| Author | Message | ||
     Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 4 Registered: 10-2006 |
Do RF & GM have typical Queensland accents? (private schools and all that...)And do Qland accents differ from, say, Sydney or Perth? And where in their songs might the accent make a particularly effective aesthetic difference? (I'm thinking of that "People high on grass" line I love from Warm Nights, for instance, which really gains from the Oz vowel sound on "grass"...)... Ok, this is my first thread, just trying to think of something new... | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 297 Registered: 07-2005 |
I think they have an educated accent: a friend of mine who is a prof In philospophy sounds exactly the same as Grant. Strangely he'd never heard of the Go-betweens until I lent him a few Cds ( not the remastered one though).Not sure what he thinks of them as I've not seen him since!! | ||
| John B. Member Username: John_b Post Number: 42 Registered: 10-2006 |
Listening to the songs I would never believe that they are from Australia. The only Aussie accent I can detect is "water" from the line "....he realized that snow was only frozen water" from River of Money. | ||
| Hugo Member Username: Hugo Post Number: 15 Registered: 06-2005 |
I beg to differ. There are tons of tracks where the Australian accent comes through. Particularly Robert's songs in the 3 comeback albums I'd say. I'm not sure that there's really a Queensland accent that's noticeably different from what you find in other states. There are some very slight regional differences, but I think the main variations in the Australian accent are socio-economic: broadly there's an educated, urban accent (that Robert and Grant have), and there's a broader accent more prevalent in rural areas and the urban working class. But the differences are not nearly so clearly defined as in England, for instance. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 5 Registered: 10-2006 |
Strange that such a big country doesn't produce more regional variation. But I think there's a strong Oz twang in Forster's delivery which gives it its special cutting, ironic edge (the Australian accent often seems particularly suited to the sardonic) - Grant's voice tends to sit more into the instrumentation, whereas Forster sort of scythes through it. I love the man's voice, what can I say. | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 206 Registered: 11-2004 |
This is no insult to RF in any way, but if you're talking to him one to one (no pun intended) he talks differently to when he's being interviewed on TV or radio. Perhaps it's because RF needs to choose his words carefully? But yes, his phrasing is quite different when it's in a formal setting. Grant was similar in that regard as well, but not as extreme as Robert. Their accents (to me) don't particularly sound Australian. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 784 Registered: 05-2005 |
I disagree Donat, I think they both sounded Australian, albeit well spoken Australians. I only interviewed Grant over the phone, but I interviewed Robert in person as well as over the phone and I also spoke with him on another occasion. Their accents were certainly not broad 'Strine', and I can understand why some Australians would not have thought Grant and Robert sounded Australian, but to this Irishman in Sydney they did! Robert is quite mannered in his 'interview voice', but I think that's to do with interviews being part of the whole artistic persona. I know that when I am interviewed on radio I have an FM radio voice that is a little different from my normal speaking voice. I do this without thinking about it; I just automatically throw the switch to vaudeville (to paraphrase Paul Keating). | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 6 Registered: 10-2006 |
I like an accent in a song because its part of the geography of the music, I suppose, like place names – I mean, I bought KT Tunstall’s cd just because she’s from a town down the road from me in Scotland, but listening to it she might as well as have been from Bergen or Beijing. Colourless, placeless “global” music. A song title like, say, The Darlinghurst Years gains immensely by the geographical specificity – “darlinghurst” is a great word, even though for all I know it might be just a nondescript Sydney suburb. “A Go-betweens Geography” – that might be good for another thread. Just a few comments by Forster on the DVD have already given me the urge to see Regensburg. And does Orpheus Beach really exist – somewhere between Half-Moon Bay and Double Island Point maybe?? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 787 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stuart, Darlinghurst is anything but nondescript! It is the centre of Sydney's gay night (and day) life. I regularly go through there on my way to Sydney Football Stadium for rugby and football matches. There's one decent record shop, a couple of good book shops and a good arthouse cinema in Darlinghurst. Double Island Point definitely exists. |