Singing In A Different Accent
In general when you sing you don't have an accent unless it's
put on deliberately, but there are some exceptions.
Singing a song you have written yourself, you wouldn't normally
fall into a foreign or different ‘county’ accent because you wouldn't have heard the song before, it being your own work.
Putting on an accent usually only happens in pop songs and
it's mostly English and Irish singers who will try and sing in an
American voice. I believe this is done solely to appeal to a wider
audience and to boost sales of their music.
But it's not only the pop singers who do it. There are some
well-known folk artists who, for one reason or another, changed their
voices. For example, have a listen to the early Wolfe Tones
songs and whether it's Brian Warfield or Tommy Byrne doing the
lead singing you can really hear the difference in their accents.
The older stuff has a more country sound – and when I say country
I'm talking about outside Dublin. Then listen to their music
from the 1980s onwards and you'll certainly hear the difference.
The 'Tones song The Valley Of Knockanure [ lyrics ] for example, which
was released in 1970 on the album Up The Rebels, has
Tommy on lead vocals with a Country accent – a decision which
may have been made to appeal to the masses outside
The Pale. Derek has always sung with a mixture of Dublin and
Country in his songs, he even changes within the same song.
For whatever reason, by the 1980s all The Wolfe Tones sang
with their own natural voices.
Another of the folkies, Christy Moore [ songs ] started singing in his own natural Kildare voice after using a Dublin accent throughout the 1960s and up to the late 1970s whether performing live or recording. This was a complete transformation for Christy and his fans.
Had he been putting on this false Dublin brogue to fit in with the crowd? Well when Christy started out he worked the pubs and clubs in Dublin because that's where the ballad boom was taking place. In such a competitive scene, striving for popular recognition required imitating what had worked so far - but in time singers gained status and confidence enough to be themselves.
Examples of Christy’s change can be found in his early recordings, The Ballad Of James Larkin where you would think he was born and bred in Dublin, to his later songs from the 1970s.
Other examples in the folk world are The Clancy Brothers and
Tommy Makem [ songs ]. Apart from Liam Clancy the others,
including Tommy, sang in their own County accent while
Liam always sang with a neutral voice even though he was
away from home as long as his brothers. So it's not an easy
one to explain as there are many possible explanations
and reasons.
And then again there are the odd few who actually sing songs in their own local accent and are embarrassed by it and change to an American one. I'm not knocking singers here, far from it, we all hear it when a friend goes abroad to work and comes back a few
months later with an English, American or some other accent. So it’s not only the singers that do it, some people are more susceptible than others at picking it up.
put on deliberately, but there are some exceptions.
Singing a song you have written yourself, you wouldn't normally
fall into a foreign or different ‘county’ accent because you wouldn't have heard the song before, it being your own work.
Putting on an accent usually only happens in pop songs and
it's mostly English and Irish singers who will try and sing in an
American voice. I believe this is done solely to appeal to a wider
audience and to boost sales of their music.
But it's not only the pop singers who do it. There are some
well-known folk artists who, for one reason or another, changed their
voices. For example, have a listen to the early Wolfe Tones
songs and whether it's Brian Warfield or Tommy Byrne doing the
lead singing you can really hear the difference in their accents.
The older stuff has a more country sound – and when I say country
I'm talking about outside Dublin. Then listen to their music
from the 1980s onwards and you'll certainly hear the difference.
The 'Tones song The Valley Of Knockanure [ lyrics ] for example, which
was released in 1970 on the album Up The Rebels, has
Tommy on lead vocals with a Country accent – a decision which
may have been made to appeal to the masses outside
The Pale. Derek has always sung with a mixture of Dublin and
Country in his songs, he even changes within the same song.
For whatever reason, by the 1980s all The Wolfe Tones sang
with their own natural voices.
Another of the folkies, Christy Moore [ songs ] started singing in his own natural Kildare voice after using a Dublin accent throughout the 1960s and up to the late 1970s whether performing live or recording. This was a complete transformation for Christy and his fans.
Had he been putting on this false Dublin brogue to fit in with the crowd? Well when Christy started out he worked the pubs and clubs in Dublin because that's where the ballad boom was taking place. In such a competitive scene, striving for popular recognition required imitating what had worked so far - but in time singers gained status and confidence enough to be themselves.
Examples of Christy’s change can be found in his early recordings, The Ballad Of James Larkin where you would think he was born and bred in Dublin, to his later songs from the 1970s.
Other examples in the folk world are The Clancy Brothers and
Tommy Makem [ songs ]. Apart from Liam Clancy the others,
including Tommy, sang in their own County accent while
Liam always sang with a neutral voice even though he was
away from home as long as his brothers. So it's not an easy
one to explain as there are many possible explanations
and reasons.
And then again there are the odd few who actually sing songs in their own local accent and are embarrassed by it and change to an American one. I'm not knocking singers here, far from it, we all hear it when a friend goes abroad to work and comes back a few
months later with an English, American or some other accent. So it’s not only the singers that do it, some people are more susceptible than others at picking it up.
