# When you sing along do you use the same accent as the singer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-sing-along-do-you-use-the-same-accent-as-the-singer/736120 "2015-10-29T20:13:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-sing-along-do-you-use-the-same-accent-as-the-singer/736120/21 "2015-10-31T11:49:42Z")
Yes! doesn’t everyone? ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-sing-along-do-you-use-the-same-accent-as-the-singer/736120/22 "2015-10-31T16:17:38Z")
I do it. When I sing along with the Beatles, I do a Liverpool accent. When I sing along with bluegrass, I sound like Bill Monroe or Ralph Stanley. (Of course, I’m from a pretty redneck area of Illinois, so that isn’t as big of a stretch as it might seem.) Even in church, when we do the praise song “Shout To The North”, I have a hard time not singing like they sound on the record by Delirious?, which is where I first heard it. They’re British- with a British children’s choir singing back up. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-sing-along-do-you-use-the-same-accent-as-the-singer/736120/23 "2015-10-31T16:25:05Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Joel’s accent really comes out in songs like “New York State of Mind”: > > _I’m just takin’ a Greyhound on the Hudson Rivah Line. > I’m in a Noo Yawk state of mind._ > > and “Anthony’s Song”: > > _Ahh, but woikin’ too hawd can give you a hawt attack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack._ Being from New York, he sounds completely normal to me. 😃 “Maggie Mae”, on the other hand, is a fun one if your want to give your fake Scouse a try. Unlike other British Invasion bands, though, the Beatles sound remarkably American in most of their songs, especially the early ones. You can sometimes detect an _English_ accent, but rarely a Northern one. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-sing-along-do-you-use-the-same-accent-as-the-singer/736120/24 "2015-10-31T23:31:48Z")
It’s so common that one online singing teacher recommends singing along with someone to help pick up their style. I don’t tend to do it when I’m just singing for myself, though. I’ll use the correct style, but not the actual accent. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-sing-along-do-you-use-the-same-accent-as-the-singer/736120/25 "2015-11-01T13:56:25Z")
I simply have to mimic Billy Bragg’s accent when I sing along with him. “I miss the funder, I miss the rine. . .” And half the fun of singing along to country music is to adopt a pseudo Southern twang. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-sing-along-do-you-use-the-same-accent-as-the-singer/736120/26 "2015-11-01T16:33:44Z")
> [@chaika](#): > > And half the fun of singing along to country music is to adopt a pseudo Southern twang. Hey, that’s when I get to sound like me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-sing-along-do-you-use-the-same-accent-as-the-singer/736120/27 "2015-11-02T20:29:30Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > C&W can only be sung with a Southern-ish or Southwestern-ish accent. > > … > > Anything Scottish or Irish has to be sung with an accent. I “lump together” US Southern accent with Irish/Scottish. So for those, an accent is needed. Since you can’t sing along to a Pogues song without it, the others inherit the trait. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-sing-along-do-you-use-the-same-accent-as-the-singer/736120.md?page=1)