In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing. A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs. The lyrics (words) of songs are typically of a poetic, rhyming nature, though they may be religious verses or free prose.

A song may be for a solo singer, a duet, trio, or larger ensemble involving more voices. Songs with more than one voice to a part are considered choral works. Songs can be broadly divided into many different forms, depending on the criteria used. One division is between "art songs", "pop songs", and "folk songs". Other common methods of classification are by purpose (sacred vs secular), by style (dance, ballad, Lied, etc.), or by time of origin (Renaissance, Contemporary, etc.).

A song is a piece of music for accompanied or unaccompanied voice or voices or, "the act or art of singing," but the term is generally not used for large vocal forms including opera and oratorio. However, the term is, "often found in various figurative and transferred sense (e.g. for the lyrical second subject of a sonata...)." The word "song" has the same etymological root as the verb "to sing" and the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') defines the word to mean "that which is sung".

Cultural types

Art songs

Art songs are songs created for performance in their own right, usually with piano accompaniment, although they can also have other types of accompaniment such as an orchestra or string quartet, and are always notated. Generally they have an identified author(s) and composer and require voice training for acceptable performances. German-speaking communities use the term art song ("Kunstlied") to distinguish so-called "serious" compositions from folk song ("Volkslied"). The lyrics are often written by a poet or lyricist and the music separately by a composer. Art songs may be more formally complicated than popular or folk songs, though many early Lieder by the likes of Franz Schubert are in simple strophic form. They are often important to national identity. Art songs feature in many European cultures, including but not limited to: Russian (romancy), German (Lieder), Italian (canzoni), French (mélodies), Scandinavian (sånger), Portuguese (canções), Spanish (canciones). There are also highly regarded British and American art songs in the English language. Cultures outside of Europe that have a classical music tradition, such as India, may or may not feature art songs. The accompaniment of European art songs is considered as an important part of the composition. The art song of the period in which they originally flowered is often a duet in which the vocalist and accompanist share in interpretive importance. The pieces were most often written to be performed in a home or salon setting, although today the works enjoy popularity as concert pieces. The emergence of poetry during this era was much of what inspired the creation of these pieces by Brahms, Schumann, Schubert and other composers. These composers set poems in their native language. Many works were inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Heinrich Heine. Another method would be to write new music for each stanza to create a unique form; this was through-composed form known in German as ''durchkomponiert''. A combination of both of these techniques in a single setting was called a modified strophic form. Often romantic art songs sharing similar elements were grouped as a song cycle.

Folk songs

Folk songs are songs of often anonymous origin (or are public domain) that are transmitted orally. They are frequently a major aspect of national or cultural identity. Art songs often approach the status of folk songs when people forget who the author was. Folk songs are also frequently transmitted non-orally (that is, as sheet music), especially in the modern era. Folk songs exist in almost every, if not all, culture(s). For more on folk songs, see Folk music.

Popular songs

Modern popular songs are typically distributed as recordings, and are played on the radio, though all other mass media that have audio capabilities are involved. Their relative popularity is inferred from commercially significant sales of recordings, ratings of stations and networks that play them, and ticket sales for concerts by the recording artists. A popular song can become a modern folk song when members of the public who learn to sing it from the recorded version teach their version to others. Popular songs may be called pop songs for short, although pop songs or pop music may instead be considered a more commercially popular genre of popular music as a whole. Many people consider songs in popular music to have in general simpler structures than art songs, however, musicologists who are "both contemptuous and condescending [of popular music] are looking for types of production, musical form, and listening which they associate with a different kind of music...'classical music'...and [thus] they generally find popular music lacking".

See also

Air (music)

Animal song: bird song, whale song, zoomusicology

Aria

Ballad

Canticle

:Category:Musical forms

Hymn

Lied

Madrigal (music)

Song structure (popular music)

Vocal music

Theme song

Poem and song

References

Further reading

Marcello Sorce Keller (1984), "The Problem of Classification in Folksong Research: a Short History", Folklore, XCV, no. 1, 100- 104.

ar:أغنية an:Canta arc:ܙܡܝܪܬܐ ay:Q'uchu az:Mahnı bəstələyənlər ba:Йыр be:Песня be-x-old:Песьня bg:Песен bs:Pjesma br:Kanaouenn ca:Cançó cv:Юрă cs:Píseň cy:Cân da:Sang de:Lied et:Laul el:Τραγούδι es:Canción eo:Kanto fa:ترانه fr:Chanson gd:Òran gl:Canción ko:노래 hy:Երգ hi:गीत hr:Pjesma io:Kansono id:Lagu ia:Canto is:Lag it:Canzone (musica) he:פזמון krc:Джыр ka:სიმღერა sw:Wimbo ku:Stran ky:Ыр la:Carmen lv:Dziesma lb:Lidd lt:Daina lmo:Canson hu:Dal ml:ഗാനം ms:Lagu nah:Cuīcatl nl:Lied ja:歌 no:Sang nn:Song nrm:Caunchoun oc:Cançon mhr:Муро pnb:گانا ps:سندره nds:Leed (Musik) pl:Piosenka pt:Canção ro:Cântec qu:Rimay taki rue:Пісня ru:Песня sq:Kënga scn:Canzuna (mùsica) simple:Song sk:Pieseň szl:Pjosynka so:Hees ckb:گۆرانی sr:Песма sh:Pjesma fi:Laulu (teos) sv:Sång tl:Awitin ta:பாட்டு te:పాట th:เพลง tr:Şarkı (edebiyat) uk:Пісня ur:گیت vi:Bài hát wa:Tchanson war:Karantahon yi:ליד zh-yue:歌 bat-smg:Dainė zh:歌曲

name	T.N.T.
type	studio
artist	AC/DC
cover	ACDC-TNT.jpg
released	December 1975 (Australia only)
recorded	July 1975, Albert Studios, Sydney
genre	Hard rock, blues rock, rock and roll
length	41:55
label	Albert
producer	Harry Vanda, George Young
last album	''High Voltage''(1975)
this album	''T.N.T.''(1975)
next album	''High Voltage''(1976) }}

''T.N.T.'' is the second studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released in December 1975. Seven of the album's nine songs were written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott. "Can I Sit Next to You Girl" was written by Young & Young, and "School Days" is a cover version of a Chuck Berry song.

It was originally released on Albert Productions, and was never reissued by another label. However, most of its contents were included on Atlantic Records' ''High Voltage'' album, which was released internationally in May 1976.

Overview

''T.N.T.'' marked a change in direction from AC/DC's debut album, ''High Voltage'', which was released in February 1975. Whereas ''High Voltage'' featured more of a glam rock-influenced sound, ''T.N.T.'' saw the band fully embrace the formula for which they would become famous: hard-edged, rhythm & blues-based rock 'n' roll. This album contains some of the band's best-known songs, including the title track, "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)", "The Jack", "Rocker", and "High Voltage".

Two singles were released from the album – "High Voltage" (July 1975) and "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" (December 1975). "High Voltage" was the first song written and recorded for the album, the title inspired by that of the previous album. Issued as the first single before the ''T.N.T.'' sessions began, many fans thought it was from ''High Voltage''. Chris Gilbey of Albert Productions later claimed this caused a late surge in that album's sales. ''T.N.T'' was released in a gatefold sleeve, with the inside depicting the various members on mock-ups of police identification cards, listing apparent aliases and partially obscured personal details including birthdates (only Bon Scott's is readily visible and Angus Young's birthyear is shown as 1959 (not 1955) in keeping with his schoolboy persona as this made him appear 16 instead of his real age of 20).

''T.N.T.'' also led to more AC/DC appearances on Australia's ''Countdown'' music programme, following those in support of the Australian ''High Voltage'' album. These appearances included a live performance of the song "T.N.T.", as well as a music video for "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)". Filmed on 1976, the video featured the band's then-current lineup, along with members of the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band, on the back of a flat-bed truck travelling on Swanston Street in Melbourne, Australia. On 2004, Melbourne's Corporation Lane was renamed ACDC Lane as a tribute to AC/DC, with the decision being based in part on this video.

International release

''T.N.T.'' is the only Australian AC/DC studio album for which there is no international counterpart. However, seven of its nine songs comprise the international version of ''High Voltage'', released in May 1976. The other two, "Rocker" and "School Days", saw worldwide release as part of ''Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap'''s international version (1976/1981) and the ''Bonfire'' box set (1997) respectively.

Track listing

All songs composed by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott, except where noted.

# "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" – 5:15 # "Rock 'n' Roll Singer" – 5:04 # "The Jack" – 5:52 # "Live Wire" – 5:49 # "T.N.T." – 3:34 # "Rocker" – 2:55 # "Can I Sit Next to You Girl" (Young, Young) – 4:12 # "High Voltage" – 4:22 # "School Days" (Chuck Berry) – 5:23

Original release vs. remastered release

The original 1975 LP release featured longer versions of "Can I Sit Next to You Girl", "High Voltage" and "Rocker" compared to the versions heard on later CD releases:

"Rocker" originally cuts out abruptly at 2:55 as the riff hits its peak, but on the 1986 CD release and the 1995 remastered CD release the song fades out at 2:51 before the cut.

"High Voltage" originally finished with a sustained guitar note followed by a single hit of the snare drum. This version was included on the 1986 CD release, however the 1995 remastered CD release contains the version heard on the international ''High Voltage'' album release, which has the song fade out before the sustained note.

Both of these original versions were finally released worldwide on the 2009 box set ''Backtracks'', but actually, both songs only fade out later than the international versions, not being the complete Australian releases.

Songs

The version of "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" was edited down from an extended jam by producer George Young. The inclusion of the bagpipes was his idea, to add an extra dynamic to the track. Bon Scott had played in a pipe band in his teens, so George suggested he play bagpipes on the song, not realising that Scott had been a drummer, not a piper. Regardless, Scott – who knew how to play the recorder – learned the instrument and went on to play them on stage with the band for several years.

The lyrics of "The Jack" (sometimes titled "(She's Got) The Jack") were developed by Scott who was inspired by a letter Malcolm Young received during a tour of Adelaide. The letter, from a woman in Melbourne, implied that Malcolm had given her a venereal disease, however he claims that when he got tested, he was clean. Scott's original lyrics were far more explicit than those on the album, which he deliberately toned down in case the song got played on radio.

The chanting in "T.N.T." was added after George Young heard Angus Young ad-libbing the "oi" chant to himself, and suggested he record it.

"Can I Sit Next to You Girl" features a different arrangement and slightly different lyrics from the original version that was released in 1974 as the band's first single with Dave Evans on vocals. It also runs almost a minute longer than the first version.

Sales chart performance

;Album

Chart (1975) !! Peak Position
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart

Personnel

Bon Scott – lead vocals, bagpipes on "It's a Long Way to the Top"

Angus Young – lead guitar

Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Mark Evans – bass guitar, backing vocals

Phil Rudd – drums, percussion

with

Harry Vanda – production

George Young – production

References

Covered

Canadian punk rock band Dayglo Abortions covered "The Jack" from this album for the tribute to AC/DC entitled ''A Punk Rock Tribute to AC/DC''. Also, Canadian thrash metal band Annihilator covered "Live Wire" on a recorded live concert on the album ''Bag of Tricks''.

External links

Lyrics on AC/DC's official website

Category:AC/DC albums Category:1975 albums

br:T.N.T. (pladenn) bg:T.N.T. (албум) cs:T.N.T. (album) da:T.N.T. (album) de:T.N.T. (Album) es:T.N.T. (álbum) fr:T.N.T. (album) it:T.N.T. hu:T.N.T. (album) no:T.N.T. pl:T.N.T. pt:T.N.T. (álbum) ru:T.N.T. simple:T.N.T. (album) fi:T.N.T. sv:T.N.T. tr:T.N.T. (albüm) uk:T.N.T.

name	Taio Cruz
background	solo_singer
born	April 23, 1983)
birth name	Jacob Taio Cruz
birth place	London, England, UK
genre	Electropop, R&B;, hip hop soul
occupation	Singer-songwriter, record producer, rapper, entrepreneur
years active	2002–present
label	Rokstarr Entertainment Division, Island, Republic, Mercury (US)
associated acts	Luciana Caporaso, Ludacris, David Guetta, Cheryl Cole, McFly
website	}}

Taio Cruz (born Jacob Taio Cruz on April 23, 1983) is a English singer-songwriter, record producer, occasional rapper, and entrepreneur. In 2008, he released his debut album ''Departure'', which Cruz wrote, arranged and produced himself. It achieved initial success in the UK and earned him a MOBO Award nomination. In June 2010, Cruz released his follow-up album ''Rokstarr'', which includes the number one singles "Break Your Heart" and "Dynamite". In November 2010, Cruz collaborated with Kylie Minogue and Travie McCoy on his single "Higher". Additionally, Cruz penned and recorded the song "Telling the World" as the lead single from the soundtrack to the 2011 animated film ''Rio''.

Early life

Cruz was born in London, to a Nigerian father and a Brazilian mother. He attended Christ's Hospital, a boarding school in West Sussex.

Music career

Career beginnings

Cruz began writing songs when he was 12. His songwriting career began at age 19 as part of Tricky Stewart's writing collective, RedZone Entertainment. Cruz achieved notability in 2005 when he was awarded a BRIT Award for co-writing Will Young's 2004 single, "Your Game".

Cruz is the founder and chief executive of Rokstarr Music London, which in 2006 released his debut single "I Just Wanna Know". The single attracted significant attention from radio, and also from music industry insiders, who were already well aware of the artist's potential; manager Jamie Binns, who began representing Cruz at this time, later told HitQuarters: "He was a guy that everyone had earmarked to do damage in the future." Although the single received a reasonable amount of radio airplay, it did not perform as well as expected in either territory. However, rather than lose faith in Cruz, the labels were eager to negotiate an album deal, as by this time they had listened to his other songs and were ever more convinced by his capability.

Cruz's admirers included Island Records's Darcus Beese and Universal Republic's Monte Lipman, whom, according to Binns: "Both believed 'I Just Wanna Know' fitted the format on both sides of the Atlantic." In 2006, Cruz signed a split single deal with Universal Music Group companies, Republic Records and the UK branch of Island Records.

''Departure'' (2006–2008)

Taio Cruz released his second single "Moving On" in September 2007 which made the top 30 in the UK. In March 2008 his next single, "Come On Girl," featuring Luciana, peaked at No. 5 on the UK charts. The related album ''Departure'' appeared on 17 March and peaked at No. 17. This was followed by the single "I Can Be," which reached No. 18 in May. On 18 August, "She's Like a Star" was released, which was a remix of the previous single and featured American rapper Busta Rhymes and girl-group Sugababes. The remix later appeared on the Sugababes studio album ''Catfights & Spotlights'', which peaked at No. 20. It was later revealed that Cruz narrowly missed out on the chance to record the song "Umbrella" which was eventually recorded by Rihanna and ended up topping charts around the world.

''Rokstarr'' and International breakthrough'' (2009)

Cruz was featured on Tinchy Stryder's breakout single "Take Me Back" which peaked at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart. According to Cruz's official Myspace blog, as of 1 January 2009, Rokstarr Music London officially changed its name to Rokstarr Entertainment Division and abbreviated to R.E.D Inc.

During 2009, he worked on his follow-up album which was originally titled ''T.W.O. (This Way Out)'' but later changed to ''Rokstarr''. It was released on 12 October through R.E.D Inc/Island Records and is entirely written and produced by Cruz, with co-writes and co-productions predominantly with UK producer Fraser T Smith. The album's lead single "Break Your Heart" was released on 14 September and reached number one in the UK, where it stayed for three weeks. The success of the song attracted the attention of David Massey and Daniel Werner from Mercury/Island Def Jam who were excited and aggressive about releasing "Break Your Heart" in the US on their label. According to Cruz's manager Jamie Binns, the relationship with Monte Lipman at Universal Republic had "gone a bit quiet" by this point and as Taio wanted to be with the label that was most enthusiastic about his music, a move from Universal Republic to Mercury/Island Def Jam was engineered.

The single reached the top spot in the US for one week on the ''Billboard'' charts. In an interview for ''The Guardian'' it was stated that "Cruz was clever to have hooked up with a US rapper Ludacris on his breakthrough hit". In order to introduce Cruz into the US market, David Massey had suggested that the single feature an American rapper with chart credibility. The album spawned two other UK singles, "No Other One", and the top-ten hit "Dirty Picture" featuring American electropop singer Kesha. The album's fourth single (second in the US) titled "Dynamite" debuted at 26 and despite peaking at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, "Dynamite" peaked at number 1 on US top 40 earning Cruz his second US number 1 record.

''The Rokstarr Collection''

''Rokstarr'' was followed by the compilation album ''The Rokstarr Collection'' which includes songs both from ''Departure'' and the international version of ''Rokstarr''. Cruz later released three versions of his single "Higher" - one featuring Kylie Minogue, one featuring Travie McCoy and with just himself.

Cruz has also been featured on the soundtrack of American reality TV series ''Jersey Shore''.

Cruz is the main featured artist on David Guetta's 2011 single 'Little Bad Girl' which also features US rapper Ludacris.

Troublemaker

On 13 January 2011, Cruz used social networking website Twitter to tells fans that his upcoming third album would be titled ''Troublemaker''. In June 2011, a music video for the title song was put into production, directed by Martin Weisz. It is expected to be unveiled in July 2011 as the lead single from the album. The album is due for release on October 17.

Other ventures

Writing and producing

Cruz has written songs on albums by Cheryl Cole, JLS, The Saturdays, The Wanted and David Guetta. Cruz wrote and featured on Tinchy Stryder's hit single "Take Me Back". Boyband McFly recorded "Shine a Light" which not only features, but was also was penned and produced by Cruz for their fifth studio album. 2011 will see him writing for Justin Bieber's next album. Jennifer Lopez's 2011 single "I'm Into You", featuring Lil Wayne, is also penned by Cruz. On 13 April 2011, Cruz confirmed that he had written and contributed vocals to a Guetta track called "Little Bad Girl" which is the second single from Guetta's fifth album, ''Nothing But the Beat''. Additionally, a track dubbed "Troublemaker (Believe In Me Now)" with Cruz's vocals and said to be produced by Swedish House Mafia was leaked in early May and is most probably featured on Cruz's coming album.

Rokstarr brand

On 1 September 2009, Cruz launched the brand Rokstarr; the fashion and accessories brand has a focus on sunglasses. Musicians such as Kanye West, Shontelle, Keri Hilson and Kelly Rowland have been seen wearing them. Speaking in October to R&B; writer Pete Lewis, Cruz stated: "There's a load of US celebrities that are all rocking the sunglasses already – Kid Cudi, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West... Then in the UK we have The Saturdays, JLS, Daniel Merriweather – who've all been twittering and writing on their blogs how much they love them. So yeah, it's definitely my new album 'Rokstarr' and the fashion brand that are my two main focuses at the moment."

Meanwhile, speaking again to Lewis in April 2010, Cruz revealed: "We're currently looking to expand the brand and possibly go into things like watches. I've also got a new subsidiary of Rokstarr called 'Rok By Rokstarr'. And we've just started doing things like jeans and T-shirts, and stuff that more of the fans of Taio Cruz can buy. Because with Rokstarr in itself being so expensive, a lot of the kids out there who want to buy Rokstarr things can't. So we're bringing in stuff that's a little bit more High Street and more affordable."

Discography

''Departure'' (2008)

''Rokstarr'' (2009)

''Troublemaker'' (2011)

Awards and nominations

Best British Song MOBO AwardsAmerican Music Awards BRIT Awards iTunes Best Album & Song Ascap Vanguard Award BRIT Awards rowspan=3>Virgin Media Awards Best Collaboration rowspan=6>2011 Billboard Music Awards Top Hot 100 Song rowspan=1>2011 MuchMusic Video Awards

Year
2004	Brit Awards>BRIT Awards	|	Your Game
2008	|	Best UK Male
2010	|	Breakthrough Artist
2010	|	Best British Song	Break Your Heart
2010	|	Best Song	Dynamite (Taio Cruz song)>Dynamite
2010	|	Recognition of Album	Departure (Taio Cruz album)>Departure
2011	|	Best British Song	Dynamite
2011	|	Best Male		<
2011	|	Dirty Picture
2011	Best Video
2011	Billboard Awards ||	Top New Artist		<
2011	|	Dynamite
2011	Top Digital Song
2011	Top Radio Song
2011	Top Streaming Song
2011	Top Pop Song
2011	|	MuchMusic.com Most Watched Video	Dynamite

References

External links

Taio Cruz on justRHYMES.com

Taio Cruz 'Blues & Soul' interview by Pete Lewis February 2008

Taio Cruz at Billboard.com

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:Black British musicians Category:Christ's Hospital Old Blues Category:English rhythm and blues singers Category:English pop singers Category:English male singers Category:English people of Nigerian descent Category:British people of Brazilian descent Category:Musicians from London Category:Island Records artists

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