The meaning of sigle(in music)

Question

Hello, I'd be very thankfull if anyone told me what a single is when it comes to music.I don't know if it is a song or an entire album of a singerThanks in advance

Feebs11 · Accepted Answer

A single is a single song.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Hi Mentro,

Welcome to the forums.

A single is one song from the album. When it's released, and one song is played a lot on the radio, you'll hear something like "And here's Grammar Geek's new hit single, You Dangle my Particple," from her debut CD "Style Guide."

(Philip, that was for you.

)

CalifJim · Answer

<<A single is one song from the album.>>

Really? I thought it was a song which was never intended to be part of an album, but was released separately as a sort of all-by-itself item.

CJ

NewPhilologist · Answer

Well, it's usually a CD that features one song from an album, along with some value-added titles. These are often songs that didn't make it to the album, as CalifJim has already pointed out

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a single as "a record or CD which has only one main song on it".

Philip · Answer

CalifJim<<A single is one song from the album.>>

Really? I thought it was a song which was never intended to be part of an album, but was released separately as a sort of all-by-itself item.

CJ

Correct, CJ. In the 40's and 50's when we still had 45rpm disks.

CalifJim · Answer

In the 40's and 50's when we ...

We? Speak for yourself!

(Just teasing!

)

CJ

BarbaraPA · Answer

Hey, hey. I remember buying singles as well, in the 70s! You had to get those little plastic thingies to put in the big hole so it would still fit on your turn table. (When I say these things to my kids, they think I'm teasing.)

But as far as I recall, they were always releases that you could find on a bigger album. It was a way to sample, I thought, before plunking down your big money (two or three weeks of allowance!) for the entire album.

Maybe that part changed over time?

Mentro · Answer

Thank you everybody for the replies

Cool Breeze · Answer

Grammar GeekBut as far as I recall, they were always releases that you could find on a bigger album. It was a way to sample, I thought, before plunking down your big money (two or three weeks of allowance!) for the entire album.

Hi GG

Nice to discuss something other than points of grammar for a change!

I'm sorry to say you don't recall far enough, though. Many artists released singles but were never successful enough commercially to release an album, and consequently those two songs released on a single were never released on an album. Sometimes it took a long time for even a major star's single songs to appear on an album. Elvis Presley's singleStuck On You / Fame And Fortune was released in March 1960 but the songs weren't released on an album until September 1963 (Elvis' Gold Records, Vol. 3). I have both vinyl records, by the way. Elvis's first post-army single was the first single in the world to have more than a million advance orders. (I'm not quite sure if that is the correct term used by the record companies.)

Cheers
CB

Clive · Answer

Hi guys,

Can I nitpick over this a bit, too?

Everyone is using the word song, but a single can also be an instrumental, with no singing at all.

I wonder if the word 'tune' has gone out of style? I constantly hear things like 'This iPod can hold 500 songs', but I'm pretty sure that in practice not all of them will have singing.

Best wishes, Clive

The meaning of sigle(in music)

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions