Vocables frequently act as formal markers, indicating the beginning and end of phrases, sections or songs themselves,[1] and also as onomatopoeic references, cueing devices, and other purposes.
Vocal improviser Bobby McFerrin’s performances at major concert halls worldwide show that “wordless singing has traveled far from the concepts demonstrated by Louis Armstrong, Gladys Bentley, Cab Calloway, Anita O’Day, and Leo Watson”.
Non-lexical vocables that take on percussive roles: The song "Swinging the Alphabet" is sung by The Three Stooges in their short film Violent Is the Word for Curly (1938).
Styles of popular music that frequently employ non-lexical vocables include: Scat singing influenced the development of doo-wop and hip hop.
The list of scat singers includes such greats as Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Cab Calloway, Scatman Crothers, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Sammy Davis Jr., Mel Tormé, Tony Bennett, Cleo Laine, Roger Miller, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, and the Pointer Sisters.
Scatting also makes appearances in newer genres, including industrial music, in the chorus of Ministry's 1991 song "Jesus Built My Hotrod"; nu metal music, particularly in the band Korn (whose lead singer Jonathan Davis has incorporated scat singing into songs such as "Twist", "Ball Tongue", "Freak on a Leash", "B.B.K.
Jack Black incorporates scat into several Tenacious D songs, most notably: "Tribute", "Cosmic Shame", "Classico," "Jesus Ranch," Low Hangin' Fruit," and "Bowie".
Don't Shoot" by Foxy Shazam, "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz" by Mr. Bungle, "In My Bed" by Amy Winehouse, and "Stuck in the Middle" by Mika.
Due to the wide-ranging vocal styles used in popular music, occasionally songs have been mistakenly categorized as having non-lexical vocables, when in fact the singers are performing actual lyrics rendered partially (or completely) unintelligible to the ear of some (but not all) listeners.
Examples by popular non-anglophone singers using such techniques include "Bla Bla Bla" by Gigi D'Agostino, "Eena Mina Dika" in the Bollywood film Aasha, Eduard Khil's "I Am Glad, Cause I'm Finally Returning Back Home" (known as "Trololo") sung entirely without lyrics, "Fuzao" by Faye Wong, "Lagu Lagu" by Sa Dingding, "Din Daa Daa" by George Kranz, and much (but not all) of the lyrics to Finnish folk song and meme phenomenon "Ievan Polkka".
Their popular song "Haru Mamburu" (Russian: Хару Мамбуру) is composed completely from pseudoword vocables without any meaningful text.
Franco Godi, in songs like Parapapa Perepepe, on his "Signor Rossi" album, perhaps an Italian sounding variation of the name of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós.
A signature of some Disney musical films is their songs' use of nonsense words, the longest and most famous of which is from Mary Poppins, entitled "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".