Unusual pronunciations of words in songs

[jasobres]

Posted: 2/25/07 at 10:43pm

Seth Rudetsky always notices these unusual pronunciations of certain words in songs. I've noticed that it was a trend in the words "me" and "you."

Glenn Close and Jennifer Hudson pronounced the word "me" in "With One Look" and "And I Am Telling You..." respectively as "MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY."

David Elder pronounced "you" in "I Only Have Eyes for You" as "yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo." (yo, as in "Yo, waddup dawg.")

[americanboy99]

Posted: 2/25/07 at 10:45pm

It is much easier to belt an "AY" than and "EEE".

[Neverandy]

Posted: 2/25/07 at 10:49pm

I always like "...playing PianA" in "MAYBE" form ANNIE.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 2/25/07 at 10:51pm

That always bothers me when David Elder sings "yooooo" on the 42nd Street recording.

Another one of those is Matthew Broderick on H2S revival, in "I Believe In You," his "You" at the end of the line sounds like he's trying too hard to open up the vowel and it's obnoxious.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 2/25/07 at 11:18pm

During "The Music of the Night" many Phantoms opt to pronounce garish as "gAHrish," which sounds out of place, especially in the American productions, where most of the actors are basically directed to have the thickest American accents you have ever heard (same thing with Les Mis).

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 2/25/07 at 11:32pm

E vowels tighten up your throat. They're a pain in the ass to sing half the time no matter how strong of a voice you have. Why do you think Sho Bean sings them through her nose?



When Gina Gershon was in Cabaret, she sang the title song like
"Life is a CabUHRAY ole' chum, come to the CabUHRAY" Don't really think it's a big deal, but anyway.

Joel Grey did the same thing in the movie version "Im Cabaret, Au Cabaret, to CabUHRAAAAAY" the little inflection through the nose.

[Raspberry]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 1:00am

I love how Chita Rivera always changes vowel sounds, like, ten times every time she holds the word "Jazz." She did it even more at the 10th Anniversary Show than she does on the OBC recording. Haha. Love it.

[Julian2]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 1:06am

"Totally gone/Gone with the wind[e]" - "Where Is The Life That Late I Led" - "Kiss Me Kate"

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 1:07am

I can't stand that "yooooo" recording of 42nd St. Another one that bothers me is on the new Company album, Barbara Walsh pronounces "rise" as "roise."

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 2:36am

Patti LuPone and any word with a vowel usually merits an unusual pronunciation.

The "42nd Street" line always annoyed me. The first time I heard it, I seriously thought he was saying another word, maybe "her".

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 2:56am

I hate it when people sing "you" as "yah" or "yo"

[algy]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 4:37am

I get irritated some times by "Defying GraviDEEEEE" but I think that's coz I'm English...

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 8:20am

I get irritated some times by "Defying GraviDEEEEE" but I think that's coz I'm English...

LOL! Same here

Americans trying to do English accents (and visa versa) usually leads to some odd sounds... Updated On: 2/26/07 at 08:20 AM

[mikem]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 8:30am

Not a Broadway song, but I never understood Natasha Bedingfield's pronunciation of "hyperbole" as 3 syllables (hy-per-bowl rather than hy-per-bo-lee) in her song "These Words." Is this a British pronunciation of the word, or does she just not know how to pronounce it?

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 8:46am

She doesn't know how to pronounce it. But lyrics are so unimportant in todays pop music that they can get away with it

[fairygodmother]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 8:51am

actually i think holliday's performance of and i am telling you has led to multiple sins in this way. i mean, andy songs you can transcribe as;

eeeeeyyyyaaaaaand iiiiiiiiyyyyyeeee yyyeeeaaaamm tuuuuuhlling yeeeew, yiiiiiiiiiimm not gewinnnah

is just bizarre, and now a lot of people kinda copy it, especially the last vowel.

and i completely agree with the american's doing a british accent thing - i was watching vids on the site that must not be mentioned and found many many odd ones - secret garden, scarlet pimpernel, jekyll and hyde, les mis.

colm wilkinson can come up with some odd ones too - i know he's irish but i don't think his accent makes him come up with some of the bizarre sounds he does, its what makes him so easy to imitate (its far too long i'm shuaah)

[algy]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 8:53am

Americans and English people imitating each other's accents usually amusing especially in the case of children.

Also the approximation of French accents by anyone ever.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 8:57am

Colm Wilkinson sounds like Sean Connery to me... or, at the very least, Will Ferrell's parody of him.

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 9:11am

SM2, Sean Connery was played by Darrell Hammond on SNL.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 9:17am

Thanks, SNLMedia. I stand corrected.

SNLMedia? What are the odds?

Updated On: 2/26/07 at 09:17 AM

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 9:20am

[gumbo2]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 9:28am

In response to the Barbara Walsh "rise" thing, Anthony Rapp does the same thing on the Rent OCR during La Vie Boheme, "Here she lies" part in the intro, which kind of bothers me as well.

[Spacedog78]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 10:47am

anything stephanie j block and eden espinosa pronounce! they have very overly dramatic speaking and singing voices.
Updated On: 2/26/07 at 10:47 AM

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 10:54am

On the AIDA cast recording Adam Pascal says "tommow" instead of "tomorrow" in the song "Enchantment Passing Through." I don't know if he sang it like that every time he performed the song, but it always throws me. I saw it performed on tour and the actor playing Radames actually sang "tomorrow" and it was very nice to hear the word pronounced correctly during the song.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 2/26/07 at 5:50pm

I can't remember who the singer is but in 1976 revival of MY FAIR LADY, the Freddie consistently sang "on the street where you leave." Otherwise quite a nice performance so it was jarring.