I don’t! I say a song is a duck, and damn anyone who disagrees with me!
You’re asserting a generality here, without providing much evidence other than “because that’s what I think”.
It’s a title. The ‘song’ part of the title of Das Lied von der Erde is no more literal than the ‘of the earth’ bit - Mahler’s subtitle is the description: A symphony for tenor, alto (or baritone) and orchestra.
Um, I’m not asserting anything. The fact that everybody in this thread has said things like “I thought anything musical was a song” and “It’s just easier to say “song” than figuring out what it was called by the dead guy who wrote it” kind of leads me to believe that it’s safe to assume that “song” is generally understood to mean “a piece of music”, which is what I said.
To argue anymore about it is simply time-wasting ridiculousness, seeing as how it’s simply a matter of semantics.
Odd choice of example, since each movement of the symphony is indisputably also a song. So the only thing not literal about the title is that it could more precisely have been Sechs Lieder von der Erde…
More generalisations…surely not…
Arguably also a song, I’d go along with.
:: does a doubletake, looks up at forum ::
Yep. This is the motherfucking pit.
A song must be possible to be sung by a singer. So that rules out quite a few pieces of music.
But I wouldn’t like to argue that an Opera can’t be considered as a particularly long song, or a group of interrelated songs.
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold]
Panic at the Disco, the Red Hot Chili Peppers/QUOTE]
Ugh…I saw both of these at Lollapalooza…Trying to compare naiive suckiness vs. tried-and-true suckiness is TOUGH!
(Wilco was fantastic, naturally)
-Cem
sigh You’re right, man. I quit. You win. I bow down before your spectacular debating skills and worldly knowledge. Everybody else is wrong and you’re right. Congrats, your prize is in the mail.
Only on the Dope can we take a single statement, quite unclarified rant, and turn it into a debate on the more and less obscure meanings of the word song. I’d have bet dollars to donuts that it was eclectic that we would be ranting about.
<caveman rant 2>
Back in my day, we didn’t have semantic arguments over artistic sophistry. We were restricted to grunts of general disagreement followed by bloody hand to hand fighting… and we LIKED it that way!
</caveman rant 2>
So songs don’t echo? 
Obscure isn’t the same thing as eclectic. If you have 100 CDs that nobody’s ever heard of, but all 100 of them are rap (or punk, or any other single genre), that’s not eclectic.
Eclectic also doesn’t mean non-discriminating. My iPod has a mix of orchestral, string quartet, a capella vocals, classic rock, Celtic rock, Scottish folk music, country, jazz, jazz fusion, zydeco, bluegrass, competition bagpipe, swing revival, big band, rockabilly, bootleg mash-up, electronic, soundtracks, steel drum, acoustic piano, acoustic guitar, hammered dulcimer, new age, ragtime, and stuff I can’t figure out how to classify (e.g., Trans-Siberian Orchestra). There are some musicians, however, that have put out tons of music, and I’ve only chosen a few of their tracks. You can be eclectic and still be choosy.
Wait long enough, and everything becomes eclectic again.
Let the bidding on my Cowsills collection begin…
The Cowsills? I’ll give you $2. You’re not going to beat that, even on E-Bay.
And no, I will not trade you my 45 of The Rain, The Park And Other Things for your CD of Das Lied Von Der Erde.
This one’s actually really easy. “Songs” are anything done by Zep. Everything else, is like, crap man. Total crap.
No, I’m pretty sure those are “dirges”.
The way the Cowsills have been dropping lately, you’d be more likely to get a CD of Kindertotenlieder in trade.
[QUOTE=Cemetery Savior]
I’m guessing you enjoy Son Volt as well? I’ve wondered in the past about your username.
I’m not discriminating, but I can’t buy an iPod Shuffle. Insurance does not cover the whiplash you get going from Prince’s DMSR to Anonymous 4’s Gloria from Lammas Ladymass.