• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Why Spanish doesn't fit rock and roll.

Jonathan Bailey

Well-Known Member
It's odd that the musical instrument that dominates rock and roll was invented in Spain: the GEE-tar.

However, rock and roll is an American invention and the Brits and the Aussies produced a lot of it. Rock and roll beat was devised to fit the meter or cadence of the English language.

Take Van Halen's "Runnin' With the Devil"

the chorus line:

RUN-nin with the DE-vil (6 syllables)


in Spanish that's

corriendo con el diablo

COR-ee-ENN-doh koan ell dee-AH-blow (nine syllables)



Conversely, Latin music doesn't fit the English language well.

Take "Feliz Navidad" by José Feliciano (1970)

fay-LEESE nah-vee-DODD (5 syllables)

translates to:


Merry Christmas

MEHR-ree KRISS-muhss ( 4 syllables, accents on different syllables)
 

Jonathan Bailey

Well-Known Member
That's just some Hispanic bastardization of "the beat". It's not true to rock and roll form.


"running with the devil" fits the German language, however:


Laufen mit dem Teufel

LAU-fuhn mitt demm TOY-fuhl (same number of syllables, six, and accents, stress points, as English)
RUNN-ninn with the DEH-vuhl
 

Jonathan Bailey

Well-Known Member
Santana

Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican and American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and roll and Latin American jazz.

but the words are in ENGLISH

it has to do with the meter of song lyrics

that song was specifically composed for English words
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
I speak Spanish and Italian fluently...the OP has a point, the real real rock needs English to be expressed properly in its linguistic purity.

What is known as Rock Latino is a original subproduct of Rock n roll
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I speak Spanish and Italian fluently...the OP has a point, the real real rock needs English to be expressed properly in its linguistic purity.
Why? What if the rock song was written in another language originally? Then if you sang it in English, it wouldn't be "pure" either.

What about those rock songs where you can't understand a single word they are yelling? That's not linguistic purity either. It's just grunts and screams. "Aaaaaaaa, aaah. Ooooooh, ooh" isn't exactly English either, is it? Is that not real rock and roll?
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
Why? What if the rock song was written in another language originally? Then if you sang it in English, it wouldn't be "pure" either.

What about those rock songs where you can't understand a single word they are yelling? That's not linguistic purity either. It's just grunts and screams. "Aaaaaaaa, aaah. Ooooooh, ooh" isn't exactly English either, is it? Is that not real rock and roll?
 

bobhikes

Nondetermined
Premium Member
but the words are in ENGLISH

it has to do with the meter of song lyrics

that song was specifically composed for English words

That's just my favorite, If you really know rock you know he has several in Full Spanish. He is kinda famous here's just as good and Spanish but you should all ready know it.

 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
It's odd that the musical instrument that dominates rock and roll was invented in Spain: the GEE-tar.

However, rock and roll is an American invention and the Brits and the Aussies produced a lot of it. Rock and roll beat was devised to fit the meter or cadence of the English language.

Take Van Halen's "Runnin' With the Devil"

the chorus line:

RUN-nin with the DE-vil (6 syllables)


in Spanish that's

corriendo con el diablo

COR-ee-ENN-doh koan ell dee-AH-blow (nine syllables)



Conversely, Latin music doesn't fit the English language well.

Take "Feliz Navidad" by José Feliciano (1970)

fay-LEESE nah-vee-DODD (5 syllables)

translates to:


Merry Christmas

MEHR-ree KRISS-muhss ( 4 syllables, accents on different syllables)
Total garbage. There's rock music in every language you can imagine, including some extinct ones!
 

Jonathan Bailey

Well-Known Member
I speak Spanish and Italian fluently...the OP has a point, the real real rock needs English to be expressed properly in its linguistic purity.

What is known as Rock Latino is a original subproduct of Rock n roll
Italian, French and Spanish are Italic sister languages that spun off of vulgar Latin. English, Dutch and German are in their Germanic family as sister languages.

It's interesting that "running with the devil" and it's German translation "Laufen mit dem Teufel" are in the exact same meter.

In Italian this translates to:

correndo con il diavolo

cohr-REHN-doh koan eel dee-AH-vaw-loh (nine syllables like Spanish)

In Greek:

τρέχοντας με τον διάβολο
tréchontas me ton diávolo

TRAY-koan-tahs muh tone dee-AH-vuh-loh (nine syllables and slightly different meter than Italian)


In Dutch:

rennen met de duivel
REHN-nuhn met duh DAVV-vool (exact same meter as English and German)


In French (Romance language):

courir avec le diable
koo-REAR ah-VECK luh dee-AH-bluh (eight syllables, different stress points than English)
 

Kangaroo Feathers

Yea, it is written in the Book of Cyril...
Why? What if the rock song was written in another language originally? Then if you sang it in English, it wouldn't be "pure" either.

What about those rock songs where you can't understand a single word they are yelling? That's not linguistic purity either. It's just grunts and screams. "Aaaaaaaa, aaah. Ooooooh, ooh" isn't exactly English either, is it? Is that not real rock and roll?
It's just racist gatekeeping, try not to get to engaged
 
Top