What about that awful “I’ve Never Been to Me” song? The talking part is so cheesy I can’t even laugh at it as an ironic thing.
Mostly, the talking bits in songs is generally embarrassing, but there are exceptions.
I can’t think of any I really like. There’s one in a Moody Blues song (the one that starts with “Breathe deep the gathering gloom”) and a Poe song (“Hey Pretty” - the voice over is her brother Mark reading from his novel House of Leaves) that I don’t hate, but that’s about it.
Ok, then . . . Richard Burton in “Camelot.”
Talk, its only talk
Babble, burble, banter, bicker bicker bicker
Brouhaha, boulderdash, ballyhoo
Its only talk
Back talk
Talk, talk, its all talk
Too much talk
Small talk
Talk that trash
Expressions, editorials, expugnations, exclamations, enfadulations
Its all talk
(King Crimson, Elephant Talk)
You want cheesy? Then you need the Partridge Family’s “Doesn’t Somebody Want to be Wanted,” which features David Cassidy speaking a verse. The spoken part includes such deep philosophical insights as, “It gets real lonely when you’re by yourself. Now where is love, and who is love? I gotta know.”
Talking passages can work, but it’s pretty obvious that they don’t always.
This is the perfect time to talk about one of my favourite cheesy songs of all time, “The Adventures of the Love Crusader”, performed by a very young (and very disco-pop-y!) Sarah Brightman. If you can find the song somewhere I highly recommend listening to this 7 minute masterpiece at least once, but here’s a page with more information than you would ever need on it (complete with comic book, Sarah Brightman in shiny clothes, and the lyrics-- omg the lyrics)-- anyway, there’s a Barry White-like voice in the middle doing a talking passage-- it is insane.
I’ve always liked “Candy” by Iggy Pop & Kate Pierson. Not overdone, IMO.
Put me in the camp that thinks it is pretty hokey. I imagine there are a few I don’t mind - maybe in one of Meatloaf’s songs, but mostly it seems lame.
I don’t mind a talking line, as in “You Keep Me Hanging On,” (as one poster noted) many versions say “And there ain’t nothing I can do about it.” To emphasize the line it’s fine, it’s an entire passage. Like “Heart And Soul” by T’pau that is more sing-talking the whole song. Madonna did that on her “Erotica” album.
I was mainly thinking about passages that are spoken in otherwise sung songs.
To me rap is just talking to a repetitive drum beat, but that is an entire art form rather than a piece of one song.
Like the song “I’ve Never Been To Me,” that spoken part is so cheesey it ruins a decent song." But I have heard radio stations play that and omit the spoken part.
As I said in my OP I think if anyone can pull it off, Diana Ross comes closest.