Does a song have to be sung?

[Glizdka]

A friend of mine has just pointed out that it has to be sung to be called a song. If it's purely instrumental music and there's no singing in it, it's not a song.

This would make my favorite "song", The Only Thing They Fear Is You by Mick Gordon, a "not-song". What would you call it then?

I could call it a track, a soundtrack even, but I don't like this word describing my favorite "not-song". It doesn't do it justice.

I could call it a piece, but that sounds classical, orchestral even. My favorite "not-song" is a feat of sound engineering, but I don't think it deserves being called a piece.

Technically, my favorite "not-song" isn't just purely instrumental. There are some vocals in it near the end, at 6:33, but it's not singing, more like chanting.

What would you call it?

 

[probus]

I'd call it an instrumental or an instrumental number.

 

[jutfrank]

Speaking casually, it doesn't really matter, and you can still call it a 'song'. In the context of talking about the album it's on, it's better called a 'track'.

 

[SoothingDave]

You could hum along if you don't know the words.

 

[Amigos4]

I would call it a musical composition.

 

[emsr2d2]

In the days when most music was released on vinyl, any piece of music that was released in order to try and get into the "hit parade" (later known as the Top 20/Top 40), would have been called a single or a 45. That number refers to the playing speed on a turntable - 45rpm. A standard single was a 7" (7-inch, because that's the size of the physical disc from one side to the other), and sometimes there might be an extended version called a 12" (12-inch). Albums were always called albums, and 12-inch singles and albums are both 12 inches across and are both played at 33rpm.
Any single released, regardless of whether it was an instrumental or a piece with sung words, would just have been called a single.

Have you heard Duran Duran's new single?
Don't you just love the fourth track on Madonna's latest album?
I think I'm going to buy the 12-inch of Bat Out Of Hell.

I don't think I ever used the word "song" in that context.

 

[SoothingDave]

Albums are also known as LPs in the US. (For "Long Playing.")

And the pedant in me wants to tell everyone that the speed is 33-1/3 rpm.

 

[emsr2d2]

Sorry, I should have added that we called them LPs too.

 

[probus]

Two footnotes: 78 RPM record discs were brittle. They often cracked or even smashed into smithereens. Also, they came in paper sleeves bundled into books that resembled photo albums. That's why we call LPs albums.

 

[Annabel Lee]

Speaking casually, it doesn't really matter, and you can still call it a 'song'.

Interestingly, national anthems are a type of song, and they are still referred to as national anthems even when their lyrics are not sung. In Olympic award ceremonies, of course, the national anthems are played without the lyrics. In general, I think of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as a song whether it is sung or not. I feel the same way about "Jerusalem" ("And Did Those Feet"). I fell in love with the latter when I was a youngster and heard it in a 1981 film, not understanding a word of what was sung!

 

[Tarheel]

You can call it a song if you like. Instrumental pieces are often called songs.

 

[Glizdka]

What about music with lyrics but no singing, like rap. Are those technically not songs, but casually I could just not care and call them songs anyway?

 

[jutfrank]

Technically? Do you mean you're looking for some kind of technical definiton?

 

[Glizdka]

No, I mean "Strictly, according to the exact meaning" - technically it's not a song if it isn't sung.

 

[jutfrank]

There is no exact meaning. Meaning doesn't generally work like that. Meaning comes mostly from usage—if people use the word 'song' to refer to an instrumental piece, then that's what it means.

 

[emsr2d2]

I rather enjoyed reading THIS explanation. I particularly like the notion that a song should utilise the vocal cords in some way but it doesn't have to have recognisable words. Take, for example, "whale song".

 

[Glizdka]

Hmmm... I guess I'll keep calling my favorite song a song, but be aware it might be some people's pet peeve, then.