1

The Accent of John Lennon 5: British and American pronunciation in the songs

Shinji Sato

1.1 Introduction British rock singers seem to use a certain amount of American pronunciation in their songs. Considering the fact that a style of music called ‘rock’n’roll’ is said to have been originated in the United States in the nineteen fi fties, it is not surprising that British youngsters who listened to it were infl uenced in their style of singing. However, this phenomenon seems to be limited to a certain number of phonemes and lexical items. This study aims to investigate this issue in detail, using the songs of John Lennon as its material.

1.2 RP, GA and Liverpool accent John Lennon’s native accent is that of Liverpool, and there are some differences from the British standard accent sometimes referred to as Received Pronunciation（ RP）, and similarities to the accent called General American（ GA）. Some of the main diff erences and similarities are shown below. 2

Table 1 RP, GA and Liverpool accent Liverpool RP GA examples accent LOT vowel / 㷜 / / ɑ: / / 㷜 / got, not, want, what BATH vowel（1） / ɑ: / / æ / / æ / dance, laugh, path BATH vowel（2） / ɑ: / / æ / / ɑ: / can't, part, bar STRUT vowel / ʌ / / ʌ / / 㷚 / love, sun, come rhoticity non-rhotic rhotic non-rhotic hard, girl, more, there intervocalic /t/[ t ] [ 㶵 （] tap）[ 㶵 ]（ tap） better, getting, let it Note: LOT, BATH, and STRUT represent the keywords used by Wells（1982） . See Watt, Trudgill & Hughes（2013） for diff erent sets of words belonging to BATH vowel.

Therefore, it should be understood that John Lennon’s [æ] in laugh, for example, is his native accent, and is not the result of the influence of American accent or its imitation. The same is true of [ 㶵 ] in better, getting etc.

1.3 Phonemes and lexical items to be examined Listening to John Lennon and other British singers, many instances of using American pronunciation for its British counterpart seem to concern RP / 㷜 / vowel. Therefore, the following four lexical items, i.e. got, not, want, what, are selected to be examined in detail as they are frequently used in the songs. To this set, can’t is added, as this word appears to be pronounced in the American style, i.e. [kænt] in many songs. Other words with RP/ 㷜 / are randomly selected from his songs and studied as well for comparison. Only one token of the lexical items mentioned above per song is analyzed, as the same words tend to be pronounced in the same way in the songs. For example, only one instance of got is examined in a certain 3 song though it may appear many times. In some rare cases, both British and American pronunciations are use（ as in Tomorrow Never Knows in this study）. Two to three tokens per year are aimed for. However, due to the lack of material, this is not always achieved. As John Lennon moved to the United States in September 1971 after recording Imagine in July mainly in England, the years 1963 to 1971 may be referred to as ‘the UK years/ period’ etc., and the following years as ‘the US years/period’ etc. in this study. It may be taken for granted that John Lennon naturally uses the vowels, consonants, etc. of his native accent in his speech. However, a brief examination of his speech with respect to the lexical items mentioned above is given for comparison. Auditory analysis is chiefl y employed.

2 Results The results of the analysis are shown in Tables 2 to 8 and Figures 1 to 10.

2.1 Speech As shown in Figures 1, 2 and Table 2, all the tokens of got, not, want, what and can’t recorded in the UK have British vowels. With respect to what, the American [ ɑ: ] appeared after John Lennon moved to the United States（4 out of 5 tokens in this survey. See Figure 2 and Table 2）. In total, approximately 87.8 % of the tokens in the speech have British vowels. 4

Figure 1 Distribution of British and American vowels in the speech (number in the bar = number of tokens)

British vowel American vowel

got 6 0

not 6 0

want 5 0

what 6 4

can't 6 0

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 2 Distribution of [ ܥ ] and [ ş: ] for what in the speech (number in the bar = number of tokens)

ܥ ş:

1963-71(UK) 5 0

1972-80 (US) 1 4

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 5

Table 2 Distribution of British and American vowel in the speech got year residence phonetic quality source 1963 UK 㷜 The Mersey Sound 1966 UK 㷜 Chicago Press Conference 1970 UK 㷜 Rolling Stone interview 1975 USA 㷜 The Tomorrow Show 1975 USA 㷜 The Tomorrow Show 1975 USA 㷜 The Tomorrow Show not year residence phonetic quality source 1963 UK 㷜 The Mersey Sound 1963 UK 㷜 The Mersey Sound 1970 UK 㷜 Rolling Stone interview 1975 USA 㷜 The Tomorrow Show 1975 USA 㷜 The Tomorrow Show 1980 USA 㷜 Rolling Stone interview want year residence phonetic quality source 1968 UK 㷜 Larry Kane Interview 1970 UK 㷜 Rolling Stone interview 1970 UK 㷜 Rolling Stone interview 1980 USA 㷜 Rolling Stone interview 1980 USA 㷜 Playboy Interview 6

what year residence phonetic quality source 1963 UK 㷜 The Mersey Sound 1966 UK 㷜 Chicago Press Conference 1966 UK 㷜 Chicago Press Conference 1970 UK 㷜 Rolling Stone interview 1970 UK 㷜 Rolling Stone interview 1975 USA ɑ: The Tomorrow Show 1975 USA ɑ: The Tomorrow Show 1980 USA ɑ: Playboy Interview 1980 USA 㷜 Playboy Interview 1980 USA ɑ: Rolling Stone interview

can't year residence phonetic quality source 1963 UK ɑ: The Mersey Sound 1964 UK ɑ: interview before the fi rst US tour 1970 UK ɑ: Rolling Stone interview 1980 USA ɑ: Rolling Stone interview 1980 USA ɑ: Rolling Stone interview 1980 USA ɑ: Rolling Stone interview

2.2 Songs 2.2.1 got With regard to this item, the outcome of the song analysis is the complete opposite of the speech analysis. As shown in Figure 3 and Table 3, the American [ ɑ: ] is used for all the tokens in the songs, both in the UK and the US years, in contrast to 100% use of the British [ 㷜 ] in the speech. 7

Figure 3 Distribution of [ ܥ ] and [ ş: ] for got in the songs (number in the bar = number of tokens)

ܥ ş:

total 0 22

1963-71(UK) 0 8

1970-71(US) 0 14

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Table 3 Distribution of [ 㷜 ] and [ ɑ: ] for got in the songs year phonetic quality title 1963 ɑ: All I’ve Got To Do 1964 ɑ: I Should Have Known Better 1964 ɑ: You Can’t Do That 1965 ɑ: Ticket To Ride 1965 ɑ: You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away 1966 ɑ: And Your Bird Can Sing 1967 ɑ: Good Morning Good Morning 1968 ɑ: I’m So Tired 1968 ɑ: Revolution 1969 ɑ: Dig A Pony 8

1969 ɑ: One After 909 1969 ɑ: Come Together 1970 ɑ: Mother 1971 ɑ: How? 1972 ɑ: Sunday Bloody Sunday 1972 ɑ: John Sinclair 1973 ɑ: Mind Games 1973 ɑ: Bring On The Lucie 1974 ɑ: What You Got 1974 ɑ: Going Down On Love 1974 ɑ: Nobody Loves You（ When You’re Down And Out） 1980 ɑ: I’m Losing You

2.2.2 not Once again the result is at variance with the speech analysis. The majority of the tokens in the songs have the American [ ɑ: ]（75% in total）. As set out in Figure 4 and Table 4, all the four instances with the British [ 㷜 ] occurred in the songs recorded in the UK years. 9

Figure 4 Distribution of [ ܥ ] and [ ş: ] for not in the songs (number in the bar = number of tokens)

ܥ ş:

total 4 12

1963-71(UK) 4 9

1972-80 (US) 0 3

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Table 4 Distribution of [㷜] and [ɑ:] for not in the songs year phonetic quality title 1963 ɑ: Not A Second Time 1963 ɑ: Ask Me Why 1964 ɑ: I Call Your Name 1964 ɑ: I’m A Loser 1965 ɑ: Nowhere Man 1965 ɑ: In My Life 1966 㷜, ɑ: Tomorrow Never Knows 1967 㷜 Strawberry Fields Forever 1968 ɑ: Happiness Is A Warm Gun 1969 㷜 One After 909 1971 ɑ: How? 10

1971 㷜 Jealous Guy 1972 ɑ: Sunday Bloody Sunday 1972 ɑ: Attica State 1973 ɑ: Mind Games

2.2.3 want In contrast to the two items reviewed above, the British [ 㷜 ] has the majority for this item in the songs. Its proportion is 75 % in total, and is higher in the UK songs（ some 86.6%）, decreases in the US period to some 55.5 %（ see Figure 5 and Table 5）.

Figure 5 Distribution of [ ܥ ] and [ ş: ] for want in the songs (number in the bar = number of tokens)

ܥ ş:

total 18 6

1963-71(UK) 13 2

1972-80 (US) 5 4

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 11

Table 5 Distribution of [㷜] and [ɑ:] for want in the songs year phonetic quality title 1963 㷜 All I’ve Got To Do 1963 㷜 Please Please Me 1963 㷜 Ask Me Why 1965 㷜 Girl 1965 㷜 Nowhere Man 1966 㷜 And Your Bird Can Sing 1967 ɑ: Good Morning Good Morning 1968 㷜 Yer Blues 1968 㷜 Revolution 1969 㷜 Dig A Pony 1970 㷜 Mother 1970 ɑ: Working Class Hero 1971 㷜 Power To The People 1971 㷜 Jealous Guy 1971 㷜 I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier 1972 㷜 Attica State 1973 㷜 Mind Games 1973 㷜 Bring On The Lucie 1973 ɑ: Only People 1974 ɑ: What You Got 1974 㷜 Scared 1980 ɑ: I Don’t Wanna Face It 1980 ɑ: I’m Losing You 1980 㷜 Real Love

2.2.4 what Similar to got, the American [ ɑ: ] is used for most of the tokens in the songs（19 out of 20 tokens, i.e. 95%）. A single British [ 㷜 ] occurred in the UK years（ see Table 6, 1968, ‘Revolution’）. Dissimilar to got, however, 12 the proportion of the American [ ɑ: ] in the speech is 40% in total, which increases to 80 % in the US speech as shown in Figure 2 above. The results are also at odds with the ‘British [ 㷜 ] for speech and American [ ɑ: ] for songs’ pattern generally found in this investigation.

Figure 6 Distribution of [ ܥ ] and [ ş: ] for what in the songs (number in the bar = number of tokens)

ܥ ş:

total 1 19

1963-71(UK) 1 12

1972-80 (US) 0 7

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 13

Figure 7 Distribution of [ ܥ ] and [ ş: ] for what in the speech (number in the bar = number of tokens) ܥ ş:

total 6 4

1963-71(UK) 5 0

1972-80 (US) 1 4

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Table 6 Distribution of [㷜] and [ɑ:] for what in the songs year phonetic quality title 1964 ɑ: I Should Have Known Better 1964 ɑ: I’m A Loser 1965 ɑ: Yes It Is 1965 ɑ: Nowhere Man 1966 ɑ: She Said She Said 1967 ɑ: Good Morning Good Morning 1968 ɑ: Yer Blues 1968 ɑ: I’m So Tired 1968 ɑ: The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill 1968 㷜 Revolution 1969 ɑ: Come Together 1970 ɑ: Mother 14

1971 ɑ: How? 1972 ɑ: Sunday Bloody Sunday 1972 ɑ: John Sinclair 1972 ɑ: Attica State 1973 ɑ: Bring On The Lucie 1974 ɑ: What You Got 1974 ɑ: Nobody Loves You（ When You’re Down And Out） 1980 ɑ: I’m Losing You

2.2.5 can’t A very similar outcome to what with respect to the song analysis. As shown in Figure 8, the American [ æ ] is used for most of the tokens in the songs（17 out of 18 tokens, i.e. approximately 94.4%）. A single British [ 㷜 ] occurred in the UK years（ see Table 7, 1967, ‘All You Need Is Love’）. Unlike what, however, and the same as got, the British [ ɑ: ] is used for all the tokens in the speech. 15

Figure 8 Distribution of [ܤ:] and [æ] for can't in the songs (number in the bar = number of tokens)

ş: æ

total 1 17

1963-71(UK) 1 10

1972-80 (US) 0 7

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Table 7 Distribution of [ɑ:] and [ æ ] for can't in the songs year phonetic quality title 1963 æ Misery 1963 æ Ask Me Why 1964 æ I Call Your Name 1964 æ I Should Have Known Better 1964 æ You Can’t Do That 1965 æ You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away 1966 æ And Your Bird Can Sing 1967 æ Strawberry Fields Forever 1967 ɑ: All You Need Is Love 1968 æ I’m So Tired 1970 æ Working Class Hero 16

1973 æ Mind Games 1973 æ Only People 1974 æ Going Down On Love 1974 æ Nobody Loves You（ When You’re Down And Out） 1980 æ I Don’t Wanna Face It 1980 æ Starting Over 1980 æ I’m Losing You

2.2.6 Other RP/ 㷜 / words Of the 37 tokens randomly selected from John Lennon’s songs, approximately 29.7% have the American [ ɑ: ]（ Figure 9）, which is much lower than the fi gures found for got（100%） , not（75 %）, what（95%） , and can’t（94.4 %）, and somewhat similar to the outcome for want（25%） . This proportion of the American vowel（ i.e. 29.7%） is, however, higher than the fi gures found for the American pronunciation in the speech（ Figure 10）. 17

Figure 9 Distribution of [ ܥ ] and [ ş: ] for other RP / ܥ / words in the songs (number in the bar = number of tokens)

ܥ ş:

total 26 11

1963-71(UK) 17 7

1972-80 (US) 9 4

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Table 8 Distribution of [㷜] and [ɑ:] for other RP / 㷜 / words in the songs year phonetic quality lexical item title 1963 㷜 lost Misery 1963 㷜 sorrow There's A Place 1963 ɑ: tomorrow There's A Place 1964 㷜 lost I’m A Loser 1964 㷜 cross I’m A Loser 1964 ɑ: lot I Should Have Known Better 1965 㷜 stop In My Life 1965 㷜 promise Girl 1966 ɑ: doctor Doctor Robert 18

1966 㷜 Robert Doctor Robert 1967 㷜 watch Good Morning Good Morning 1967 㷜 clock Good Morning Good Morning 1968 㷜 letterbox Across The Universe 1968 㷜 stop I’m So Tired 1968 㷜 solitude Hey Bulldog 1969 ɑ: top Come Together 1969 㷜 stop Mean Mister Mustard 1969 㷜 promise Cold Turkey 1970 ɑ: top Working Class Hero 1970 㷜 odd Working Class Hero 1970 㷜 follow Working Class Hero 1970 ɑ: knock Instant Karma 1971 㷜 swallow Jealous Guy 1971 ɑ: watch Gimme Some Truth 1972 㷜 confi dence Woman Is The Nigger Of The World 1972 ɑ: shot Sunday Bloody Sunday 1972 ɑ: lot Sunday Bloody Sunday 1973 㷜 doctor Meat City 1973 㷜 tommorrow Meat City 1973 㷜 promise Aisumimasen Nobody Loves You（ When You’re 1974 㷜 doctor Down And Out） 1974 ɑ: watch Whatever Get You Thru The Night 1974 㷜 hot Old Dirt Road 1980 㷜 monster Beautiful Boy 1980 㷜 lost I’m Losing You 1980 㷜 stop I’m Losing You 1980 ɑ: god Cleanup Time 19

3. Conclusion The data presented here demonstrates that John Lennon uses a certain proportion of American pronunciation in his songs, which is considerably higher than the percentages found in his speech（ see Figure 10）. With respect to the four of the fi ve lexical items examined in detail, that is, got, not, what, and can’t, the use of American vowels predominate in the songs. As to the other words which have / 㷜 / in RP, approximately 29.7% have the American [ ɑ: ] in the songs, which is higher than the outcome found in the speech analysis of the fi ve words. As mentioned in Introduction above, similar use of American pronunciation may be the case with other British rock singers. The investigation of its detail as a part of American infl uence on British English, and the interaction between those two varieties of English may be a topic of some interest.

Figure 10 speech, 5 words and other/ ܥ /s in the songs

British vowel American vowel

speech 29 4

five words 24 76 (songs)

other RP / ܥ /s 26 11 (songs)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 20

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