The Speak-Singing Debate: Just Sing The Damn Song! : All Songs Considered Hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton come to blows over the polarizing and hard-to-define art of "speak-singing."

The Speak-Singing Debate: Just Sing The Damn Song!

The Speak-Singing Debate: Just Sing The Damn Song!

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Clockwise from upper left: Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, The Mountain Goats, Suzanne Vega. Courtesy of the artists hide caption

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Courtesy of the artists

Few people can easily define it, but nearly everyone knows it when they hear it. Speak-singing, the murky marriage of spoken lyrics and sung melodies, can be heard in everything from 17th-century opera to The Velvet Underground and the latest Mountain Goats record. On this edition of All Songs Considered, hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton argue over the pros and cons of this polarizing art form and take a look at some of their favorite (and not-so-favorite) speak-singing artists. Plus, listeners chime in with some of their own picks.

Songs Featured On This Episode

Cover for My Fair Lady [Original Soundtrack]

Rex Harrison

  • Song: A Hymn to Him
  • from My Fair Lady [Original Soundtrack]
YouTube
Cover for Loaded [Fully Loaded Edition]

The Velvet Underground

  • Song: Sweet Jane [Full Length Version]
  • from Loaded [Fully Loaded Edition]
YouTube
Cover for Has Been

William Shatner

  • Song: Common People
  • from Has Been
YouTube
Cover for The Modern Lovers

The Modern Lovers

  • Song: She Cracked
YouTube
Cover for Unforgettable Fire

U2

  • Song: Pride (In the Name of Love)
  • from Unforgettable Fire
YouTube
Cover for Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro

The Speak-Singing Debate: Just Sing The Damn Song!

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  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/149623697/149870933" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Mozart

  • Song: Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), opera, K. 492 [Act 1. Scene 1 & 2. No. 2. Duettino. Se a caso madama]
  • from Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
Cover for Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire; Herzgewächse; Ode to Napoleon

The Speak-Singing Debate: Just Sing The Damn Song!

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  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/149623697/149872868" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Christine Schäfer

  • Song: Pierrot lunaire, melodrama for voice & chamber ensemble, Op. 21 [Act I, No. 1, "Mondestrunken"]
  • from Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire; Herzgewächse; Ode to Napoleon
Cover for Mister Heartbreak

Laurie Anderson

  • Song: Blue Lagoon
  • from Mister Heartbreak
YouTube
Cover for Solitude Standing

Suzanne Vega

  • Song: Tom's Diner
  • from Solitude Standing
YouTube
Cover for Sunset Tree

The Mountain Goats

  • Song: Love Love Love
  • from Sunset Tree
YouTube
Cover for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco

  • Song: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
  • from
YouTube