Rock Songs Featuring a Long Island Accent

i wouldn't recognise one of those accents. probably

Brooklyn: Lou Reed, Dion, NY Dolls

Long Island: Sammy (makers of the great Tales Of Great Neck Glory album, classic 1990s alternative)

I'd settle for Jersey accents as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY4SF8xWKFo

Anyway. What about Blondie? Or (Lawn Guyland for sure) Northern State?

Huh, David Lee Roth's from Indiana and California. The pronunciation of "burnin'" in "Panama" sounded kind of Brooklyn/Jersey to me. (Don't think he has the accent otherwise.) Where in NJ are Bon Jovi and Springsteen from? They have a clear accent but it's different from the more Brooklyn-ish "Joisey" accent. Billy Joel has a mild LI accent, doesn't he?

Bon Jovi's from Sayreville, Springsteen's from Freehold. Both are central Jersey. I think whatever Springsteen's accent is has to do with a speech impediment, or possibly a mild form of mental retardation.

(x-post)
billy joel has a strong LI accent when he talks but not so much when he sings. though sometimes in his more sing-songy moments you can hear the accent come thru. can't think of any particular songs offhand, though.

springsteen and bon jovi are from central jersey, near the shore, which isn't brooklyny or long islandy at all in its speech patterns. but springsteen has pretty much made up his own accent, a southern twang that falls somewhere between south jersey and alabama.

what about twisted sister?

Brooklyn: Lou Reed, Dion, NY Dolls

Lou Reed's from Freeport!

Where in NJ are Bon Jovi and Springsteen from? They have a clear accent but it's different from the more Brooklyn-ish "Joisey" accent.

(I seem to remember JBR once commenting on this, actually.)

xposts OK, central NJ. How do accents work in NJ? People I've known from Princeton barely have any accent.

I feel like I hear a bit of an accent in "Big Shot." Nowhere near as strong as my neighbour from LI though.

Mo Tucker singing

I don't remember ever actually hearing anyone say "Joisey" -- I think that might be an outdated dialect thing that's survived in popular culture.

I feel like I hear a bit of an accent in "Big Shot."

Heh, I always thought this was put on for this song. I don't hear much of an accent in his other songs.

eh whats goin on over heah

"Joisey" is like some Archie Bunker shit. The accent people are probably thinking of is the Northeast Jersey accent (Passaic, Hudson, etc. counties)

I was just thinking of an accent I've heard around Jersey City IIRC? "Joisey" is an exaggeration.

(My friend from Tenafly just has what I think of as a neutral New England accent, though.)

Ooh, the Four Seasons' "Sherry" has to count, doesn't it?

There's definitely a strain of Old New England accent in NJ (although I imagine what you mean is more of a *standard American English* accent) -- remember the "New Jehsee and You, Pehfect Togetheh" commercials with Gov. Thomas Kean?

The more south you go in Jersey, the more you'll get the Philly pinched-twang accent. I live in Jersey, and I've never heard anyone from Jersey pronounce it "Joisey".

I've also never heard anyone but Gov. Kean talk like Gov. Kean. His son is a state senator and even he doesn't talk like that.

Roth's uncle Manny ran the Cafe Wha? in NYC in the sixties. You could gather Roth's "showbizisms" are a tribute to his time hanging out there.

johnny thunders "chatterbox" -- ah cawl you up (bayside queens, right? not Brooklyn.)

billy joel -- don' axe me why

The Shangri gawdam Las…

Is she rilly going out with him?

Well, theh she is. Let's ask huh.

Betty, is that Jimmy's ring yeh wearing?

Mm-hmm

Gee, it must be great ridin' with him
Is he picking you up aftah school today?

Uh-uh

By the way, wheh'd you meet him?

veronica wins

Joey Ramone (Forest Hills, Queens)

beaten to the punch re jersey accents. a lot of NJers sound more like the Dead Milkmen when they talk than they do like Archie Bunker or Tony Soprano!

"goils"

a lot of NJers sound more like the Dead Milkmen when they talk

That's a Philly accent! (Also used by Atom and his Package.) Though I wouldn't doubt that it often carries over into, say, certain sections of Camden, Trenton, and those parts of the Shore frequented by Philadelphians.

(Probably shows up in plenty of early '60s Bandstand-type pop too, like say "South Street" by the Orlons.)

I live in Jersey, and much closer to NYC than Philly, and I can tell you noone I know, unless they grew up in NYC, talks with the Bunker/Soprano accent. The guy who played Soprano doesnt even talk like that, and he's from Bergen County.

That You tube video is retarded.

a strain of Old New England accent in NJ (although I imagine what you mean is more of a *standard American English* accent)

I just mean something kind of like this: http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/english66.html

Fairly standard but with a particular kind of elongation of some of the "o" and "oo" sounds.

peter steele has a totally thick (brooklyn?) accent when he speaks. i don't hear it so much in the vox though

The Roches sings "Winter Wonderland" in heavy New Yawk accents on their Xmas album.

Isn't Chuck D from Long Island?