@chaban brought up in STYLE-2444 that, to my own surprise, we don’t have any indication on how work lyrics languages should be used (I knew we didn’t have specific guidelines, but we do not even list languages in the work documentation). This clearly should be resolved.
Lyrics languages
The language(s) used in the lyrics for this work.
I expect that part should not be controversial.
My suggestion for the work guidelines, as a “Lyrics languages” section:
Select any languages that are used for a significant part the work lyrics. Do not select a language just because one or two words of the language are used in the lyrics.
For instrumental works, and works with vocals but no lyrics, select the special language option “[No lyrics]”.
“[Multiple languages]” is a legacy option dating back to a time where only one language could be selected, and should not be used.
Amsterdam by Jacques Brel has language “French” (and each later translation has its appropriate language).
Hakuna matata from The Lion King has language “English”, despite the title words being in Swahili, since that’s the only use of Swahili in an otherwise entirely English song.
Mi gente by J Balvin, Willy William & Beyoncé has languages “Spanish” and “English” (but not French, despite the lyrics containing one line in French).
Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, op. 34 no. 14 has language “[No lyrics]”, despite having vocals, since the vocals are not lyrics.
Brian Eno’s Music for Airports is instrumental, so it has language “[No lyrics]”.
Does this sound sensible, or do people have issues with the proposed guidelines?
This part is written in a circular-logic kind of way in my opinion. It should be written as “because its vocal performance is not intended to be an utterance of meaning” or something similar to that. I emphasize intended because what matter is what the songwriter intended, and not the listener’s interpretation.
A not entirely similar similar case prominent & frequent enough for inclusion to the list is the Kyrie of the Catholic mass ordinary: Greek lyrics only, for one movement of a parent work otherwise in Latin.
I made the changes, including some of the suggestions in this thread in the guidelines:
Select any languages that are used for a significant part the work lyrics. Do not select a language just because a few words or a one-off line in said language are used in the lyrics (unless the lyrics are so short that this is a significant part of them).
For instrumental works, and works with vocals but no lyrics (such as scat singing), select the special language option “[No lyrics]”. For works with lyrics in made up languages, select “[Artificial (Other)]”.
“[Multiple languages]” is a legacy option dating back to a time where only one language could be selected, and should not be used.
For works comprised of separate part works, apply the guidelines to each part work as well as the parent work. For example, the parent work for a song cycle containing songs in French and songs in German should have languages “French” and “German”, but the work for each song in the cycle should only have “French” or “German” as appropriate. Per the “significant part” guideline above, if a language is only used for one short part of a large work, it might not even merit appearing on the parent work, but it should still be used for the relevant part work.
Amsterdam by Jacques Brel has language “French” (and each later translation has its appropriate language).
Hakuna matata from The Lion King has language “English”, despite the title words being in Swahili, since that’s the only use of Swahili in an otherwise entirely English song.
Mi gente by J Balvin, Willy William & Beyoncé has languages “Spanish” and “English” (but not French, despite the lyrics containing one line in French).
Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, op. 34 no. 14 has language “[No lyrics]”, despite having vocals, since the vocals are just sounds that are not intended to constitute lyrics.
Sigur 1 (or “Vaka”) by Sigur Rós has language “[Artificial (Other)]”, since the lyrics are in an invented language not in the language list.
Brian Eno’s Music for Airports is instrumental, so it has language “[No lyrics]”.
If any of the additions / changes seem problematic, do let me know.
What language would we put if the lyrics are indecipherable? I’m thinking of something like Work “Where Bluebirds Fly” - MusicBrainz, which currently doesn’t have anything set for the language.
I think I understand this after reading the thread, but I was really confused when I read it. Maybe “vocalizations but no lyrics” would be clearer? I.e. with human voices, but no actual language being sung. Or does that mean the same thing?
Yeah, I think it can be the same. What I was thinking was that you usually describe the role of the singer (i.e. singing lyrics) as providing vocals, but vocalization is usually used specifically for signing without lyrics, e.g. “vocalization is a form of vocal works of singing with vocals rather than specific lyrics.” (here), or “[vocalization] specifically refers to the singing of vocalises. It can also take on a more general meaning of singing to vowel sounds or humming ( singing with closed lips)” (here).
But I don’t have a strong opinion about this, it’s just a suggestion.
