# Is there a musical term for 'talking' portions of songs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636 "2018-04-18T13:06:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/1 "2018-04-18T13:06:13Z")
Is there a musical term to describe when a singer talks while music plays? By ‘talk’ I don’t mean rhythmically as in rap, or melodically or pseudo-melodically as is sometimes heard in opera. I was trying to describe the song ‘Jesus at McDonalds’ to a friend and the first song I could think to compare it to that she might be familiar with is George Thorogood’s “One Scotch One Bourbon One Beer” I seem to recall artists like Johnny Cash, Jimmy Dean, and Ted Nugent doing this as well. Is there a musical term to describe this? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/2 "2018-04-18T13:15:24Z")
I don’t know the answer, but I can think of [a much more famous example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m57gzA2JCcM). ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/3 "2018-04-18T13:55:08Z")
“Patter song”? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/4 "2018-04-18T14:00:41Z")
Wikipedia has an article on “[talking blues](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_blues)”, which might be the term being sought. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/5 "2018-04-18T14:00:52Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zSGWoXDFM64/hqdefault.jpg "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSGWoXDFM64) vs A patter song and what I'm talking about would definitely be siblings, but not quite the same thing ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/6 "2018-04-18T14:11:58Z")
Are we talking about something like the spoken portion of Elvis’s [Are You Lonesome Tonight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cS5aCozhcA)? ---
**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:** [April 18, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/7 "2018-04-18T14:15:35Z")
The OP’s linked example is blues, but the description (and the mention of Johnny Cash) made me think of the old-style country/folk songs that have spoken interludes in the middle, which isn’t quite the same. I’m sure there are more famous and more “authentic” examples, but the only two that come to my mind right now are from more modern pastiches of this style: [“Willesden Green” by The Kinks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rucD74L8fFo) (spoken portion begins at about 1:07), and [“Rocky Mountain Mines”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uw5u9SiJws) by the Lost Dogs (spoken portion begins at about 2:23). On preview, I see that **Alessan** ’s suggestion of “Are You Lonesome Tonight” fits! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/8 "2018-04-18T14:17:56Z")
You mentioned Johnny Cash–I think [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9IfHDi-2EA) fits what you are wanting. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/9 "2018-04-18T14:19:14Z")
[Recitative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recitative) is close, but the wiki link states that it “uses the rhythms of ordinary speech”, while leads one to believe that a recitative might still use a melody. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/10 "2018-04-18T14:22:25Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > [Recitative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recitative) is close, but the wiki link states that it “uses the rhythms of ordinary speech”, while leads one to believe that a recitative might still use a melody. Yeah, as the term is used in operas, oratorios, etc., a “recitative” is sung to specific notes. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/11 "2018-04-18T14:45:05Z")
An even more egregious example - Donovan’s [Atlantis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAMYGzwUTK4), which is so dorky that it goes all the way around to being awesome (plus the part where he actually starts to sing is one of history’s greatest earworms). ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/12 "2018-04-18T14:52:46Z")
‘Recitative’ was the opera term I was (unsuccessfully) trying to recall in the OP. If we were looking at a Venn diagram there would be significant overlap with several of the suggestions thus far. I think Talking Blues comes closest, although ‘blues’ denotes some very specific things with regard to musical form and some of the ‘talking songs’ I’m thinking of don’t necessarily have much to do with 12 bars or a I, IV, V chord progression musically. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/13 "2018-04-18T14:57:50Z")
There’s also the term “[recitation song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recitation_song)”. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/14 "2018-04-18T15:02:52Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There’s also the term “[recitation song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recitation_song)”. By George, I think you’ve got it. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/15 "2018-04-18T15:08:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There’s also the term “[recitation song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recitation_song)”. I believe we have a winner. ---
**Author:** ![DangleYourModifier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@DangleYourModifier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DangleYourModifier)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/16 "2018-04-18T15:10:50Z")
There is also this song [“Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”](https://youtu.be/sTJ7AzBIJoI) which is referred to [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_Sunscreen) as a [Spoken Word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoken_word) song ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/17 "2018-04-18T15:11:58Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I was trying to describe the song ‘Jesus at McDonalds’ to a friend Never heard this song before until now, but it sure reminds me of the Modern Lovers “Roadrunner” in spirit and two-chord approach (and even echoes of the lyrics, i.e. “I’m in love with a lady wrestler” vs “I’m in love with the modern moonlight.”) ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/18 "2018-04-18T15:22:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Never heard this song before until now, but it sure reminds me of the Modern Lovers “Roadrunner” in spirit and two-chord approach (and even echoes of the lyrics, i.e. “I’m in love with a lady wrestler” vs “I’m in love with the modern moonlight.”) Yeah, Mojo Nixon used the recitation song to great comic effect a number of times. “I’m In Love With Your Girlfriend” and “Elvis is Everywhere” are couple other examples that come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/19 "2018-04-18T15:52:02Z")
This type of spoken interlude was featured in a [great recent SNL spoof music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkPSbp3zTfo). At 2:03: “It’s been a long time Barack, almost as long as since a guy talked over a record like this…”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636/20 "2018-04-18T16:06:26Z")
Since this is about music, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-musical-term-for-talking-portions-of-songs/812636.md?page=2)