Music as a Universal Language, Essay Example

Are the Words Extra?: Lyrics and Music

One of my favorite songs from the 1980’s has to be “Rock Me Amadeus”. Although I acknowledge that the song comes off a little corny as it switches between the distanced cool of the 80’s know-it-all and the strange mix of German and English- Would we call this mix Germlish or Engman?- it is just nonsensical enough to make me smile each time that I hear it. The tone of voice, the choice of the musical backdrop, and the genre tell the listener most of what they need to know about music, and, in most cases, the lyrics do not carry the song so much as fill up space so that the listener fully enjoys a good sax, drum, or guitar part. According to About.com, the first German-English hybrid verse translates to:

“He was Superstar, He was popular.
He was so exalted, Because he had flair.
He was a virtuose, Was a rock idol.
And everyone shouted: Come on and rock me Amadeus!”

The German lyrics are not necessary to understand the tone of this song, no, but the best songs combine the musical tone with great lyrics to bring something extra to the table. (For the record, I am not including this in one of ‘the best songs’.) Understanding the lyrics is necessary only when they add something to our reaction to the music. In fact, Chik argues that many artists choose to record in English simply because it is recognizable worldwide. By the same token, some artists may choose their native, local languages as a deliberate stylistic choice to remain

“authentically local” (2010, pp. 508-509). In other areas, such as Hong Kong, Chik writes that the use of many languages indicates a cultural awareness and trendiness, and the ability to interpret bits of many languages gives an artist and listener an insider status.

The cool factor aside, music is both an industry and an art form. The decision to translate lyrics depends on the lyrics. People who do not speak German, Italian, Spanish, etc. frequently go to see opera performances in a language which they do not understand. The performance itself should carry the work, and this richness of tone has inspired writers as well. On the other side of this argument, some lyrics have no equal in another language, especially if they have special terms or peculiar expressions which hold meaning only to a certain cultural group. The novels of Russian writer Alexander Pushkin have not widely been translated into English, because his talent with the arrangement of words does not fully translate in a literal way (Bullock, 2011). The same problem may also occur in the translation of musical lyrics.

References

About.com. (n.d.) “Falco: Rock Me Amadeus.” Song Lyrics in German and English. Retrieved 30 May 2014 from <http://german.about.com/library/blmus_falco01e.htm>.

Bullock, P. (2011). Untranslated and Untranslatable? Pushkin’s Poetry in English, 1892-1931. Translation & Literature, 20(3), 348-372. doi:10.3366/tal.2011.0036.

CHIK, A. (2010). Creative multilingualism in Hong Kong popular music. World Englishes, 29(4), 508-522. doi:10.1111/j.1467-971X.2010.01678.x