One of the most important facets of any song is the lyrics. The lyrics tell a story, reveal truth, and connect the listener to the singer intellectually and emotionally. Then again, when the groove, rhythm, and cadence of the vocals are sublime, lyrics don’t matter at all. You know exactly what kinds of songs we are talking about; they take over your body and leave you as a victim of the music. That being said, these types of songs don’t need lyrics, or rather, intelligible lyrics.
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For years, the music industry has seen lead singers who can hardly pronounce their own lyrics. Now, that is not a bad thing in the slightest, as the lyrics in their songs aren’t the main subject. Rather, they are there to seemingly support the music, and these three singers with unique and unintelligible vocal styles know just that.
Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder is considered one of the greatest frontmen of the 90s music scene. Though, ironically, a good deal of his lyrics sound like complete nonsense. In essence, on some of the tracks, Vedder knows the sounds and syllables of the lyrics are more important than their subtextual contents. Thus, he doesn’t sing for the sake of literacy; he sings for the sake of a good sound.
One song in the Pearl Jam catalog that comes across as unique and unintelligible is the 1994 single, “Yellow Ledbetter”. If you don’t read the lyrics of the song, then there is a good chance you have zero clue what it is about. Regardless, it sounds great, and Vedder’s unintelligible vocal style is what makes the song so good, and what makes him one of the most unique singers out there.
Bob Dylan
In his early years, Bob Dylan sang with a crystal clear nasal tone that perfectly supported his poetic lyrics. Though as years passed and Dylan got older, wiser, and bolder, he masked his lyrics with some unique vocal choices. In other words, on some of his later tracks, you can’t understand a single word the guy is saying. However, it is Dylan, and he always likes to lean into the unexpected.
There are a lot of Dylan songs that can fall under the unintelligible and unique category, though there is one album that certainly falls into it. That album is his 1997 masterpiece comeback album, Time Out Of Mind. On the album, Dylan growls and howls through every song, and it’s great. However, for some, it is incredibly hard to understand what exactly he is saying.
Ozzy Osbourne
Here’s one of the most unintelligible of all rock singers out there. Ozzy Osbourne is one of the greatest and most polarizing vocalists of all time, and one thing that contributes to that opinion is the way that he sings. Between his thick British accent and screaming vocal range, the man seemingly never placed much emphasis on pronunciation. Though who in the world cares? Osbourne’s music isn’t for the easy listener. It’s for the listener who wants to be so fired up that they feel as if they can run through a brick wall.
There are a lot of Ozzy Osbourne songs that are impossible to understand, and one of the most notable is his 1983 single, “Bark At The Moon”. Very few of the song’s lyrics are understandable, but it is still a great song that gets the job done. Also, if they were understandable, one could argue that they would diminish the song’s sonic sensation.
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