Non Native English Speakers: Can You Understand Song Lyrics?

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The discussion centers on the challenges of understanding English song lyrics, particularly for non-native speakers. Many participants, including native speakers, express that certain songs, especially in genres like rock and metal, can sound unintelligible or "gibberish." The difficulty often varies by song, with slower ballads typically being easier to comprehend than faster, more complex tracks. Non-native speakers report that while they may struggle with pop songs, they find blues and some metal more accessible. The conversation highlights the importance of context and familiarity with cultural references in lyrics, which can further complicate understanding. Participants also note that advancements in technology, such as access to lyrics online, have made it easier to decipher songs. Overall, the thread emphasizes that lyric comprehension is a common challenge across language proficiency levels, influenced by song style and production quality.
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I'm a native English speaker and many songs, especially rock songs, sound like gibberish to me. I'm not particularly unusual this way, and I think we've had threads on that before. But I can't imagine how hard it must be for non-native speakers! Now that we have the innerwebs we can find song lyrics, thankfully.

So my question is for non-native speakers of English: Can you make out English song lyrics very well?
 
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lisab said:
I'm a native English speaker and many songs, especially rock songs, sound like gibberish to me. I'm not particularly unusual this way, and I think we've had threads on that before. But I can't imagine how hard it must be for non-native speakers! Now that we have the innerwebs we can find song lyrics, thankfully.

So my question is for non-native speakers of English: Can you make out English song lyrics very well?

I would consider myself a native speaker of English, and even then, I would say it depends on the song.

Something like "Vincent" by Don Mclean - no problem making out every single word.

http://youtu.be/dipFMJckZOM

Something like "Take On Me" by A-ha - a bit of a crapshoot. I can make out maybe 30%?

http://youtu.be/djV11Xbc914

Something like "Into the Infinity of Thoughts" by Emperor - haha, good luck. If you can make out even 10% of the words, you're already a certifiable genius. Or certifiably insane. :biggrin:

http://youtu.be/tccZs_veliA
 
Curious3141 said:
I would consider myself a native speaker of English, and even then, I would say it depends on the song.

Something like "Vincent" by Don Mclean - no problem making out every single word.

http://youtu.be/dipFMJckZOM

Something like "Take On Me" by A-ha - a bit of a crapshoot. I can make out maybe 30%?

http://youtu.be/djV11Xbc914

Something like "Into the Infinity of Thoughts" by Emperor - haha, good luck. If you can make out even 10% of the words, you're already a certifiable genius. Or certifiably insane. :biggrin:

http://youtu.be/tccZs_veliA

Oh I get over 50% of "Take On Me"! But any screaming songs...just, nope.

One song with famously unintelligible lyrics is actually one of my favorite songs - this version, with one person's "interpretation", is hilarious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU



"I don't know why they suntan nails" :smile:
 
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I sometimes listen to death metal music and I can understand even the "death growl". I have quite good hearing though and English has been my 3rd language forever - sometimes I'm on the impression I know it better than Estonian or Russian ^^
 
lisab said:
speakers of English: Can you make out English song lyrics very well?

English is my 2nd language and I often do have a hard time understanding lyrics to songs. Between ages 13 and like 16 I had no idea what most of the lyrics to Zeppelin songs were even though I had listened to every single one a million times.

I have the same problem with most pop songs but surprisingly (or not) I don't have the problem with blues or Motown.

I would include death metal but I don't think anyone can understand that garbled nonsense.
 
WannabeNewton said:
I would include death metal but I don't think anyone can understand that garbled nonsense.

Depends on the death metal. Death grind (a very extreme form of death metal-grindcore fusion) is pretty much unintelligible, but something like Amon Amarth (Viking-themed melodic death metal) is often more intelligible than many modern pop songs.
 
I have actually mis-heard some lyrics here and there, for example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCdOVThsWEg
Ozzy Osbourne - Paranoid, what I hear is "I tell you to end your life.." what he really says is "I tell you to enjoy life" XD
 
Jimi Hendrix: 'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy!"
 
  • #10
SteamKing said:
Jimi Hendrix: 'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy!"
sky?
 
  • #11
WannabeNewton said:
English is my 2nd language and I often do have a hard time understanding lyrics to songs.

So is your 1st language Maths? :approve:

Between ages 13 and like 16 I had no idea what most of the lyrics to Zeppelin songs were even though I had listened to every single one a million times.

Had you been in college in the '60 and '70s you probably would have had something to help with that. :devil:
 
  • #12
I thought Flowerchildren rose and fell with the Woodstock 68..then again that's like, when my mom was young, so I wasn't on the agenda even.

Anyway, a lyric-comprehension challenge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGiMinmqKPo
My favourite death metal band, Nile.
Starts off as "the necromancers of Giza..." aand then you will kind of lose track if you're not used to hearing this :D
 
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  • #13
lendav_rott said:
I thought Flowerchildren rose and fell with the Woodstock 68..then again that's like, when my mom was young, so I wasn't on the agenda even.
[hijack thread]Once a hippie always a hippie.
160px-RussianRainbowGathering_4Aug2005.jpg
[/end hijack]
 
  • #14
lisab said:
So my question is for non-native speakers of English: Can you make out English song lyrics very well?

No. Song lyrics played using drum language would be about as effective as sung in English. But then, I generally have a problem with spoken English - lack of training.

But it is the same in Polish - some singers are completely unintelligible.

Edit: ROFL, I have problems with understanding even this one:

 
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  • #15
  • #16
lisab said:
I'm a native English speaker and many songs, especially rock songs, sound like gibberish to me. I'm not particularly unusual this way, and I think we've had threads on that before. But I can't imagine how hard it must be for non-native speakers! Now that we have the innerwebs we can find song lyrics, thankfully.

So my question is for non-native speakers of English: Can you make out English song lyrics very well?

Actually, even if one is a native English speaker, it still doesn't mean that one can understand English song lyrics. This is especially true if certain regional colloquialism is heavily used in the song lyrics. My example would be two of my most favorite tunes, http://www.rickieleejones.com/lyrics/rljchucke.htm and "http://www.rickieleejones.com/lyrics/rljlastchtexaco.htm". Not knowing what "I-9" is, what the "Pantages" is, or even what "p.l.p" stands for certainly will make understanding the lyrics a little bit more difficult.

And even if you THINK you know, the full meaning and impact could also be missing. Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls" would have a lot more meaning if one knows the West End and East End neighborhoods of London.

Zz.
 
  • #17
It's not just non-english speakers who have difficulty...

however i am constantly surprised at how much more intelligible lyrics are on today's sound equipment than what i had in the 1950's...


really like this one, which is on this subject...

 
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  • #18
What's amazing about Rickie Lee Jones is that she is incomprehensible in the recordings - but clear as a bell live.
 
  • #19
Vanadium 50 said:
incomprehensible in the recordings - but clear as a bell live.

That probably says something about the techniques used by her recording engineers and producers.
 
  • #20
I will also say that no matter if you are an English speaker or not, no one can comprehend Jimmy Webb's "Macarthur's Park"! :)

Till this day, I have no idea what that song is about. Maybe I left my cake out in the rain for way too long.

Zz.
 
  • #21
Lyrics are of value to me. If I don't understand it, then I don't 'like' listening to it*. And yes there are many songs that I don't know what the hell they're about.

* Except those with hypnotizing effect I, which listen to anyway. :-p
 
  • #22
jtbell said:
That probably says something about the techniques used by her recording engineers and producers.

I don't know about that. Rickie Lee Jones was produced by 3-time Grammy winner Russ Titelman and Warner Bros. head Lenny Waronker. The Magazine was produced by Jones and legend James Newton Howard. These guys know their stuff.
 
  • #23
I just figured Rickie Lee Jones was singing in that slurring way to be "stylized". She does the same style in "Easy Money", but that's easier (but still not easy) to understand.

When I was learning how to understand spoken French, I had a hard time hearing where one word stopped and the other began. In singing, that border is often blurred intentionally - it must just take a lot of listening for a non-native speaker to pick it up!
 
  • #24
Curious3141;4679375 Something like "Take On Me" by A-ha - a bit of a crapshoot. I can make out maybe 30%? [url said:
http://youtu.be/djV11Xbc914[/url]


http://youtu.be/tccZs_veliA

Holy crap, I never knew where that synth line came from.

TIL
 
  • #25
I'm a native English speaker who learned Spanish in the 1980s. During that time I only listened to Spanish language radio much of which was songs. With new songs I understood little but gradually after hearing the songs many times they began to make sense. However there was one song I simply could not understand, until I accidently heard it in English. It was Chameleon by the Culture Club. Until I heard it in English I had no idea it was an English song translated to Spanish.

 
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  • #26
Sometimes I love the lyrics to songs, until I find out what the real lyrics are, then I don't like them anymore.
 
  • #27
Evo said:
Sometimes I love the lyrics to songs, until I find out what the real lyrics are, then I don't like them anymore.

Oh, you mean like "Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward?

:)

Zz.
 
  • #28
Maybe don't watch this if you're easily offended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnlveKfDuyk
 
  • #29
Goodness, that was disturbing.. -__-
 
  • #30
Gad said:
Goodness, that was disturbing.. -__-

No, this is disturbing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q3JkR8aK9c
 
  • #31
lisab said:
So my question is for non-native speakers of English: Can you make out English song lyrics very well?

Pretty ok, I think. But I'd guess that a native speaker that is used to listening to lyrics has an advantage over me. If I am to pull out the lyrics, it usually takes a couple of listenings, playing, pausing, rewinding. And there are often a couple of words/phrases in a song that can be particularly hard to decode, though. Then it's - guesswork! (=artistic interpretation).

It depends very much on the production, type of song and type of music. A slow piece/ballad is typically easier to decode (vocals upfront) than, let's say, a guitar-driven rock piece with vocals that are "in the middle of it" and competing with the guitars.

And there are some stuff I don't have a chance of decoding, like growling (e.g. metal) or most opera/classical singing. And I find choirs in general are hard to decode too.
 
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  • #32
dlgoff said:
So is your 1st language Maths? :approve:

Pig Latin!

dlgoff said:
Had you been in college in the '60 and '70s you probably would have had something to help with that. :devil:

Maybe I have something to help with it now :wink:
 
  • #33
ZapperZ said:
Oh, you mean like "Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward?

That definitely rings another bell. Disclaimer: don't click below if you can't stand shallow lyrics from Sweden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjhak1AvuuU
 
  • #34
micromass said:
No, this is disturbing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q3JkR8aK9c


OMG poor octopus :smile:
 
  • #35
micromass said:
No, this is disturbing:

:smile:!
 
  • #36
Both clips were excellent, micromass! I'm saving those for distribution...:smile:
 
  • #37
I heard miley cyrus when she sang her wrecking ball at ellen show and I didn't need to google the lyrics to understand it. Mein klaus of the scorpions has good diction too.. and many others.

Understanding the literal lyrics is one thing and interpreting it is another thing. Some can see more than a pumpkin seed because interpretation is subjective. And it's excellent to be knowing the meaning of certain2 words of the lyrics.

Example, the first youtube link I had posted is led zepellin's immigrant song. The word valhalla in the lyrics suggests that the song is about vikings on suicide excursion. But knowing that half of the slain warriors were selected for folkvangr first and the left-over half goes to valhalla will make another interpretations.

The second link is uriah heep's july morning. Imo it's about a hopeless romantic who is optimistic and persistent in finding his soulmate. More than a thousand trials failed to convinced him that a soulmate is not for him because he is basically a lone wolf.

And the last link is Apocalyptica's I don't care. Imo it's about a guy talking to himself. He's tired of being in leash and constantly henpecked by a dominant mate thus he's planning to reclaim his pride. Probably he will do that talking to himself for the rest of his life in leash, because he is a coward and probably dumb.
 
  • #38
I can't tell you how many lyrics, and even words, I've misheard or mispronounced my entire life!

I used to always say "bomb" by pronouncing the final "b" until my wife started teasing me for it. Apparently you are supposed to say "bom."

This commercial hit the nail on the head IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvcLWQrcgtM
 
  • #39
Sometimes song lyrics don't make sense, as a word may be used just for the riming. Besides, interpretation is what, IMO, MAKES a lot of old rock tunes.
 
  • #40
Yes I noticed, some song writers trade-off some words for the sake of rhyme, cadence, and other artistic reasons. The pop ballad "Colors of the wind" of pocahontas popularized by vanessa williams has a phrase "blue corn moon" in it. The song is about the sentiments of the native americans regarding the ecology, and the song writer knows that the phrase "blue corn moon" doesn't make sense in native american folklore, but you can listen for yourself and agree with the song writer that "blue corn moon" sounds much better than the meaningful "green corn moon".

Btw, you can check your own diction with your own "voice-input-typing apps", if it's alright typing your dictation.. try singing a stanza of your favorite song. Does it sucks like my android does? :D
 
  • #41
Google is our friend indeed, downloaded lyrics help me to finally discern the words in songs which I failed to catch despite several times of rewinding and listening. The first lines of bon jovi's 'it's my life' is "this ain't a song for the broken hearted, silent prayer for faith departed...". In metallica's 'nothing else matter' I got it now, it's ".. trust I seek and I found in you...". But I still believe shakira sings "..because of you I forgot the smart way to write.." though Google says it's "smart way to lie.." in the song 'underneath your clothes'. I was surprised that the ketchup song 'eserehe' which is among my video file has mixed english/spanish lyrics, I thought it's all spanish and I wonder why I failed to noticed it. :D
 
  • #42
lisab said:
I'm a native English speaker and many songs, especially rock songs, sound like gibberish to me. I'm not particularly unusual this way, and I think we've had threads on that before. But I can't imagine how hard it must be for non-native speakers! Now that we have the innerwebs we can find song lyrics, thankfully.

So my question is for non-native speakers of English: Can you make out English song lyrics very well?

I'm in your case but with a higher handicap for sure. A few words, sometime "sentences" is all I can understand most of the time.
When I was about 13 years old I remember my mother telling me she couldn't understand many words in songs (she lived in the USA for many years and teaches English linguistics at university).

As a side note, I generally don't understand many French songs when I hear them and sometimes even when I read the lyrics. It's my first language.
 
  • #43
That's an intriguing psychological phenomena. I experience that too at lesser degree, lesser because reading the lyrics while listening usually helps me in discerning the english words in songs.

I found out that language and music is being processed in near-identical area of the brain and I conjectured that something is interfering with the production of neurotransmitter chemicals which directly affects comprehension... perhaps the brain goofs on which hemisphere the neuro chemicals must be sent for better processing? The wikipedia article about 'cognitive neuroscience of music' is not easy to read due to a lot of hyperlinks but interesting nonetheless. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_neuroscience_of_music
 
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