wordwatching

At the crossroads of language and culture

Dedicated to the study of language variation and change in American English, with special regard to the West, pop lyrics, and social media.

New Old Data

May 01, 2020 by Lamont Antieau in corpus linguistics, lyric analysis, variation in lyrics

A description of a new set of lyric data that I am currently editing and hope to start performing linguistic analysis on soon

New York State of Mind

April 10, 2020 by Lamont Antieau in music video essay, lyric analysis

A video essay on New York from the perspective of songs from the Billboard year-end Top Ten collection (1951-2019)

2019 year-end Top Ten Lyrics in Review

March 31, 2020 by Lamont Antieau in lyric analysis, review

An analysis of lyrics from Billboard’s year-end top ten for the year 2019

"Moon" songs

September 13, 2019 by Lamont Antieau in music video essay

A post on pop songs featuring the word moon

"Beach" in Top Ten Music

August 13, 2019 by Lamont Antieau in music video essay

Today’s post looks at occurrences of the word beach in songs from Billboard’s year-end Top Ten (1951-2018).

2018 year-end Top Ten lyrics in review

June 18, 2019 by Lamont Antieau in lyric analysis, review, variation in lyrics

An analysis of lyrics from the year-end Billboard Top Ten for 2018

2017 year-end Top Ten lyrics in review

May 16, 2019 by Lamont Antieau in corpus linguistics, lexical variation, review, variation in lyrics

A review of song lyrics from year-end Top Ten Billboard charts from 2017

Happy Halloween

October 31, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in summary

A summary of my previous posts that have mentioned Halloween

R.I.P. Antoine "Fats" Domino, Jr.

October 25, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in lyric analysis

On the day after the death of the legendary Fats Domino, a link to a post in which I discuss the language of his music.

"Smooth" and other assorted "moon songs"

July 30, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in music video essay

A post on pop songs featuring the word moon

A horse is of course a horse of course

May 13, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in music video essay, lyric analysis

A music video essay comprising pop songs featuring references to horses

Baseball references in popular music

April 15, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in lyric analysis

A post dedicated to baseball references in songs from Billboard's year-end Top 30 charts (1951-2016). Includes video clip by Meat Loaf and link to a word search.

"Coast" in popular music

April 12, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in music video essay

A music video essay examining the word coast in Top 30 music. Includes video clips from Eminem, Tupac, and Thin Lizzy.

Basketball references in Top 30 music

April 03, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in music video essay

A music video essay on basketball terms found in the Billboard year-end Top Thirty collection. Includes videos by Ray Stevens, Janis Ian, Will Smith, and Jay Z.

Variants of "sunrise" and "sunset" in popular music

March 24, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in lyric analysis, lexical variation

A post looking at variants of "sunrise" and "sunset" in popular music. Includes clips of Yes, Gordon Lightfoot, and Thin Lizzy.

"Sunrise" in the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle Rockies

March 21, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in lexical variation, corpus dialectology, corpus analysis, dialectology, Western American English

A post discussing variants of "sunrise" in the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle Rockies. Includes word search for both "sunrise" and "sunset" posts.

"Rock and roll" in pop music

March 20, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in lyric analysis, music video essay

The phrase rock and roll in the Billboard year-end Top Ten collection and beyond. Includes videos by Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, The Frost, and Blue Oyster Cult.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

March 17, 2017 by Lamont Antieau

Links to several other posts that I've written on themes related to the day, as well as a word search puzzle.

"Sunset" in the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle Rockies

March 17, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in corpus dialectology, dialectology, lexical variation, Western American English

A post investigating lexical variation in terms for "sunset" in the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle Rockies

"Green" in Top Ten music

March 11, 2017 by Lamont Antieau in lyric analysis

References to the color green in popular music.