# Can it be a song if there is no singing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-it-be-a-song-if-there-is-no-singing/575378 "2011-03-20T18:10:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-it-be-a-song-if-there-is-no-singing/575378/21 "2011-03-21T01:53:13Z")
I once heard an obviously over-educated DJ on an oldies station back-announce Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe”, _“I’ve been playing songs all morning, but that’s the first ode”_ ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-it-be-a-song-if-there-is-no-singing/575378/22 "2011-03-21T04:02:36Z")
I play in an instrumental band: no singer, just players. I don’t call our pieces “songs” because there isn’t anyone singing on them. I don’t recall hearing anyone else referring to our music as “songs” either. I don’t have a particular term for our pieces other than “pieces”, or “bits” or “things” if I’m feeling less formal. I’m sure I’ve called them “tunes” too. I don’t think of myself as a songwriter, either, since I write music but not words. I call myself a composer without feeling particularly self-conscious. “Composer” (in this context) literally means “someone who writes music” and it doesn’t imply that one is composing classical music in particular. I play with classically-trained people, so I use classical-music vocabulary because it’s a handy way to communicate. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-it-be-a-song-if-there-is-no-singing/575378/23 "2011-03-21T04:45:52Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > I play in an instrumental band: no singer, just players. > > I don’t call our pieces “songs” because there isn’t anyone singing on them. I don’t recall hearing anyone else referring to our music as “songs” either. > > I don’t have a particular term for our pieces other than “pieces”, or “bits” or “things” if I’m feeling less formal. I’m sure I’ve called them “tunes” too. > > I don’t think of myself as a songwriter, either, since I write music but not words. I call myself a composer without feeling particularly self-conscious. “Composer” (in this context) literally means “someone who writes music” and it doesn’t imply that one is composing classical music in particular. I play with classically-trained people, so I use classical-music vocabulary because it’s a handy way to communicate. “Take me to your _lieder_!” 😃 – which may actually be the answer we’re looking for. A _lied_ does not necessarily have words, just a melody suitable to be played solo or vocalized, as opposed to symphonic or multipart pieces. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-it-be-a-song-if-there-is-no-singing/575378/24 "2011-03-22T20:21:10Z")
> [@XXAILEANXX](#): > > Birds have ‘songs’, but I’ve yet to hear any words.🙂 Yes, because birds sing "[birdsongs"](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/birdsong). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-it-be-a-song-if-there-is-no-singing/575378/25 "2011-03-22T20:40:06Z")
But, can you [make a guitar sing](http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Music_p011.shtml)? If one can, Eddie VanHalen surely can. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-it-be-a-song-if-there-is-no-singing/575378/26 "2011-03-23T04:07:40Z")
Yeah, regardless of its original meaning, “song” in common parlance long ago came to mean any musical arrangement, I think. And I can live with that. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-it-be-a-song-if-there-is-no-singing/575378/27 "2011-03-23T07:31:23Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > “Eruption” is really a solo, not a song, but instrumentals can be songs (or pass in the vernacular as “songs”) if they follow the basic structure of of conventional vocal song - that is with a repeating melodic motif, especially if it has a verse/chorus structure. > > “Eruption” doesn’t really have any of that. It’s just a guitar solo. “Classical Gas” is a “song.” > > ETA in my experience playing in bands, I never really heard other musicians arguing that instrumentals weren’t “songs.” or using different words for them. I agree 100% with all of this. And I find it ironic that you are the only one accepting a non black-and-white position for once.😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-it-be-a-song-if-there-is-no-singing/575378.md?page=1)