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How am I only just learning that a a piece of music is only a song if it has vocals? Even the name makes that obvious.
by underwater 5y ago
How am I only just learning that a a piece of music is only a song if it has vocals? Even the name makes that obvious.
- frogulis 5y agoCalling instrumental pieces "songs" does exist in real-life common usage even if it's not "technically" correct. After all, the ancestor post did just that. Depends how prescriptive you want to be.
- mkl 5y agoA classical music lecture series I listened to [1] claimed this came about because that's what iTunes calls all tracks/pieces/songs. Seems plausible, but probably other MP3 players did the same thing too. [1] Sorry, no link, don't remember what exactly it was.
- markshead 5y agoFelix Mendelssohn wrote a collection of pieces called Songs without Words for the piano. This might suggest that the term "song" can be more nuanced than simply whether or not there are vocals.
- rob74 5y agoThe original German title is "Lieder ohne Worte" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_Without_Words https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_Without_Words), and there is AFAIK no strict requirement for lyrics to count as a "Lied" (or at least "Lied" is not connected to "singen" the way "song" is connected to "sing").
- jrootabega 5y agoNo no no, the second letter functions like a power button. i means on, and o means off. "Song" means the vocals are off.