake accent.

Of course your choice of material may influence the way you present a song. There may be words within a song that are not part of your usual speech. You can still use your normal accent though.
I sing with my husband whose accent is very different from mine and we have an unspoken rule that if I'm singing harmony I do alter my accent slightly on some words so as to blend in. He does the same if he's doing the harmony. Otherwise we both sing true to our normal accents.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 26 Dec 03 - 01:48 PM

I think that I just dislike any accent that isn't honest to the singer. Just sing like you are supposed to. Although, I do like trained opera singers.

W.E.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Maryrrf
Date: 26 Dec 03 - 08:34 AM

I was completely agree with Guest above about modern Country and Western and Reba McIntire in particular. It really grates on me the way she deliberately draws those vowels out.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Dec 03 - 09:27 PM

Many of the modern Country & Western singers that use that drawn out fake southern accent.

Just one example is Reba McIntire.

I have a deep like for older country music but a deep dislike for the "new" singers like the Tobi Kieth, Tim McGraw, "Deewhite yokum" etc. just about all of them.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: GUEST,M'Grath of Altcar
Date: 25 Dec 03 - 09:11 PM

On "Fields of Gold" Sting sings in an obnoxious Geordie / Jamaican / Irish accent. Nice song though.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Little Robyn
Date: 25 Dec 03 - 06:52 PM

The Proclaimers, especially when they sang "Arm on ma wee"!!!
Robyn

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Dec 03 - 11:43 AM

Is Madonna supposed to be talking in some kind of English accent?

I imagine all the English pop singers who put on "American" when they sing are about as authentic.

Ewan MacColl's speaking accent was pretty similar to his singing accent. Sort of hovering in between Lacashire and Lanarkshire.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Bernard
Date: 25 Dec 03 - 09:27 AM

Yup - Reg Dwight (Elton John!) and Robert Zimmerman (Dylan) are top of my list, too...

I also have an intense dislike for the 'traditional english folk voice' - very nasal, with heavily distorted vowels! I'd better not cite any examples, though...!!

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: mooman
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 08:29 PM

...almost certainly me!

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Strupag
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 08:18 PM

Funny that you mention Ewan McColl, Joybell, because he had quite an English accent in normal life but his Scots accent, used when he was singing, was pretty awful.
Not that I would say anything against his songs!

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Joybell
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 05:00 PM

1. Any male singer, who doesn't come from the UK, who puts his hand over one ear and does A L Lloyd/Ewan McColl. Singers who actually have a similiar normal accent or a sore ear excepted.
2. Female singers who sing with fake "soul" very, very slowly.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 12:25 PM

Anything Cockney sounding like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Folkiedave
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 12:10 PM

Douglas Oates.

Dave
www.collectorsfolk.co.uk

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: GUEST,KB
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 09:48 AM

Robbie Williams: perpertrator of "We were there for summer tree men"

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 09:44 AM

Sans doubt... Madonna. I cringe when I hear her put-on English accent (both speaking AND singing...)

Beccy
P.S. Why do retailers think we'd rather hear schlock pop than oh, say, Beethoven or some classical Christmas music??? I'd wager you that there'd be less hostility in the stores if people were hearing a little less "Like a Virgin" and a little more "Virgin Holy, Virgin Lowly"...

Subject: RE: Worst singing accent.
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 09:28 AM

Robert Zimmerman.   Uhh, I think he goes by some other name.....

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Worst singing accent.
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 05:38 AM

Got to be Elton John! Everytime I hear him, I want to burst out laughing. Interestingly, the first time I heard Elton sing, I said to myself, "This guy's been listening to Jose Feliciano", which makes Elton a copy of a copy because Jose, himself, wasn't singing in his natural accent i.e. when he spoke - back in the late 60s - he had a pronounced latin accent.

p.s. the similarity in their voices becomes very apparent when Jose sings an Elton John composition.