The Speak-Singing Debate: Just Sing The Damn Song!
Clockwise from upper left: Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, The Mountain Goats, Suzanne Vega. Courtesy of the artists hide caption
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]](https://media.npr.org/assets/music/programs/asc/2012/06/Myfairlady_cvr-94dc2445c9c4f5915f0b7ad42d3c96783ac79b96-s200-c15.webp)
Rex Harrison
- Song: A Hymn to Him
- from My Fair Lady [Original Soundtrack]
![Cover for Loaded [Fully Loaded Edition]](https://media.npr.org/assets/music/programs/asc/2012/06/loaded_cvr-1644fb74fe92ff6d5b0034f7232b9545856f8f50-s200-c15.webp)
The Velvet Underground
- Song: Sweet Jane [Full Length Version]
- from Loaded [Fully Loaded Edition]
William Shatner
- Song: Common People
- from Has Been
The Modern Lovers
- Song: She Cracked
U2
- Song: Pride (In the Name of Love)
- from Unforgettable Fire
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
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
Laurie Anderson
- Song: Blue Lagoon
- from Mister Heartbreak
Suzanne Vega
- Song: Tom's Diner
- from Solitude Standing
The Mountain Goats
- Song: Love Love Love
- from Sunset Tree
Wilco
- Song: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
- from