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It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something

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Re: It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something

#31

Post by artofrawr »

sdfjkl wrote: post #21

Thanks to APD ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder ), most songs sound like that to me (I can only understand fragments of most lyrics unless I google them). I love music and listen to a lot of it, but most of the time I like the sound and not the words.

I am generally unable to comprehend the lyrics of most songs. For years I thought it was called "The Fire of Downtown" and was baffled when I found out it really was "The Final Countdown". In addition to that I am unable to understand anyone in (semi)noisy environments like bars, restaurants, etc. and am notoriously bad on the phone as soon as there is the slightest background noise on either end. All that, despite having excellent hearing when it comes to non-verbal sounds.

Until now I didn't even know APD existed, so thank you for mentioning and linking it here.

Re: It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something

#33

Post by JasonFruit »

DanBC wrote: post #29
JasonFruit wrote: post #9

I'm amazed at how well he has the sounds down. I'd never peg him as Italian, and I probably wouldn't realize it was gibberish until the backup singers did it slowly; I'd think I was just failing to get it, like listening to Dylan on a bad day. I'm amazed at the contrast with British actors trying to do American accents, which never fool me; is it easier to do it with gibberish, or is he just unusually good at mimicki…

> which never fool me Really never, or do you just never notice? There was a great YouTube video here ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-cAnFbEXY0 ) - but it seems to have been removed by the user. Not sure if there's any way to find it now. It was Americans speaking gibberish, and it sounded pretty convincingly like language.

When I've been aware of it, it's never been convincing — but of course you're right; if I'm unaware of it and it did fool me, I wouldn't know. Let's amend the above to "which usually don't fool me."

Re: It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something

#34

Post by DanBC »

stcredzero wrote: post #13

Pretty much the entirety of the Cocteau Twins discography is this. A few Enya songs as well. Also: "Bork, bork, bork!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY_Yf4zz-yo EDIT: Let's be honest here, quite a few ordinary pop songs are also gibberish masquerading as coherent language. EDIT: Richard Feynman even got into the act once as a young man. Ironically, he was an English speaker doing gibberish Italian: http://www.bookra…

> Pretty much the entirety of the Cocteau Twins

Well, there's some discussion whether she invented a language to sing in or if she was just off her tits on heroin and LSD.

For the young 'uns:

Early, not pleasant to listen to - (http://youtu.be/AF-hic7hNpk) Later, nicer - (http://youtu.be/WORzTWzwtho) Her singing 'live' recorded from VH1 to show it's not just post-production (http://youtu.be/Xo-vh_q1xQQ)

Very listenable - (http://youtu.be/EIs6uc440Z4)

And again - (http://youtu.be/iD0STDHNM8A)

Re: It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something

#35

Post by mistercow »

JasonFruit wrote: post #33
DanBC wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which never fool me Really never, or do you just never notice? There was a great YouTube video here ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-cAnFbEXY0 ) - but it seems to have been removed by the user. Not sure if there's any way to find it now. It was Americans speaking gibberish, and it sounded pretty convincingly like language.

When I've been aware of it, it's never been convincing — but of course you're right; if I'm unaware of it and it did fool me, I wouldn't know. Let's amend the above to "which usually don't fool me."

A similar effect happens with CGI. Most (tech savvy) people think that they can smell CGI from a mile away, but the vast majority of CGI these days is subtle and mundane (put another helicopter in the background there; we didn't have budget to rent two), and slips right by unnoticed. It's when the CGI is something obviously impossible and also the focus of a scene that viewers actually notice.

Re: It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something

#36

Post by CKKim »

DanBC wrote: post #29
JasonFruit wrote: post #9

I'm amazed at how well he has the sounds down. I'd never peg him as Italian, and I probably wouldn't realize it was gibberish until the backup singers did it slowly; I'd think I was just failing to get it, like listening to Dylan on a bad day. I'm amazed at the contrast with British actors trying to do American accents, which never fool me; is it easier to do it with gibberish, or is he just unusually good at mimicki…

> which never fool me Really never, or do you just never notice? There was a great YouTube video here ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-cAnFbEXY0 ) - but it seems to have been removed by the user. Not sure if there's any way to find it now. It was Americans speaking gibberish, and it sounded pretty convincingly like language.

"Really never, or do you just never notice?"

Indeed. Folks seem unbelievably harsh on accents they know not to be the native one, which is every time a famous actor does an accent, but all those no-names doing even not very good ones fly straight under their radar, making me highly skeptical it's not just confirmation bias.

Christian Bale often keeps his American accents for interviews and press. There might be something in that...

Re: It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something

#38

Post by schiffern »

mrng wrote: post #16
trumbitta2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is one of the greatest italian artists who ever lived, and in his early years he was also an avid listener to american rock'n'roll classics. The video is from at least 30 years ago. Maybe 40.

39 :-) (As per Youtube's video title - "Adriano Celentano - PRISENCOLINENSINAINCIUSOL (1974)"

FTA:

>released 40 years ago this weekend.

Re: It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something

#39

Post by loupeabody »

That last quote about American English sounding like "anger born out of resignation" is a bit ominous.

I'm fairly sure this Japanese band, White Ash, has nothing but pure gibberish as lyrics. I'm aware that some Japanese musicians, despite not really being able to effectively pronounce English words, will sing in English. Here though, I cannot pick out any English:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5RmmIS1AIQ

If I'd only heard the music, I would've assumed it was an American band.

*fixed "gibberish", had it spelled wrong

Re: It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something

#40

Post by sdfjkl »

Mz wrote: post #30
vecter wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty interesting. I feel like I have a hard time understanding people in group settings. It's not uncommon that I have to ask people to repeat themselves, and I feel I do this much more than other people. I'm also not great at understanding song lyrics, but I feel like most people can't figure them out either (based on all the faulty lyrics out there). In one-on-one conversations, I'm usually fine though. Is…

People with auditory processing problems are negatively impacted by background noise and tend to supplement their understanding of what was said with lip reading, often without consciously realizing it. So they tend to do much better in one on one discussions, which tend to have less background noise and are typically more conducive to lip reading than group settings.

This. Inability to separate out speech from background noise. I cannot have a conversation in a pub, club or bar where there's loud background music or noisy chatter. I can understand people perfectly fine in a quiet setting. Therefore I avoid noisy places, which does negatively impact social life (especially in younger years).
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