Foreign Lyrics

Being spanish, most of the music I listen to is sung in another language (Spain is mostly a pop country, and I like few of the Spanish prog groups). And that's an advantage for several reasons!:

- I can listen, if I want to, to the vocals as another instrument, as it has been stated in earlier posts. Even though I speak english I can easily do so. An exception would be sometimes italian, wich is very similar to spanish.

- Then, if the lyrics are either not the kind I like or objetively sh*tty, I still can appreciate the record.

- I can love a song at first for the music, and then, several days/months/years after I can rediscover the song reading and translating the lyrics and rejoice in how fabulous it is (a recent example: The Chequered Flag, by Jethro Tull.

I listen to a bit of dark folky stuff - Tenhi, later Empyrium (why can't I remember any more? ) - that tends to be in the native language and I should think sounds a lot better than it would in English. Then there's Angizia who do weird arty operatic metal in German which works really well. On the whole I'd prefer if a band sings in its native language, since it's bound to bring more variation to the music as compared to English-speaking (as a first language) groups. Oh, except for death metal - I couldn't say what language that's in anyway

I would prefer for them all to shut up completely, but since that's not going to happen, I would rather they sung in English, allowing me to understand their bullsh*t, so I can once more dismiss the inane lyrics as bullsh*t.

Seriously, are the lyrics really that special and counter-universal that only your fellow countrymen will get the idea? If you just don't know English - haven't learned in school, the chances are that your country just flat out suck, and you do too.

I know you think it's all high and holy, not to mention damn friggin intellectual when some fool sings in Italian. But in fact, he's just a major goofhead who never went to school.

WiguJimbo wrote: I usually prefer bands that sing in their native language instead of trying to sing in English and sounding ridiculous.. But it's the music that matters to me!

I agree. English crunched up by non-native English speakers/singers, sounds unsophisticated and too often jarring, and found amongst usually very sophisticated instrumental playing and arrangements. There are only a few European bands that sing English convincingly, Anekdoten, Ibis (on Sun Supreme), and Wigwam employed a Brit vocalist. Too often prog lyrics in whatever language are abstract, metaphysical and often twaddle, so does it matter that jibberish is sung in English (Accrington branch), Gaelic or Russian, or the 357th dialect of Urdu?