Devo - the worst band from new wave/post punk scene?

Trollheart · 05-03-2017, 10:32 AM

Whatever. To me, a song is something with words. Anything else is a music track or piece of music. You can't sing it, it ain't a song.

**Frownland** · 05-03-2017, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Whatever. To me, a song is something with words. Anything else is a music track or piece of music. You can't sing it, it ain't a song.

To me, the sun is a planet.

Just because music is subjective doesn't mean that the terminology is.

Trollheart · 05-03-2017, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

To me, the sun is a planet.

Just because music is subjective doesn't mean that the terminology is.

As I say, whatever. Dude.

rostasi · 05-03-2017, 10:52 AM

Trollheart · 05-03-2017, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rostasi

Kind of proves my point though really: what that says is that songs usually have words, but these ones don't, and anyway, excellent as they are, they're pieces of music, just titled Songs Without Words. I actually have that album. Beautiful stuff. But not songs in the conventional sense.

There's also birdsong of course, but that's an entirely different matter.

If someone played you "Classical gas", would you consider that a song? Perhaps it's just a personal thing I've grown up with, but the various definitions below seem to bear this out.

song Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/di...y/english/song

Song | Define Song at Dictionary.com

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/song

An actual song without words is an instrumental, or a piece of music.

**Frownland** · 05-03-2017, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

songs usually have words

Songs usually have words=/=songs inherently have words. Much in the same way that all metalheads don't have long hair despite it being a trend in that community.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

You can't sing it, it ain't a song.

Does this count if I sing a song intended to be instrumental?

**Janszoon** · 05-03-2017, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Just because music is subjective doesn't mean that the terminology is.

True, which is why Trollheart is right. Technically speaking, a song is a piece of music with words that are sung, even though many people use the word colloquially to mean any piece of music.

**Frownland** · 05-03-2017, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

True, which is why Trollheart is right. Technically speaking, a song is a piece of music with words that are sung, even though many people use the word colloquially to mean any piece of music.

Definition: a musical piece adapted for singing or simulating a piece to be sung

At a certain point the colloquial forms of words become the formal version and this definition reflects that. I think that things have changed a bit since we've moved away from Old English.

**Janszoon** · 05-03-2017, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Definition: a musical piece adapted for singing or simulating a piece to be sung

At a certain point the colloquial forms of words become the formal version and this definition reflects that. I think that things have changed a bit since we've moved away from Old English.

They sure have. For example, the word "song" didn't exist in Old English.

Trollheart · 05-03-2017, 11:40 AM

It was just a throwaway line, dude. Don't make a federal case of it. This is why I qualified my statement by saying "to me", which you then replied to with a frankly stupid analogy about stars. All the major dictionaries back me up on what I say, but as Zappy says, it is a trivial point and, you know, I got Hugo-award losing novels to write.

05-03-2017, 10:32 AM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Whatever. To me, a song is something with words. Anything else is a music track or piece of music. You can't sing it, it ain't a song. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

05-03-2017, 11:40 AM	#10 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	It was just a throwaway line, dude. Don't make a federal case of it. This is why I qualified my statement by saying "to me", which you then replied to with a frankly stupid analogy about stars. All the major dictionaries back me up on what I say, but as Zappy says, it is a trivial point and, you know, I got Hugo-award losing novels to write. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

05-03-2017, 10:52 AM	#4 (permalink)
rostasi . Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 4,014