How are Chinese tones used in songs?

In most cases, native speakers could deduce the correct character by the term or the whole sentence when listening to such songs. Many hymns in Hong Kong were filled with Cantonese lyrics of the wrong tones. They all sound extremely odd to native Cantonese speakers. read more

You completely ignore tones when singing any form of modern vocal music in Chinese. Meaning can in most instances be gleaned by context. Cantonese songs are usually written with tones agreeing with the melody, which makes writing Cantonese lyrics a very difficult task. And in most cases tones can be clearly heard in Cantonese songs. read more

They all sound extremely odd to native Cantonese speakers. Luckily, the vocabulary used are quite predictable and most people can understand the hymns. People also make jokes through lyrics with deliberate wrong tones. "Mcdull Kindergarden Song" (春田花花幼稚園校歌) is a good example. There is even a wiki page. read more

That one mini documentary about Chinese hip hop on Youtube includes an interview with an emcee who mentions having the option of eschewing the tones in order to achieve a particular style of sound, but most of the Chinese hip hop I’ve heard, especially the Beijing Stuff like Yin Tsang and Dragon Tongue, seems to keep the tonal aspect pretty intact. read more