Scatting: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Bada bada bwi ba ba bada bo. Baba ba da bo. Bwi ba ba bada bo. Baba ba da bo."''|'''[[Scatman John]]''', ''"Scatman!"''}}
|'''[[Scatman John]]''', ''"Scatman!"''}}
 
'''Scatting''' is vocalization that isn't lyrics. It is, for the most part, improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables, whistling, [[Careful with That Axe|screaming]], or even humming without words at all. Scatting gives the singer a chance to improvise his own melody and rhythm, basically creating the vocal equivalent to an instrumental solo.
 
Scatting is vocalization that isn't lyrics. It is, for the most part, improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables, whistling, [[Careful with That Axe|screaming]], or even humming without words at all. Scatting gives the singer a chance to improvise his own melody and rhythm, basically creating the vocal equivalent to an instrumental solo.
Compare [[Indecipherable Lyrics]] and [[Word Salad Lyrics]]. Many [[Lyrical Tic]]s are this.
{{examples}}
 
{{examples}}
== Music ==
* This is a major component in [[Jazz]] music.
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* Ponytail do these kinds of songs exclusively: their vocals generally consist of "ooh", "whooo!", nonsense syllables and screaming - although "Sky Drool" starts with a very clear "mmm baby, mmm mmm".
* [[Lamb of God]]'s "Black Label". Even with the lyrics handy, you can hardly make out what Randy Blythe is singing there.
* Focus' song "Hocus Pocus" has a Dutch man yodeling as the only lyrics. And it's ''[[Crowning Music of Awesome|awesome]]''.
* It picked up real words by the time it appeared on an album, but the lyrics to [[Weezer]]'s "Burndt Jamb" were originally just "do" and "ah". The ''Maladroit'' version did still retain some scatting in the backing vocals ("doot do doo doo").
* Projects related to musician [[Mike Patton]] almost always feature at least a little bit of this. As the title might suggest, Mr Bungle's "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz". "Chemical Marriage" off of the same album is just scat singing. At one point in time you could have sent two dollars to a P.O. box listed in the Disco Volante liner notes to get some stickers and the "lyrics" to "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz" and "Chemical Marriage."
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* Very nearly the complete works of Meredith Monk except for ''Do You Be''. The only actual lyrics in Monk's brilliant "Book of Days" are a humming "these things, these things, these things" and a rhythmic, rising-and-falling "come and go and go and come and come and go and go and come". I am ready to swear there is an entire stanza of "hop bdlyena hop bdlyena hop bdlyena hop pah, hop bdlyena hop bdlyena hop bdlyena hop pah ... "
* "Give It Up" by KC and the Sunshine Band. "Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na, baby, give it up..."
* [[REM|R.E.M.'s]]'s "Endgame" is mostly instrumental, aside from some wordless harmonizing and Michael Stipe singing variants on "ba ba ba" a few times.
* "Rubber Biscuit" by the Chips. If you don't know it, you might be more familiar with the Blues Brothers versions. [https://web.archive.org/web/20200122142820/https://www.phenix.bnl.gov/WWW/tracking/pc/rubber_biscuit.htm The original does have lyrics of sorts, though...]
* "Centerfold" by the [[J Geils Band]] has a Scatting part right after the second chorus and one near the end.
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== Film ==
* Played with in ''[[The Simpsons]] Movie]]'': as [[Green Day]] perform the Simpsons theme, the 'lyrics' are shown on their prompter as a scrolling wall of "Da Da Da Da Da Da..."
* Some of the ''[[Coraline (animation)|Coraline]]'' songs fit. Try [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxs2vS2gJ-c&feature=player_embedded Exploration] and the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnIUVHtLC08&feature=player_embedded end credits song].
* [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s one and only speaking role as [[The Tramp]] in ''[[Modern Times]]'' features him singing a gibberish song that sounds vaguely French/Italian. Chaplin didn't want the character to be limited by language barriers.
* Most of the musical score of ''Winged Migration'' is Scat... sometimes it's even hard to distinguish from percussions. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc_qpk2d-ao&feature=PlayList&p=36636ACDD5863876&playnext=1&index=17 The trailer].
** The composer, Bruno Coulais, also did the ''[[Coraline (animation)|Coraline]]'' soundtrack.
* "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a" from ''[[High School Musical]] 2'' has the Hawaiian gibberish lines "maka hiki mala hini hu" and "waka waka waka niki pu pu".
 
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* The intro and outtro of "Setting Your Sights" from ''Vanities: A New Musical'', as well as the ending of "Looking Good", use "do do da da da" singing.
* "Alleluia" from [[Leonard Bernstein]]'s ''Mass'' is mostly scat syllables sung in canon.
* "Da Doo" from ''[[Little Shop of Horrors (theater)|Little Shop of Horrors]]''.
* In ''[[Fiddler on the Roof]]'', "If I Were A Rich Man" represents some sort of Yiddish version of this trope.
 
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* ''[[Beyond Good & Evil (video game)|Beyond Good and Evil]]''
* Venus's song in ''[[EarthBound]]''.
* The background music to the "Secret of..." levels in ''[[Super Mario Bros.|Super Mario Sunshine]]'' is "Do-do-do" sung to the tune of the classic Mario theme.
** The choir added into the [[Big Bad|Bowser]] battle themes from both ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' and ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' whenever Bowser takes damage.
* The original ''Aria di Mezzo Carattere'' from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]''.
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* Bradford Marsalis capped off his ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]'' appearance by leading the cast in a round-robin scat session (although [[Comedic Sociopathy|Zorak had to threaten him with a laser rifle first]]).
* The opening theme to [[The Tick (animation)]]. Bop TWEEE-dot-dot-dot TWEEE dah!
* [[Popeye (cartoon)|Popeye]] had a charming habit of scatting to himself as he went about his business.
* This is a characteristic of the [[Devo|Mothersbaugh Brothers]], such as their work on ''[[Rugrats]]''.
 
 
== Literature ==
* The [[Discworld|Ankh-Morpork]] national anthem, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120413140233/http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/We_Can_Rule_You_Wholesale We Can Rule You Wholesale], has a second verse composed almost entirely of gibberish. It was written that way because the writer figured people would [[Indecipherable Lyrics|sing it that way]] anyway. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAqCbOJc6RU performed it].
* Dada poet Kurt Schwitters wrote a fairly long poem called Eine Sonata mit Urlauten ("a sonata with primitive words") that goes on for quite some time like this. The lyric sheet is pretty amazing, being made mostly of consonants. NNZKT RNS KRMU!