The Singing Dictionary

September 8, 2005 5:37 AM

Dictionaraoke. Your favorite songs, as performed by the audio pronunciation samples from online dictionaries.
posted by CunningLinguist (48 comments total)

An oldie, but goodie. It's made many a mixtape shine for me.
posted by FreezBoy at 5:39 AM on September 8, 2005

"Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang" by Dr. Dre is maddening.
posted by Necker at 5:43 AM on September 8, 2005

Oh man. This is awesome.
posted by sciurus at 5:46 AM on September 8, 2005

oh wow. missed it the first time. this is brilliant.
posted by blendor at 5:49 AM on September 8, 2005

It's sort of like a sing-a-long with a Speak & Spell. Or Stephen Hawking. Sweet!
posted by steef at 5:53 AM on September 8, 2005

Very cool.
posted by DBAPaul at 5:54 AM on September 8, 2005

Interestingly enough, this lacks any of my favorite songs. In fact, it has very few that I even recognize. I should stop missing out on pop culture, I guess.
posted by Citizen Premier at 5:58 AM on September 8, 2005

South of Heaven is still my fave - that awesome MIDI vibrato in the intro, the completely random-sounding transcription of Kerry King's solo, the cop out of "cunning" in the lyrics...
posted by Wolfdog at 6:02 AM on September 8, 2005

taaake. Ooooon. Meeeeee??


Dude there is an icy hot stuntaz song on there.
posted by glenwood at 6:03 AM on September 8, 2005

The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was largely a capella -- here, they cheated and used a synthesizer for some rhythm and the melody, otherwise it would've been unrecognizable. By contrast, "Wipeout" by the Surfaris is mostly an instrumental piece -- except there's the giddy laughter at the beginning, which sounds like alien brain-damage victims as presented here. The Smiths' "How Soon is Now" is actually pretty better as a spoken piece.
posted by alumshubby at 6:16 AM on September 8, 2005

Anybody else getting a William Shatner vibe from these?
posted by papercake at 6:43 AM on September 8, 2005

Oh my god, I'm finding Aqua's "Barbie Girl" horribly, horribly entertaining.
posted by Justinian at 6:47 AM on September 8, 2005

dreadful. beautiful. but dreadful.
posted by bugmuncher at 6:48 AM on September 8, 2005

Hey Greg Ginn f**k you, classic.
posted by phirleh at 6:58 AM on September 8, 2005

Very nice! Thanks for the post.
posted by OmieWise at 7:02 AM on September 8, 2005

The cover of Closer is priceless.
posted by voltairemodern at 7:05 AM on September 8, 2005

Lovely. Thank you.
posted by Jesse H Christ at 7:17 AM on September 8, 2005

Genius. Just listening to Waterloo. Thanks!
posted by carter at 7:20 AM on September 8, 2005

I for one am completely outraged by this blatant double post. It's flouting mathowie's law and purposefully sets a bad precedent. Shame on you, CunningLinguist.







Just kidding. Good find.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 7:29 AM on September 8, 2005

Ah, precious memories. Good find now that they're found new hosting for the files.
posted by GuyZero at 7:45 AM on September 8, 2005

Very very good.
posted by BackwardsCity at 7:47 AM on September 8, 2005

I am in love with my computer all over again. Awesome post.
posted by Jazznoisehere at 7:48 AM on September 8, 2005

Now I have heard the authoritative version of "Wild Thing."
posted by Tuwa at 8:04 AM on September 8, 2005

I love the "ha. ha." at the beginning of "Anarchy in the UK".
posted by ITheCosmos at 8:11 AM on September 8, 2005

"Highway to Hell" is a scream.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:14 AM on September 8, 2005

"She Blinded Me With Science" is really making me happy at the moment. Thanks CL.
posted by SashaPT at 8:27 AM on September 8, 2005

"Copacabana" is making me grin from ear to ear.
posted by orange swan at 8:35 AM on September 8, 2005

Rock. . the. . . casbah - is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:44 AM on September 8, 2005

Beastie Boys' "Girls" has a couple extra words slipped in. "deconstruction" and "dictionary" I think.

Also, "No. Dark. Sar. casm. In. The. Classroom." and "Wrong...Do. It. Again." are hilarious lyrics.
posted by Jesse H Christ at 8:45 AM on September 8, 2005

The paraphrasing on "How Soon is Now" is even better than the original lyrics... "I am a person and I require affection." Whee!
posted by postmodernmillie at 8:45 AM on September 8, 2005

Thesauraoke.
posted by Jesse H Christ at 8:53 AM on September 8, 2005

I guess maybe I'm an outsider on this one but these didn't quite do it for me... as optimistic as I was when I saw the site. The samples weren't really fudged much to the melodies so they just came across as kind of kludgy and grating.
posted by rolypolyman at 9:31 AM on September 8, 2005

I had the great honor of going to college with the fella who did the first Dictionaraoke song. Weirdly gifted soul, with a vast musical and technical knowledge. This may be his apotheosis.

That said, I have to admit that my favorite song on the site was mixed by another--"Word Up" just cracks me up with its earnestness.
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:32 AM on September 8, 2005

Hahaha. Love "Closer" one. You. Can Have. My. Isolation! As well as the aforementioned "How Soon is Now".
posted by kryptondog at 9:33 AM on September 8, 2005

steef wrote: It's sort of like a sing-a-long with a Speak & Spell.

Ahhh! Just brought back a bad memory from childhood for me there.

I still remember being frustrated that machine.

Example:

"spell honor"

h-o-n-o-u-r

"wrong, try again"

h-o-n-o-u-r

"that is INCORRECT!"

"the correct spelling of honor is h-o-n-o-r."

"Now try "colour""

I did however like dictionaraoke. It's scary how it improves some songs.
posted by spnx at 9:40 AM on September 8, 2005

Girl from Ipanema works very well--the dispassionate tone echoes the Girl, and the syncopation is way cool.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:45 AM on September 8, 2005

"What's New Pussycat" wins. (Whoa. whoa-whoa.)
posted by taz at 9:56 AM on September 8, 2005

Sweet.
posted by safetyfork at 11:04 AM on September 8, 2005

John Cage "4:33"

har har.
posted by Who_Am_I at 11:07 AM on September 8, 2005

Haha, The Beatles Michelle really cracks me up. The French section is great.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:34 AM on September 8, 2005

Oh wow, and there's even an added a canon section at the end. Nice.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:37 AM on September 8, 2005

Weird. The Girl From Ipanema reminds me of the Kompressor version...
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 1:07 PM on September 8, 2005

This is so great. Every single song is a gem. Thanks!
posted by LeeJay at 1:34 PM on September 8, 2005

holy fuck.

the "nothin' but a g thang" one is truly the prize jewel of the lot.
posted by shmegegge at 2:59 PM on September 8, 2005

This is the best thing I have heard in ages. Oh yeah. ("Senses Working Overtime" was great!)
posted by litlnemo at 3:27 PM on September 8, 2005

I enjoyed, "Blinded Me with Science" but I kept hesitating, expecting at any time to hear "I'm sorry, your call can not be completed as dialed..." =)
posted by deemer at 7:10 PM on September 8, 2005

This is in very poor taste, but if there's a Throat Cancer Fund, I have an idea for a Christmas carol CD....
posted by rob511 at 7:18 PM on September 8, 2005

I'm so glad the files are back online -- this site was down for the longest time. Hadn't thought about this in years, literally. Thanks!
posted by Vidiot at 9:17 PM on September 8, 2005