Song writing quandary
Discussion
One thing i wish i could do is write a song.
Any song....would do ..Funny, Sad, Rock, country..anything.
But when ever I try, it always ends up sounding like something else....
Anyway, to the point.
there must be thousands of songs written every week.
OK, the majority will be rubbish, and derivative, but,people are writing good songs allthe time, now what hass got me wondering is.... why is it only English speaking nations where the truly great songs are written ?
Why are ther not any good songs coming from, say Germany, or france, or South America, or anywhere else.
Its not they dont like our stuff...they do
Most big stars have always done well in those countries, so the people do like songs written in ENGLISH...
Any song....would do ..Funny, Sad, Rock, country..anything.
But when ever I try, it always ends up sounding like something else....
Anyway, to the point.
there must be thousands of songs written every week.
OK, the majority will be rubbish, and derivative, but,people are writing good songs allthe time, now what hass got me wondering is.... why is it only English speaking nations where the truly great songs are written ?
Why are ther not any good songs coming from, say Germany, or france, or South America, or anywhere else.
Its not they dont like our stuff...they do
Most big stars have always done well in those countries, so the people do like songs written in ENGLISH...
jimmyone said:
One thing i wish i could do is write a song.
Any song....would do ..Funny, Sad, Rock, country..anything.
But when ever I try, it always ends up sounding like something else....
Anyway, to the point.
there must be thousands of songs written every week.
OK, the majority will be rubbish, and derivative, but,people are writing good songs allthe time, now what hass got me wondering is.... why is it only English speaking nations where the truly great songs are written ?
Why are ther not any good songs coming from, say Germany, or france, or South America, or anywhere else.
Its not they dont like our stuff...they do
Most big stars have always done well in those countries, so the people do like songs written in ENGLISH...
I really, really hope you are kidding. Any song....would do ..Funny, Sad, Rock, country..anything.
But when ever I try, it always ends up sounding like something else....
Anyway, to the point.
there must be thousands of songs written every week.
OK, the majority will be rubbish, and derivative, but,people are writing good songs allthe time, now what hass got me wondering is.... why is it only English speaking nations where the truly great songs are written ?
Why are ther not any good songs coming from, say Germany, or france, or South America, or anywhere else.
Its not they dont like our stuff...they do
Most big stars have always done well in those countries, so the people do like songs written in ENGLISH...
ETA, sorry, that sounds aggressive, and wasn't meant to be. There are BILLIONS of people that listen to songs in Spanish or Indian or Portuguese that would be throwing things at the computer reading that. Just because you don't hear it on British radio or TV doesn't mean it's not happening! Personally, I far prefer songs from South America than I do from any English speaking country.... and then there is history to consider. When English speaking countries were churning out hopeless, harmonically challenged crap, the Germans and Italians were writing the best songs ever written. Light years better than most of the dross that is created in English today.
Oh, and the reason Europeans mostly sing in English and not their mother tongue is that they want to maximise sales. Abba doing a very fine job of that. Who the hell speaks Swedish!
[/soap box]
Edited by GetCarter on Tuesday 12th November 19:32
singlecoil said:
He has a point though. Big American and British bands do international tours and fill stadiums etc in all sorts of countries, why don't we see European bands doing the same thing here?
I'd say it was because most European bands are pretty crap! (from what I've heard - happy to be proved wrong on that)... but as for the greats that fill stadiums, in South America there a loads of bands who sell millions of albums and fill massive arenas. Sadly, latin music is very niche here and so there's no incentive for them to come over. There was a brief flurry in the 80s - mainly as Gloria Estefan became popular in the UK charts. At that time I was in a band that supported Tito Puente and Arturo Sandoval and they filled Hammersmith, but it was the Palais, not the Odeon (as it was known then), and 90% of the audience were Spanish speaking (you can always tell latin types as they clap in time and with syncopated patterns, completely unlike the British!)The thing is, when the OP says it's only English speaking nations that write good tunes, 195 million Brazilians would almost certainly disagree (as would I) and the Cubans would throw a fit (I recorded an album in Cuba in 96 and got in trouble for playing a clave rhythm upside down - they have rhythm police in the studios there!). As for India...
And when I see "Big American and British bands" - you are talking rock and rock based pop - not something the non English (excluding Europe and parts of Asian) nations go in for that much, if at all.
All IMHO of course
Edited by GetCarter on Wednesday 13th November 08:46
My point was all the great songs from the last 100 years (im not talking about Classical music ), were written by English speaking nationals.
And are enjoyed everywhere in the world.
Of course there are very big acts in south America, India China ,etc, but their music doesnt travel.
But everyone in the world knows At least one Beatles song.
And the music of Cole porter, or Rogers and Hammerstein, or Andrew L Webber ,to name a few is played everywhere.
even if we are only talking about popular music,Most foreign countries have pop music, but when was the last time you heard a great song from a European country ?
Is it something to do with the actual english language lends itself to the actual mechanics of words and music better than German or Greek, or Japanese ?
And are enjoyed everywhere in the world.
Of course there are very big acts in south America, India China ,etc, but their music doesnt travel.
But everyone in the world knows At least one Beatles song.
And the music of Cole porter, or Rogers and Hammerstein, or Andrew L Webber ,to name a few is played everywhere.
even if we are only talking about popular music,Most foreign countries have pop music, but when was the last time you heard a great song from a European country ?
Is it something to do with the actual english language lends itself to the actual mechanics of words and music better than German or Greek, or Japanese ?
^singlecoil said:
He has a point though. Big American and British bands do international tours and fill stadiums etc in all sorts of countries, why don't we see European bands doing the same thing here?
Well they do, you just might personally not know them.That said, in the UK there is a massive following in rather mundane music these days and far too much X-Factor and other manufactured artists.
300bhp/ton said:
singlecoil said:
He has a point though. Big American and British bands do international tours and fill stadiums etc in all sorts of countries, why don't we see European bands doing the same thing here?
Well they do, you just might personally not know them.singlecoil said:
Feel free to draw my attention to them. Were you thinking of some band in particular?
Well I suppose obvious ones could be Abba, Focus, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Wolfmother.But there are plenty of lower key bands from Europe and other places. You get a lot playing in and around London. But this style of music isn't really mainstream enough for the UK charts, so the wider public are less likely to know about them.
jimmyone said:
all the great songs from the last 100 years, were written by English speaking nationals.
All you have to do is add 'IN MY OPINION' to the front of this phase, and you are perfectly entitled to say it.So for accuracy, your post should read: In my opinion all the great songs from the last 100 years were written by English speaking nationals.
Then I'd just say that I disagree - many were, but many were not, but you are entitled to your opinion.
ETA (sorry, couldn't stop myself) 'All the best football over the past 100 years has been played by English speaking nationals'.
Equally true.
Edited by GetCarter on Wednesday 13th November 15:24
Metal's more mainstream than you may believe. It's the media that's not keen on it.
Here, we have a strong cultural identity & a very rich heritage of producing our own pop music from the Elvis clones of the fifties to the Beatles to the greasy rockers to the punk & new wave, mod & indie sub cultures. Amongst that back drop, it's very difficult to crack the UK unless you're going for mainstream teen pop where anything goes.
I find in my experience, very few foreign bands chime sufficiently to really make in roads into our market. Works both ways. Band after band have gone to the USA, very few ever crack it there & it is still a fabulous market if you can.
I remember my mum & dad telling me how they'd met Sheena Easton's manager on holiday in 1982 or '83 after she'd been on that talent show thing here but before she'd gone to the states. The guy told them that if they had one top ten hit in America, everyone could retire...
Here, we have a strong cultural identity & a very rich heritage of producing our own pop music from the Elvis clones of the fifties to the Beatles to the greasy rockers to the punk & new wave, mod & indie sub cultures. Amongst that back drop, it's very difficult to crack the UK unless you're going for mainstream teen pop where anything goes.
I find in my experience, very few foreign bands chime sufficiently to really make in roads into our market. Works both ways. Band after band have gone to the USA, very few ever crack it there & it is still a fabulous market if you can.
I remember my mum & dad telling me how they'd met Sheena Easton's manager on holiday in 1982 or '83 after she'd been on that talent show thing here but before she'd gone to the states. The guy told them that if they had one top ten hit in America, everyone could retire...
you'd say the same about films, how many of the top 100 films would you say are American? And how many British films would an American say are in the top 100?
in the English-speaking world, people want English language songs and films, so you never hear foreign songs, and you only see occasional foreign films
in most other countries, they are used to hearing 'foreign' songs (in English for example) and seeing 'foreign films' (from the USA, dubbed or subtitled) so they don't have as big a block on other foreign films and songs, hence you'll have Spanish, French, Portuguese, even bloody Moldovan records being hits in Germany for example
Go to another country and listen to the radio, hear all the foreign songs they play
in the English-speaking world, people want English language songs and films, so you never hear foreign songs, and you only see occasional foreign films
in most other countries, they are used to hearing 'foreign' songs (in English for example) and seeing 'foreign films' (from the USA, dubbed or subtitled) so they don't have as big a block on other foreign films and songs, hence you'll have Spanish, French, Portuguese, even bloody Moldovan records being hits in Germany for example
Go to another country and listen to the radio, hear all the foreign songs they play
jimmyone said:
GetCarter said:
Then I'd just say that I disagree - many were, but many were not,
"Many" were not ?
Such As..........
I'll just take one of the other 100 or so countries - Brazil as an example. Fill ya' boots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Brazil
Sold more disks than all English bands put together. You may hate the music, but many others prefer them to the bands you like.... thinking that THEY write the best music. It's cultural.
What the hell here's another that has an astonishing history of popular music over the past 100 years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Cuba
I could go on. But I fear you are set in a mind set that thinks that 'great bands' are 'English speaking', and unless you listen to music from other cultures, you'll never even hear the difference, let alone know how many more people disagree with you than agree, globally
So, I'm outahere.
Good luck with your musical journey. I wish you all the best.
So, I'm outahere.
Good luck with your musical journey. I wish you all the best.
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