# Why do British people lose their accent when they sing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242 "2007-05-23T17:08:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/21 "2007-05-23T22:41:49Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Listen to a choir from deepest Wales sing and compare the sound with a choir from Yorkshire. Very different. [/QUOTE] Yes definitely. “Ay up, we’ll keep a welcome in t’hillside lad”. ---
**Author:** ![rocksolid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@rocksolid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocksolid)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/22 "2007-05-23T22:51:13Z")
I’m not a musician and i don’t even claim to have a particularly good ear, so take my comments for whatever they’re worth. I’m surprised at the responses to the OP. Yes there are notable exceptions but i never think of \*Brits \* (i assume the OP didn’t mean to single out the English) singing in an American accent, i just hear Brits, Americans and most other native English speakers singing in a sort of neutral accent that is pretty universal. The only real difference i hear is when non-native English speakers sing (afore mentioned exceptions aside). I’m definately on the side of those who suggest that accents are lost because the emphasis is based on the melody more than the way a word is normally pronounced in your natural tongue. Do you Americans really notice the American accent when Americans sing? I mean, being a Brit i couldn’t tell but can you guys generally tell which part of the US a singer is from just by listening to them sing? If so i guess i’m wrong and it’s probably due to over-exposure. Same reason it sounds funny to hear a Scots accent on the television because i almost only watch American TV! ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/23 "2007-05-23T23:50:55Z")
If you listen to Americans sing, they ‘lose their accent’ too. Properly sung English is non-rhotic for everybody, at least, and when R’s are pronouncd it sounds out of place. My own personal hypothesis is that singing is accentless. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/24 "2007-05-24T01:43:36Z")
When my cousins from Florida would visit, I could clearly hear their “southern” accent. Our neighboors from Rhode Island had their own accent. My family and I did not have an accent if you consider how they talked on TV growing up as being without an accent. Elton John’s older singing sounded like they talked on TV. So did many other singers from England. Yes there were exceptions…some of the Beatles songs…Pink Floyd…and of course the Sex Pistols. So it’s possible to sing with some type of English accent loud and clear and strong…the question is why they didn’t. (Cher by the way, has an Elvis accent…lol) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/25 "2007-05-24T01:50:05Z")
There have been a lot of threads on this subject, but this is the only one I can find at the moment: > **[Why do English people sing like Americans?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=143197)** > > Apparently we sound like Americans when we sing. The English accent disappears. Why is that? To prove it (sort of) I naturally assumed the band ‘Sugababes’ were American. They looked and sounded completely American, until one day I had a shock... ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/26 "2007-05-24T02:34:58Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] Are you serious? I hear absolutely no British accent in their songs. Name a song that has a good amount of British accent in it for me to listen to. Because otherwise, you would think the guy was from LA as opposed to England, because I don’t hear an accent and I have a very good ear, not to mention I’m also a musician and singer myself. [/QUOTE] I really, really avoid their music whenever possible, but the song I always heard on the radio that sparked my initial hate: Yellow. And I can only remember the first one or two lines of the song… But they have a really, really strong accent. The "I"s and especially the word “yellow”. I’m no musician, but I’m pretty good with accents… And they have a very strong one. Oh, and “Speed of Sound” has it too. Although I’m not really familiar with the original version, just the trance mix that my friends insist on listening to, combining two of my most major hates in music: Coldplay and trance “music” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/27 "2007-05-24T03:37:57Z")
I wondering if, for the most part, the OP is talking about older British singers (Clapton, Beatles) who will come right out and tell you their #1 influence is American blues. They grew up literally mimicking American blues music. I bet Robert Plant would agree to the same. Freddie Mercury, while not a trained opera singer, was obviously influenced by opera singers and mimicked them. Current bands seem to be less influenced by American music - maybe more influenced by Herman’s Hermits? 🙂 - and they all sound pretty much British to me. And by “current” I would even cite the Police. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/28 "2007-05-24T05:31:54Z")
The Beatles’ “Only A Northern Song” always seemed to me a particularly noticeable example of at least one feature of George Harrison’s particular accent. Always sounds to my ears something like “It doesn’t really matter what clothes I were, or how I fur, or if my her is brown…” Other than that, my only contributions to this thread are… yeah, British rock singers are often purposely aping American accents; all the same, British singers don’t suddenly develop alveolar flapping or Mary-marry-merry mergers or caught-cot mergers or lose intrusive ‘r’ when singing; vowel qualities are the easiest way to notice accent differences; um, Americans are often trained to sing non-rhotically even if they speak rhotically; and, uh, most importantly: no such thing as not having an accent, and even the notion of having a strong vs. weak accent can only be relative to what the listener is expecting or used to. There, that should cover it. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/29 "2007-05-24T09:03:07Z")
Unless it’s just my hangover, nobody seems to have mentioned the Rolling Stones, who are a prime example of a British band aping the Americans. They shamelessly adopt the American blues/rock and roll style. And maybe tellingly, they’re from a relatively posh art school background. I feel that an American twang is often adopted to counteract the inherrent staidness of the English sound, while some bands consciously hang on to their regional sound to provide a bit of true grit. I prefer the bourgeois American-alikes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/30 "2007-05-24T12:58:45Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] …plus some of Roger Water’s Pink Floyd catalog (esp. “Time”, “Money”). Waters would also de-emphasize his speaking accent at times (e.g. “Young Lust”) [/QUOTE] Nitpick: Roger Waters doesn’t sing on any of those songs. Gilmour sings _Young Lust_ and _Money_ and the verses of _Time_. Rick Wright sings the chorus of _Time_ with Gilmour harmonising. I agree that singing tends to produce some kind of neutral accent. I normally (with numerous exceptions) can’t tell the nationality of an artist. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/31 "2007-05-24T13:04:22Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] I agree that singing tends to produce some kind of neutral accent. I normally (with numerous exceptions) can’t tell the nationality of an artist. [/QUOTE] I think that it may depend on how and where a particular singer learnt to sing. A friend of mine is Scottish and has a strong Scottish accent that comes through somewhat even when she speaks French. However, she’s also a classically trained singer, and when she sings, she sounds Russian. Guess where she trained? Moscow. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/32 "2007-05-24T14:10:49Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] Nitpick: Roger Waters doesn’t sing on any of those songs. Gilmour sings _Young Lust_ and _Money_ and the verses of _Time_. Rick Wright sings the chorus of _Time_ with Gilmour harmonising. [/QUOTE] :smack: Thanks for the catch. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/33 "2007-05-24T14:52:17Z")
I don’t have actual cites, but the phenomenon happens elsewhere. Rosa, winner of the first Operación Triunfo, has an Andalusian accent you could carve glass with when speaking but can “do” any accent in the world when singing (she’s the one who went to Eurovision with “Europe is living a celebration”, I think it was called). When she’s singing in English, she has the accent of whomever taught her the song, which makes sense since her English is about nonexistant. There was a blurb on TV a couple years back talking of a study that showed people use different parts of our mind to sing and to speak. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/34 "2007-05-24T15:03:36Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] I’ve noticed throughout the years that a lot of Brits lose their accent when they sing. Eric Clapton, Freddie Mercury, The Beatles, Coldplay and the list goes on and on. Tons of English people seem to have no English accent when carrying a tune. [/QUOTE] No, I’m not replying with “not always, so you’re wrong.” Still, the question reminds me of a thread I started not too long ago. > **[Most British-sounding rock song](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=411586)** > > On the way home tonight, on one of the satellite radio channels, I heard the song "Making Plans For Nigel " by XTC. I couldn’t help but think that this is the most British rock song I have ever heard; the clear accents in the singing, repeating the... “Champagne supranover in the sky …” ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/35 "2007-05-24T15:23:49Z")
[QUOTE=rocksolid] Do you Americans really notice the American accent when Americans sing? I mean, being a Brit i couldn’t tell but can you guys generally tell which part of the US a singer is from just by listening to them sing? [/QUOTE] It depends. If you listen to older country music, where the singing isn’t as pronounced – it sounds like something between speech and singing, like talking with a lyrical inflection – it’s easier to narrow down the twang to Southern, Texas, or Appalachian. I find it’s harder to do with modern country music; the singing and twang are more pronounced. Even country musicians from Canada, like Shania Twain, will perform with a twang. Except for the use of “y’all”, singers in Southern rock bands really don’t sound Southern to my ears. One exception: ZZ Top, which truly sounds Texan to my ears. Steve Miller, though, doesn’t sound Texan. The first time I ever heard Barenaked Ladies and Moxy Fruvous, I knew immediately that they were Canadian. Still, Rush, Triumph, Cowboy Junkies, Sloan and many others don’t really sound Canadian to me. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/36 "2007-05-24T22:05:58Z")
Some thoughts on this phenomenon: It’s not just the accent, it’s the vocabulary in lots of cases. I suspect that if you reviewed the Beatles or Stones’ catalog by topic, you’d see more Britishisms crop up in the songs with the strongest British accents. British musicians at the upper end of the age range grew up on American blues, R&B, pop, etc. If Eric Clapton is singing a blues song, what accent would seem most appropriate? Hint: it’s not the BBC news hour accent. Pop music the way I think of it originated in America. To me that makes “USA English/American English” the default language and accent for pop. The biggest market for pop music is the USA. It may help sales (although I don’t think that’s a conscious decision) to tone down the accent. And a question: what happens to the accents of Spanish speakers when they sing rock music? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/37 "2007-05-25T01:58:44Z")
All I know is that I’m not terribly accented in normal speaking, but when I sing, I come out with a very Billy Gibbons-esque (ZZ Top) accent. Which I guess makes sense, since we’re both from Houston, but it’s still odd to me that the accent only really comes out when I sing. As for today’s country, I think there’s a certain accent that they try to get- sort of a “Country RP” if you will. That’s what it sounds like to me anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/38 "2007-05-25T07:09:29Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] I wondering if, for the most part, the OP is talking about older British singers (Clapton, Beatles) who will come right out and tell you their #1 influence is American blues. They grew up literally mimicking American blues music. I bet Robert Plant would agree to the same. Freddie Mercury, while not a trained opera singer, was obviously influenced by opera singers and mimicked them. Current bands seem to be less influenced by American music - maybe more influenced by Herman’s Hermits? 🙂 - and they all sound pretty much British to me. And by “current” I would even cite the Police. [/QUOTE] This is the explanation I’ve often heard. British musicians in the 50s and 60s tended to find their muse in American R&B and blues and thus mimicked the accents that the singers in those songs had. The reaction would be bands like the Kinks who emphasized their Englishness. Then you had the sound of the early 70s - the smooth rock sounds of bands like 10cc when the pendulum swung back to the mid-American sound, then punk, and it’s embrace of regional accents. I would wager that the seminal bands of 80s in Britain sounded quite British. What’s funny now is that a lot of up and coming bands that my friends listen to try to sound British here in America. I’ve always been amazed by the singing transformation of Scottish singers. I can think of three - Midge Ure, Gerry Rafferty, and Jim Kerr - who sound quite “American” (maybe less so with Kerr, but the stuff Simple Minds did when they were huge in America might qualify) but their speaking voices are so radically different. As well as the number of White British artists whose voices are so seemingly unmistakably Black-sounding: Mick Hucknall, Dusty Springfield, Rick Astley, and more recently, Joss Stone. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/39 "2007-05-25T07:36:32Z")
Try the Arctic Monkeys. There’s no doubt that the lead singer is from Sheffield. None whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242/40 "2007-05-25T09:08:29Z")
[QUOTE=One And Only Wanderers] Try the Arctic Monkeys. There’s no doubt that the lead singer is from Sheffield. None whatsoever. [/QUOTE] Bloody northerners, can’t be bothered to read a whole thread 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-lose-their-accent-when-they-sing/405242.md?page=3)