# 80s Songs Talking Parts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183 "2002-03-26T14:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/21 "2002-03-27T00:20:45Z")
Ok. There is Flavor Flav’s non-rhyming testifying in songs such as “Don’t Believe the Hype”. There is a beginning swoon in “Oh Sheila” by Ready for the World (What happened to these guys??). There is a famous country song “Hello Darling”, in which the singer alternates speaking and singing. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/22 "2002-03-27T00:28:00Z")
**Duran Duran** - _“I Don’t Want Your Love”_ “I like noise, ‘coz I like wakin’ up the house. Cannot sit down. Can’t shut my mouth. 'Coz when you understand me, you might feel good around me.” **David Bowie** - _“Modern Love”_ “I know when to go out. I know when to stay in. Get things done.” **David Bowie** - _“China Girl”_ “Oh, baby, just you shut your mouth. She says, ‘Shhhhhh…’” **Talking Heads** - _“Once in a Lifetime”_ "And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack And you may find yourself in another part of the world And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife And you may ask yourself-Well…How did I get here? And you may ask yourself How do I work this? And you may ask yourself Where is that large automobile? And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful house! And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful wife! Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was… Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was… Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was… Water dissolving…and water removing There is water at the bottom of the ocean Carry the water at the bottom of the ocean Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean! And you may ask yourself What is that beautiful house? And you may ask yourself Where does that highway go? And you may ask yourself Am I right?..Am I wrong? And you may tell yourself MY GOD!..WHAT HAVE I DONE? Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was… Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was… Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was… " ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/23 "2002-03-27T01:04:07Z")
Then there’s the Bangles’ “Manic Monday”… “He tells me it’s better to voice _ **c’mon honey, let’s go make some noise…** _” ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/24 "2002-03-27T01:27:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kiz \* > \*\*Then there’s the Bangles’ “Manic Monday”… > > “He tells me it’s better to voice > _ **c’mon honey, let’s go make some noise…** _” \*\* “ **He tells me in his bedroom voice** …” ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/25 "2002-03-27T01:46:28Z")
Good grief! We need some standards if this thread is still going to be about _talking_ in songs. That doesn’t mean low-key delivery, or a particularly un-inflected line. And “Once In a Lifetime” is _not_ simply a spoken lecture (though it does resemble a sermon). Besides, nobody’s mentioned [Nineteen](http://members.home.nl/hvangerven/lyrics/nineteen.htm). N-N-N-N-Nineteen. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/26 "2002-03-27T01:51:56Z")
> [@](#): > > I was walking up Broadway you know > and there’s this incredible looking Swedish girl having a > Cappuccino across the street from Lincoln Center, I started > talking to her you know - She said her name was Lola, > Her English wasn’t too good you know - but we wound up spending > about 5 hours together just hanging out you know. > So We go back to my place - we get high - we get really into each other man. > It was love about to happen…I’m serious. And then all > of a sudden she gets up and she says, she says “Hey, I really gotta leave” > Damn Guess who? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/27 "2002-03-27T01:54:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \* > \*\* > > Guess who? \*\* By the way, if you need evidence that this is an [80s band . . .](http://www.postalnauts.com/newwave/98-11-14/ebn.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/28 "2002-03-27T02:02:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheeGrumpy \* > Besides, nobody’s mentioned [Nineteen](http://members.home.nl/hvangerven/lyrics/nineteen.htm). N-N-N-N-Nineteen. \*\* _In 1965 the most common insect in Texas was the cockroach._ \*In 1985 it was \* _the pillbug_ _Pillbug_ _Pillbug_ _Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-pillbug_ ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/29 "2002-03-27T02:06:40Z")
[hijack] I wouldn’t say _“Once in a Lifetime”_ qualifies as “singing”. There are some unusual fluctuations that one might not find in everyday conversation, but I still think it’s “talking.” The “I Have a Dream” speech contains such unusual fluctuations, and that is “talking.” I never thought I would make a David Byrne - MLK, Jr. analogy in my life. Perhaps that’s an issue for Great Debates… ok, perhaps not. [/hijack] **B-52’s** - _“Love Shack”_ (1989) “Tin roof… rusted!” ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/30 "2002-03-27T02:10:32Z")
OTOH, without some standard, every 80’s rap song might qualify for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/31 "2002-03-27T02:13:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ellen Cherry \* > \*\*How about One Night in Bangkok … “I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine…” \*\* [Comic Store Guy from Simpsons]Pithiest…line…_ever_.[/Comic Store Guy from Simpsons] **mblackwell** : “Baby Got Back” came out in '92. Arguably, the entire song “88 Lines About 44 Women” was talk. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/32 "2002-03-27T02:33:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > \*\*Julie Brown, Goddess in Progress, three great talking bit songs: > > Earth Girls are Easy– > > Because I’m a Blonde–“I just want to say that being chosen as this month’s Miss August is a compliment I’ll remember for as long as I can. Right now I’m a freshman in my fourth year at UCLA, but my goal is to become a veterinarian because I love children.” And of course “Duck, Magnum, DUCK!” > \*\* I thought I was the only one who saw that movie… When did Chris Deburgh record “Spanish Train”? The tune about the devil playing chess with the Son of God? Does that count since it’s almost entirely a narrated tale? Was it 70s or 80s? ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/33 "2002-03-27T02:35:40Z")
**Moon Zappa** - _“Valley Girl”_ Pretty much the whole damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/34 "2002-03-27T02:47:00Z")
“We Built This City” by Starship was released with the DJ talking over the bridge. I remember the song clearly because, in Baltimore, the DJs at one station wiped it and had one of their characters – the intensely Italian mother of John Panzarella, the newsreader – talking in this high-pitched stereotypical voice about her baby boy and the trouble he gets into. Yeah, some things you just can’t flush from the ole brain pan… Great thread, **Legomancer**. The older I get, the more I like the 80s. I guess I’m just an old :wally ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/35 "2002-03-27T04:08:29Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Charmian \* > \*\* > I thought I was the only one who saw that movie…_\* I saw that movie back when it was an album. But I did also have to suffer through the movie, or more correctly bits of the movie, repeatedly for the campus film society I worked with when it first came out. “Come on everybody, we’re doing a makeover!” Ugh. Let’s see, what was that Frank Zappa song where he said “ram it, ram it, ram it, ram it up your poop chute”? ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/36 "2002-03-27T04:16:22Z")
There was this song by Suicidal Tendencies, in which the lead singer has two verses of talking soliliquy–I think it was “Institutionalized”. I can set the standard since I am one of the biggest rap fans on this board. The idea for this thread is that the spoken word part is more conversational and generally non-rhyming, or, if it is rhyming involved, it is underemphasized. “Make it Happen” by Will to Power will be another good example of what we are talking about. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/37 "2002-03-27T04:40:36Z")
There was this song by Suicidal Tendencies, in which the lead singer has two verses of talking soliliquy–I think it was “Institutionalized”. I think can set the standard since I am one of the biggest rap fans on this board. The idea for this thread is that the spoken word part is more conversational and generally non-rhyming, or, if there is rhyming involved, it is underemphasized, like a good poetry reading. Also, the spoken part should be integral and unique to the song–so no shout outs, or giving chanting or cheering instructions to the crowd. It could be idle chatter or everyday speech. Some songs, such as “Tonight is The Night That You Make Me A Woman”, by Betty Wright, has a very famous live version containing spoken word discussion about the song. So does the Bruce Springsteen and the E Strret Band’s live version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. Those songs can be included. “Make it Happen” by Will to Power will be another good example of what we are talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/38 "2002-03-27T04:54:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Charmian \* > \*\*When did Chris Deburgh record “Spanish Train”? The tune about the devil playing chess with the Son of God? Does that count since it’s almost entirely a narrated tale? Was it 70s or 80s? \*\* The album _Spanish Train and Other Stories_ (which, of course, contained the song) was released in 1975, so I’d say this one is a bit too early. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/39 "2002-03-27T04:57:27Z")
**Madonna** - _“Express Yourself”_ “Come on, girls! Do you believe in love? ‘Coz I got somethin’ to say about it, and it goes somethin’ like this…” **Van Halen** - _“Hot for Teacher”_ “Oh wow, man !” “Wait a second man. Whaddaya think the teacher’s gonna look like this year ?” “My butt, man !” … “Hey, I heard you missed us, we’re back !” “I brought my pencil” “Gimme something to write on, man” … “Oh man, I think the clock is slow” “I don’t feel tardy” “Class dismissed” ---
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183/40 "2002-03-27T05:08:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \* > \*\* > > Guess who? \*\* Why, \*\* AEIOU Sometimes Y\*\* by **EBN-OZN** , what else would it be? Chris W [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-songs-talking-parts/100183.md?page=3)