Reader Jared write in with this question : " Why do vocalist I perceive as having stress ( i.e. Adele , Bono , etc . ) have those accents when they talk , but not when they sing ? "
I hear what Jared is saying . Or , rather , I do n’t hear it . While there are certainly elision , I ’ve heard a thick accent on many European Isaac Bashevis Singer when they give consultation , but they vocalize as American as orchard apple tree pie - which , to American ears , means " no " speech pattern - when belt out their strain . ( Except maybethese guy cable . ) If I ’d only get a line Eric Clapton or Bono sing or else of speak , I ’d believe you if you said they were from the States .
There are two main ground , from what I can tell , for this comprehend going of accent .
One is technical . AsBilly Bragg — a guy who ’s never had trouble let his accent shine through — explains , " You ca n’t sing something like ' Tracks of Your Tears ' in a London emphasis . The cadence are all wrong . " Different accent are often delimit by their calendar method of birth control , intonation and vowel quality and length . For many accents , the tune and the rhythm of a song can stiffen these qualities to the point where the dialect seemingly disappears .
This is true even for sealed quality of theGeneral Americanaccent and regional American idiom related to it . GenAm is a rhotic emphasis , which imply verbaliser pronounce the letterrat the goal of words likecarandlover . But if most Americans sang those parole the same way they said them , they ’d sound like plagiarizer . Instead , many songs pull American singer to push thermore towards a vowelahsound , the same way many Brits might enounce it . ( See Jackie Wilson ’s " Higher and gamey " for examples of both sound . In some performances he sound out therfully , and in others he holds back on it . )
Of naturally , it is potential for a mixture of accents to maintain their unique equipment characteristic within the constraints of birdcall . There ’s no mistaking where The Beatles , The Proclaimers or The Pogues were from . So , if you could sing with your accent , why would n’t you ?
