Non-lexical vocables in music

Non-lexical vocables, which may be mixed with meaningful text, are a form of nonsense syllable used in a wide variety of music. A common English example would be "la la la".

Traditional music

Non-lexical vocables are used in Blackfoot music and other Native American music, Pygmy music, the music of the Maldives and Irish Music, Highland Scots music. Vocables frequently act as formal markers, indicating the beginning and end of phrases, sections or songs themselves,[1] and also as onomatopoeic references, cueing devices, and other purposes.[2]

The Blackfoot, like other Plains Indians, use the consonants h, y, w, and vowels. They avoid n, c (ts) and other consonants. i and e tend slightly to be higher pitches, a, o, and u lower ones.[3]

The AIM Song has its origins in the Plains; as such, it holds similar characteristics to Blackfoot song. It is intended as an intertribal song, so the use of non-lexical vocables prevents bias to one particular language.

Other traditional musical forms employing non-lexical vocables include:

Jazz music

Main article: Scat singing

Scat singing is a type of voice instrumental music. A scat is vocalized using wordless vocables and syllables (e.g. "bippity-bippity-doo-wop-razzamatazz-skoobie-doobie-shoobity-bee-bop-a-lula-shabazz") as employed by jazz singers. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice. Scatman John (John Paul Larkin) renewed interest in the genre briefly during the mid-90s.

Vocal improviser Bobby McFerrin’s performances at major concert halls worldwide show that “wordless singing has traveled far from the concepts demonstrated by Louis Armstrong, Gladys Bentley, Cab Calloway, Anita O’Day, and Leo Watson”.[4]

Another method of scat singing is practiced by guitarists who scat along with their solos note for note. Notable practitioners include George Benson, Sheldon Reynolds, and Rik Emmett.

Musical training

Popular music of the WWII era

The song "Swinging the Alphabet" is sung by The Three Stooges in their short film Violent Is the Word for Curly (1938). It is the only full-length song performed by the Stooges in their short films, and the only time they mimed to their own pre-recorded soundtrack. The lyrics use each letter of the alphabet to make a nonsense verse of the song:

 B-A-bay, B-E-bee, B-I-bicky-bi, B-O bo, bicky-bi bo, B-U bu, bicky bi bo bu.
 C-A-cay, C-E-cee, C-I-cicky-ci, C-O co, cicky-ci co, C-U cu, cicky ci co cu.
 D-A-day, D-E-dee, D-I-dicky-di, D-O do, dicky-di do, D-U du, dicky di do du.
 F-A-fay, F-E-fee, F-I-ficky-fi, F-O fo, Ficky-fi fo, F-U fu, ficky fi fo fu.
 ...

The song "Mairzy Doats" (1943) used blurred lyrics that sound non-lexical:

 Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
 A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

However, the lyrics of the bridge provide a clue:

 If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,
 Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."

Popular music

Examples of popular music employing non-lexical vocables include:

Van Morrison employed scat in his performances.[5]

Scat singing influenced the development of doo-wop and hip hop. It was popular enough in doo-wop that Barry Mann and Gerry Goffin made it the subject of a 1961 song, Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)". It has also appeared in various genres of rock music. Jim Morrison of The Doors sings a chorus of slow scat on the song "Cars Hiss By My Window", trying to replicate a harmonica solo he had heard, as well as on the song "Roadhouse Blues"; scat singing also notably opens the B-side of Joe Walsh's 1973 album The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get with the song "Meadow". The technique was employed in the song "The Great Gig in the Sky" by Pink Floyd, as well as the R&B song "Rubber Biscuit" by The Chips (also as by The Blues Brothers).

Scat also makes appearances in newer genres, including industrial music, in the chorus of Ministry's 1991 song "Jesus Built My Hotrod"; nu metal music, in the band Korn whose lead singer Jonathan Davis has incorporated scat singing into songs such as "Twist", "Ball Tongue", "Freak on a Leash", "B.B.K.", "Beat it Upright" and "Liar"; and the heavy metal subgenre of death metal, where scat singing is used by John Tardy of the band Obituary. Jack Black incorporates scat into several Tenacious D songs, most notably: "Tribute", "Cosmic Shame", "Classico," "Jesus Ranch," Low Hangin' Fruit," and "Bowie". Singer JoJo performs ad-libbed scats on the track "Yes or No". Other modern examples include "Under Pressure" by Queen (band), "Rag Doll" by Aerosmith, "Under My Voodoo" by Sublime, "No! Don't Shoot" by Foxy Shazam, "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz" by Mr. Bungle, "In My Bed" by Amy Winehouse, and "Stuck in the Middle" by Mika. Scatman John successfully combined scat and early-1990s electronic dance music.

Examples by popular non-anglophone singers using such techniques include "Bla Bla Bla" by Gigi D'Agostino, Eena Mina Dika in the Bollywood film Aasha, Eduard Khil's "I Am Glad, Cause I'm Finally Returning Back Home" (known as "Trololo") sung entirely without lyrics, "Restless" (Fu Zao) by Faye Wong and "Lagu Lagu" by Sa Dingding.

Due to the wide-ranging vocal styles used in popular music, occasionally songs have been mistakenly categorized as having non-lexical vocables, when in fact the singers are performing actual lyrics rendered partially (or completely) unintelligible to the ear of certain (but not all) listeners. Two famous 1960s examples are "Louie Louie" as recorded by The Kingsmen and "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.

Disney songs

A signature of some Disney musical films is their songs' use of nonsense words, the longest and most famous of which is from Mary Poppins, entitled "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". A close second is "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from Song of the South, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Nonsense word song titles include:

Nonsense lyrics also feature in the following Disney songs:

References

  1. ↑ Heth, cited in Ellen Koskoff (Ed.), ed. (2001). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Volume 3, The United States and Canada. New York and London: Garland Publishing. pp. 368–369. ISBN 0-8240-4944-6.
  2. ↑ "Native North Americans in Canada", The Canadian Encyclopedia Historica: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Accessed 01/23/07.
  3. ↑ Nettl, Bruno (1989). Blackfoot Musical Thought: Comparative Perspectives, p.71. Ohio: The Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-370-2.
  4. ↑ Crowther & Pinfold 1997, p. 135.
  5. ↑ Pareles, Jon; Romanowski, Patricia; George-Warren, Holly, eds. (2001). "Jim Morrison". Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (). Fireside. ISBN 978-0-7432-0120-9.

Further reading