# emPHAsis on the wrong syLABble in song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622 "2016-10-15T18:22:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/41 "2016-10-17T16:01:23Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I bet it would irk you a lot more if she sang > “When the rain WASH-es you clean…” > > It sounds perfect to me the way it is. It actually sounds rock and roll that way. TEHO. > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I don’t have a problem with any of these emphases (?), at least the ones I am familiar with. > > I would invite those who do object to ‘hear’ their examples as they think they ought to be. I think you will usually find that, musically, the right choice was made. > mmm Sure, but then change the rhythm of the melody, or change the lyric, right? I’ll go out on a limb and say that your ear have heard the lines this way for so long that it sounds “right”…what about, using my original example, the line was “_when the warm rain WASHes you clean_…” or. if the rhythm was changed: _when the rain \<1 1/2 beat rest\> WASHes you clean_ My guess is that they tried alternatives, and they settled on what came out on the record. Or not. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/42 "2016-10-17T16:14:37Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I think you got that backwards. She does the accent weird on the second time, due to what sounds like an irregular meter, so: sensiTIVity SENsitivity. It’s an unusual time signature. “Sensitivity” (at least that part of it) is in 5/4. Cite: I played The Wizard a few years ago. How many of you are old enough to remember “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” by the immortal England Dan & John Ford Coley? It surely has the classic example of misplaced emphasis, so much so that many people have trouble figuring out what they’re singing: “I’m not talkin’ ‘bout movIN’ in.” More than one listener has assumed that he’s not talkin’ 'bout “the linen,” because that’s sure what it sounds like! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/43 "2016-10-17T16:19:30Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > How many of you are old enough to remember “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” by the immortal England Dan & John Ford Coley? It surely has the classic example of misplaced emphasis, so much so that many people have trouble figuring out what they’re singing: > > “I’m not talkin’ ‘bout movIN’ in.” > > More than one listener has assumed that he’s not talkin’ 'bout “the linen,” because that’s sure what it sounds like! Excellent example. The key to this example, and the one in the OP, is that the words are sung so unnaturally that it’s hard to tell what they are. > [@Mixolydian](#): > > Took years to figure out what Stevie was singing because it’s such a square peg/round hole deal. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/44 "2016-10-17T16:23:35Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I don’t really want to argue about it, but isn’t a rise in pitch an emphasis? > > Let’s just agree to disa-GREEEE. No, a rise in pitch is the way a composer writes a melody. You wouldn’t find fault in melodies for rising or falling unless you were advocating for speech instead of music. Think about the word: You can emphasize the first syllable _ **Ten** _ Der Lee You can emphasize the second Ten _ **Der** _ Lee (Line a word in Indian) But you can’t emphasize the third syllable alone. Try it. In the song he accents the first syllable as much as any other. You are objecting to the melody of the song. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/45 "2016-10-17T16:26:28Z")
> [@Mixolydian](#): > > Sure, but then change the rhythm of the melody, or change the lyric, right? > > I’ll go out on a limb and say that your ear have heard the lines this way for so long that it sounds “right”…what about, using my original example, the line was “_when the warm rain WASHes you clean_…” or. if the rhythm was changed: > > _when the rain \<1 1/2 beat rest\> WASHes you clean_ > > My guess is that they tried alternatives, and they settled on what came out on the record. Or not. Well that doesn’t scan. You have an extra syllable after the beat. Could have been “Feel the warm rain wash you clean, you’ll know” but I wouldn’t prefer that. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/46 "2016-10-17T16:44:39Z")
> [@Mixolydian](#): > > Sure, but then change the rhythm of the melody, or change the lyric, right? > > I’ll go out on a limb and say that your ear have heard the lines this way for so long that it sounds “right”…what about, using my original example, the line was “_when the warm rain WASHes you clean_…” or. if the rhythm was changed: > > _when the rain \<1 1/2 beat rest\> WASHes you clean_ > > My guess is that they tried alternatives, and they settled on what came out on the record. Or not. What the hell is a crew ook? Might be the right choice, musically speaking, but that doesn’t make it any less grating. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/47 "2016-10-17T17:24:03Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > No, a rise in pitch is the way a composer writes a melody. You wouldn’t find fault in melodies for rising or falling unless you were advocating for speech instead of music. > > Think about the word: You can emphasize the first syllable > > _ **Ten** _ Der Lee > > You can emphasize the second > > Ten _ **Der** _ Lee (Line a word in Indian) > > But you can’t emphasize the third syllable alone. Try it. > > In the song he accents the first syllable as much as any other. You are objecting to the melody of the song. No. I have no problem with the melody; I have a problem with how Paul squished that word into it I’ve never done anything tender-LEEE-EEEEEE. Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want to argue about it? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/48 "2016-10-17T18:14:26Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I don’t have a problem with any of these emphases (?), at least the ones I am familiar with. > [@MrAtoz](#): > > “I’m not talkin’ ‘bout movIN’ in.” OK, now you found one I do have a problem with. mmm ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/49 "2016-10-17T18:21:31Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > OK, now you found one I do have a problem with. Then my work here is done! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/50 "2016-10-17T18:45:44Z")
Here’s a few more examples, among others, that showed up via Google-fu…some more painful than others: Andy Gibb - “sha-DOW dan-CING” Pink Floyd - Another Brick (Pt. 2) - “no dark sarCASm…” Also, looks like Wordman brought this topic up over 14 years ago :eek:[(link)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=112383), but never got a response…till now. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/51 "2016-10-17T18:46:15Z")
Rolling Stones’ \* Paint it Black\* “. . . I could not FORsee this thing happening to you” In a different thread about music I mentioned Ozzy Osbourne as someone who does this kind of thing though I cannot for the life of me come up with an example :smack: Probably any of his songs will contain one but I have other music playing at the moment and I can’t quite hear it in my mind’s ear. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/52 "2016-10-17T19:40:07Z")
[_Kayleigh_ by Marillion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ4oaLUilBc) is interesting because, toward the end of the song, on adjacent lines the stress for the same word moves to a different syllable: KAY-leigh, I’m still trying to write that love song kay-LEIGH it’s more important to me now you’re gone ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/53 "2016-10-17T20:07:07Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Some people pronounce tortoise like that, Bono is probably one of those people. > [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > That’s a fairly standard pronunciation in many parts of the UK and Ireland. Okay, I didn’t know that, and I’ve never ever heard it pronounced that way outside of the song. Still hits this American ear with a clunk. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/54 "2016-10-17T20:16:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Not a song, but I was listening to a book on tape and the speaker was using an unusual emphasis. He was talking about the Himalaya Mountains. I’ve always heard it pronounced him-A-lay-A. But he was pronouncing it hi-MAL-a-ya (so it rhymed with regalia). > > Is this an acceptable alternative pronunciation? Or was this guy just off on his own? I’ve heard it before. It’s rendered both ways [here](http://howjsay.com/pronunciation-of-himalaya) and [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdZBrwQetr8). ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/55 "2016-10-17T20:56:13Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > No. I have no problem with the melody; I have a problem with how Paul squished that word into it I’ve never done anything tender-LEEE-EEEEEE. > > Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want to argue about it? I agree it would be a terrible argument to defend. That line is up there with some of the most elegantly expressed diction of the decade. Next you’ll say Stevie Wonder is a bum. When I go to the fridge I look for some “thing” to eat. But I don’t throw a good song under the bus for not complying. But don’t you worry bout a thih hihihi hihihi hi hihi ing. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/56 "2016-10-17T20:58:38Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Rolling Stones’ \* Paint it Black\* > > “. . . I could not FORsee this thing happening to you” > > In a different thread about music I mentioned Ozzy Osbourne as someone who does this kind of thing though I cannot for the life of me come up with an example :smack: Probably any of his songs will contain one but I have other music playing at the moment and I can’t quite hear it in my mind’s ear. “People think I’m IN-sane…” But it works. For Paint it Black.: I don’t hear an accent on either syllable stressed. They seem equal. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/57 "2016-10-17T21:35:24Z")
Simon & Garfunkel, Sounds of Silence Every verse has a terrible syllable in it – usually a one-syllable word beaten savagely. “Left its seeds while I wa-AAs SLEEping…” “People talking withOOOUT SPEeaking…” “Hear my words that I mi-IIght teach you…” Paul Simon is no hack - I just chalk this up to youth and inexperience. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/58 "2016-10-17T23:02:03Z")
How about Alicia Bridges “I Love The Nightlife” I want to go where the people dance, I want some ack **SHONE** … I want to live! Ack **SHONE** I got so much to give. I want to give it. I want to get some too… I have never heard anyone stress the 2nd part of “Action”…nor have I ever heard anyone pronounced it Ack **SHONE**. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/59 "2016-10-19T17:12:18Z")
> [@Mixolydian](#): > > Pink Floyd - Another Brick (Pt. 2) - “no dark sarCASm…” Yeah, I heard that as “No darks our chasm” for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622/60 "2016-10-19T17:13:45Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > How about Alicia Bridges “I Love The Nightlife” > > I want to go where the people dance, > I want some ack **SHONE** … I want to live! > Ack **SHONE** I got so much to give. > I want to give it. I want to get some too… > > I have never heard anyone stress the 2nd part of “Action”…nor have I ever heard anyone pronounced it Ack **SHONE**. Makes it sound vaguely french, doesn’t it? Imagine a Fracois Truffaut shouting “_Actione_!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emphasis-on-the-wrong-sylabble-in-song/768622.md?page=4)