|
45worlds Forums » 45worlds » View Topic
| What makes a song a "standard"? |
Add Reply
| 17th Jul 2021, 4:32 PM | #1 REPORT | |
 | 23skidoo ● Member since Jul 2014 4159 Points | The other day I was messing about on YouTube and I did a search for "The Galaxy Song", which was introduced in the film Monty Python's the Meaning of Life in 1983. Performed in the movie by Eric Idle, it has since been reprised countless times. Steven Hawking of all people recorded a version, a couple years back there was a UK TV special featuring Idle, scientist Brian Cox, Hannah Waddingham, and others and the song was the grand finale. Everyone knows it. Ditto another Monty Python tune, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from 1979's Life of Brian - that one is well regarded enough that Idle performed it during the London Olympics closing ceremony. Since both songs are "relatively new" (if you call 40 years relatively), it made me wonder, at what point does a song become regarded as a "standard"? Linda Ronstadt recorded a trio of "Great American Songbook" albums in the mid-1980s and the songs featured were described as standards - yet many of them were, at the time Linda recorded them, newer than the two Python songs are today. And I would argue that Bright Side of Life and Galaxy Song could be considered standards. But, if you'll pardon the awkward wording, is there a "standard" for determining when a song becomes a standard, or is it just based on public opinion? I could list hundreds of rock and roll songs from Rock Around the Clock up to stuff from 20 years ago and newer that could claim to be standards if that's the case. Any ideas? |
| 17th Jul 2021, 8:24 PM | #2 REPORT | |
 | Quad5point1 SUBS Member since Jul 2012 10721 Points | Never having bought any of these type of discs I don't really know, but I thought that things like the "Great American Songbook" were songs that were recorded from the 20's to the 50's and mainly songs from Holywood type musicals. Things that were composed by the likes of Irving Berlin and covered by numerous artists and one that enters the public consciousness I would certainly class as "Standards". Not really sure, but it's an interesting question, that's my twopenny worth anyway and I could be completely wrong   Edited by Quad5point1 on 17th Jul 2021, 8:49 PM |
| 17th Jul 2021, 10:30 PM | #3 REPORT | |
 | getalife So many questions, so few answers Member since Nov 2010 879 Points Moderator | Not an answer but take the Rolling Stones, go to a concert today and they will always play certain songs that the audience expects, be it from the 60s to 2021 they would be classed as standard songs, well to me that is what l would call a standard. |
| 17th Jul 2021, 11:39 PM | #4 REPORT | |
 | Redpunk SUBS ● Crates Are For Digging Member since Aug 2012 25448 Points Moderator | A standard is a popular song that is well known, frequently performed, and remains in the popular repertoire for at least several years. E.G. White Christmas and The Floral Dance would be two I'd pick out as familiar today as when they were first hits back in the 40's and 30's. I would also add performed by multiple artists across several genres. |
| 18th Jul 2021, 8:16 AM | #5 REPORT | |
| Quad5point1 SUBS Member since Jul 2012 10721 Points | There would be few songs from the 60's on that you would class as a standard, but Paul McCartney's "Yesterday" would be a very strong contender and probably the only one from The Beatles repertoire. I suppose songs like "My Way" and "Born Free" would be in that bracket Edited by Quad5point1 on 18th Jul 2021, 10:30 AM |
| 18th Jul 2021, 2:14 PM | #6 REPORT | |
 | Magic Marmalade If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3765 Points Moderator | Standard = ...Are you sick of it yet!  |
| 18th Jul 2021, 2:21 PM | #7 REPORT | |
| Magic Marmalade If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3765 Points Moderator | ....OR: a) Do balding middle aged men with a little extra baggage about the girth don an unfeasible hairpiece and sing it at weddings / lounge bars and really try to "own it". b) A lazy ad executive has take a tune that people generally like, stripped the arrangement back to plinkety-plonk piano with overly emotive (not reflecting the sentiment of the song) sparseness, got a young teenage starlet (typically female, unknown or becoming so) to warble it out, then slap it on an advert for major brand institution to sell shoes or dishwashers....especially at Christmas. Thank God I've not gotten cynical after all these years!  |
| 19th Jul 2021, 9:11 AM | #8 REPORT | |
 | zabadak Caddacack oh da ca-caddacack, shy shy skagellack Member since Jun 2010 4176 Points | I believe "standards" are those that are covered by many different artists without there necessarily being a definitive version...  |
| 26th Jul 2021, 2:38 PM | #9 REPORT | |
| Magic Marmalade If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3765 Points Moderator | Can you tie it to a flagpole? |
| 26th Jul 2021, 8:05 PM | #10 REPORT | |
 | Lee Wrecker If you can't dig me, you can't dig nothin' Member since Nov 2013 2283 Points | Depends on the standard you want to apply, Magic. So the answer is yes and no. |
| 13th Aug 2021, 10:58 PM | #11 REPORT | |
 | rocket666 turn me lose from your hands / tin can at my feet Member since Mar 2013 15802 Points | Will a Standard fly like a big hitter or flutter with a bit of a wow. |
| 17th Aug 2021, 8:37 AM | #12 REPORT | |
| ppint. ● Member since Aug 2012 6414 Points |
zabadak wrote:
I believe "standards" are those that are covered by many different artists without there necessarily being a definitive version...
yes; and there are ''standards'' that date back to before the records business started, that became standards from live and from live on-air radio performances, classical and pre-classical music that became standards in their day, and some of which survive as folk songs, as well as from itinerant blues artists in the early days of the shellac disc - when the ''blues revival'' started up in the yuk-of-gb(?-&-ni?) in the sixties, there can't've been a blues band in the country that didn't have a version of ''dust my blues'' (''i believe my time ain't long'') - so much so, that the liverpool scene brought out ''i've got the fleetwood mac chicken shack john mayall can't fail blues'' in parody - or was it celebration? and in this day of recorded music, standards can be killed. one version can so embed itself in the popular mind, that it becomes the only version - the righteous brothers' single of ''you've lost that loving feeling'' killed all others stone dead, even cilla black's, that made it into the charts before theirs was even released in the uk... Edited by ppint. on 6th Dec 2021, 11:29 PM |
| 1st Nov 2021, 4:32 PM | #13 REPORT | |
| 23skidoo ● Member since Jul 2014 4159 Points |
zabadak wrote:
and in this day of recorded music, standards can be killed. one version can so embed itself in the popular mind, that it becomes the only version - the righteous brothers' single of ''you've lost that loving feeling'' killed all others stone dead, even cilla black's, that made it into the charts before theirs was even released in the uk...
Angel of the Morning is another example. Everyone thinks of the Juice Newton version from the 80s but the versions by Billie Davis and Evie Sands from the 1960s are definitive. Standards can also be "killed" in other ways as some songs considered standards for decades are now considered politically incorrect due to including lyrics that people consider offensive today. EDIT: removed accidental attribution Edited by 23skidoo on 4th Nov 2021, 8:02 PM |
| 3rd Nov 2021, 12:08 AM | #14 REPORT | |
 | Juke Jules SUBS Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow Member since Jan 2011 4150 Points Moderator | [quote="Magic Marmalade"A lazy ad executive has take a tune that people generally like, stripped the arrangement back to plinkety-plonk piano with overly emotive (not reflecting the sentiment of the song) sparseness, got a young teenage starlet (typically female, unknown or becoming so) to warble it out, then slap it on an advert for major brand institution to sell shoes or dishwashers....especially at Christmas[/quote] Well, I love her rendition   |
| 7th Dec 2021, 1:26 PM | #15 REPORT | |
| ppint. ● Member since Aug 2012 6414 Points |
ppint. wrote:
and in this day of recorded music, standards can be killed. one version can so embed itself in the popular mind, that it becomes the only version - the righteous brothers' single of ''you've lost that loving feeling'' killed all others stone dead, even cilla black's, that made it into the charts before theirs was even released in the uk...
zabadak wrote:
Angel of the Morning is another example. Everyone thinks of the Juice Newton version from the 80s but the versions by Billie Davis and Evie Sands from the 1960s are definitive. Standards can also be "killed" in other ways as some songs considered standards for decades are now considered politically incorrect due to including lyrics that people consider offensive today.
EDIT: removed accidental attribution the two classic recordings of ''angel of the morning'' are, of course, the 1968 competing versions by merrilee rush (sometimes ''and the turnabouts''), and by pat ''p. p.'' arnold (who may still've had her backing band, that went independent as ''the nice'' behind her at the time); yr hmbl srppnt. preferred ''p. p. arnold'''s version at the time, but has come to regard the two about equally highly, over the decades since. chip taylor wrote a perhaps unfair number of classic songs in his time. . . Edited by ppint. on 7th Dec 2021, 1:35 PM |
Add Reply
45worlds website ©2025 :
Homepage :
Search :
Sitemap :
Help Page :
Privacy :
Terms :
Contact :
Share This Page
Vinyl Albums : Live Music : 78 RPM : CD Albums : CD Singles : 12" Singles : 7" Singles : Tape Media : Classical Music : Music Memorabilia : Cinema : TV Series : DVD & Blu-ray : Magazines : Books : Video Games : Create Your Own World
Latest » Items : Comments : Price Guide : Reviews : Ratings : Images : Lists : Videos : Tags : Collected : Wanted : Top 50 : Random
45worlds for music, movies, books etc : 45cat for 7" singles : 45spaces for hundreds more worlds
:
Like us on Facebook
Vinyl Albums : Live Music : 78 RPM : CD Albums : CD Singles : 12" Singles : 7" Singles : Tape Media : Classical Music : Music Memorabilia : Cinema : TV Series : DVD & Blu-ray : Magazines : Books : Video Games : Create Your Own World
Latest » Items : Comments : Price Guide : Reviews : Ratings : Images : Lists : Videos : Tags : Collected : Wanted : Top 50 : Random
45worlds for music, movies, books etc : 45cat for 7" singles : 45spaces for hundreds more worlds