Helpful ReplyDolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics

Author
Post
Essentials Only Full Version
MandolinPicker
Max Output Level: -76 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 720
  • Joined: 2003/11/05 18:51:51
  • Location: Oxford, AL
  • Status: offline
2015/01/19 12:15:43 (permalink)

Dolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics

With today (January 19th) being Dolly Parton's birthday, the folks over at the Oxford Dictionary Blog did a study of the words in her music for her entire career. It starts in 1965 (with her duets with Porter Wagoner), through her pop/main stream success in the 70s-80s, and her return to her roots in bluegrass in the 90's through today. Over 42 albums were reviewed. A couple of interesting quotes from the article:
  • It’s noticeable that the lyrics tend to contain shorter words when they are aimed at the pop charts; during her return to bluegrass at the very end of the 1990s and onwards, the word length increases significantly (not least the word bluegrass itself).
  • But perhaps most significantly, to some extent the tone and topic of her songs hasn’t changed all that much over the decades. At the beginning of her career we see she is singing about being hurt and tired; in recent years she’s sung about sacrifice and missing. As a couple of words at the bottom right of the table serendipitously put it, nothing changes. Dolly remains recognizably Dolly to her fans.
An interesting read. It can be found at http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/01/dolly-parton-musical-career-expressed-language-statistics/
 
Enjoy!

The Mandolin Picker
"Bless your hearts... and all your vital organs" - John Duffy
 
"Got time to breath, got time for music!"- Briscoe Darling, Jr.
 
Windows 8.1, Sonar Platinum (64-bit), AMD FX 6120 Six-Core, 10GB RAM
#1
List Solutions Only

8 Replies Related Threads
    Rain
    Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
    • Total Posts : 9736
    • Joined: 2003/11/07 05:10:12
    • Location: Las Vegas
    • Status: offline
    Re: Dolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics 2015/01/19 14:43:13 (permalink)
    With all due respect for the great lady, I'll stick to Edgar Allan Poe, who was also born on 01/19.
    I think I have better chances of improving my vocabulary. :P

    TCB - Tea, Cats, Books...
    #2
    bayoubill
    Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
    • Total Posts : 10899
    • Joined: 2009/04/27 06:11:12
    • Location: Shreveport Louisiana
    • Status: offline
    Re: Dolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics 2015/01/19 14:56:51 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby dubdisciple 2015/01/19 15:22:46
    I remember Dolly Parton on Porter Wagoner when I was a kid. I don't remember anything about her songs. All I remember is thinking " WOW! LOOK AT THAT"

    SWAMP MUSIC
    Sonar PLATINUM        
    Studio Cat DAW
     
     
          
      
     
    #3
    dubdisciple
    Max Output Level: -17 dBFS
    • Total Posts : 5849
    • Joined: 2008/01/29 00:31:46
    • Location: Seattle, Wa
    • Status: offline
    Re: Dolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics 2015/01/19 15:23:35 (permalink)
    bayoubill
    I remember Dolly Parton on Porter Wagoner when I was a kid. I don't remember anything about her songs. All I remember is thinking " WOW! LOOK AT THAT"


    I know this is shallow but i clicked on this because i thiught there woukd be pictures of how many define Miss Parton.
    #4
    bapu
    Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
    • Total Posts : 86000
    • Joined: 2006/11/25 21:23:28
    • Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
    • Status: offline
    Re: Dolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics 2015/01/19 18:29:18 (permalink)
    bayoubill
    I remember Dolly Parton on Porter Wagoner when I was a kid. I don't remember anything about her songs. All I remember is thinking " WOW! LOOK AT THAT"


    What? A duet?

    My name is Ed. I Am still bapu though.
    My Studio
     
    www.beyondmydaw.com
     
    The Forum Monkeys
    BJZ
    BBZ 
    The Coffee House Collaborators 
    Fizzy Pickle
    The Coffee House Band
    Stan Dupp and The Jennifer Tillies
    BAPU
    #5
    slartabartfast
    Max Output Level: -22.5 dBFS
    • Total Posts : 5289
    • Joined: 2005/10/30 01:38:34
    • Status: offline
    Re: Dolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics 2015/01/19 18:36:49 (permalink)
    Few people meeting Dolly would find their attention drawn first to her diction.
    #6
    bayoubill
    Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
    • Total Posts : 10899
    • Joined: 2009/04/27 06:11:12
    • Location: Shreveport Louisiana
    • Status: offline
    Re: Dolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics 2015/01/19 18:48:35 (permalink)
    bapu
    bayoubill
    I remember Dolly Parton on Porter Wagoner when I was a kid. I don't remember anything about her songs. All I remember is thinking " WOW! LOOK AT THAT"


    What? A duet?


    No, there was something wrong with her sweater! 

    SWAMP MUSIC
    Sonar PLATINUM        
    Studio Cat DAW
     
     
          
      
     
    #7
    Splat
    Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
    • Total Posts : 8672
    • Joined: 2010/12/29 15:28:29
    • Location: Mars.
    • Status: offline
    Re: Dolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics 2015/01/19 20:23:57 (permalink)
    How ironic now that at her gigs she hardly sings a note..

    Sell by date at 9000 posts. Do not feed.
    @48/24 & 128 buffers latency is 367 with offset of 38.

    Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.4,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),4 x Seagate ST31500341AS (mirrored),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5.Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1.Addictive Keys,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist.Acronis True Image 2014.
    #8
    craigb
    Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
    • Total Posts : 41704
    • Joined: 2009/01/28 23:13:04
    • Location: The Pacific Northwestshire
    • Status: offline
    Re: Dolly Parton: a musical career expressed through language statistics 2015/01/21 15:39:26 (permalink)
    What's really sad is if you were to do the same treatment for the current pop songs.  I wonder if you could even fill ten words on the list that didn't have to be censored...

     
    Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
    #9
    Jump to:
    © 2025 APG vNext Commercial Version 5.1