Those of a certain age may remember me posting English speakers attempting their songs in another language on this very site. Now, due to no public demand whatsoever, a whole collection of them have been broadcast under the the Loud Hailers imprint on Beachy Head Radio.
Should the embed not work it can be heard here.
These are mainly by the original artist but with the odd cover version thrown in for variety.
Possibly more of a background listen than the last one as many will be familiar and the foreign language the only novelty. I’ve included the original English title as we go along as well as the language or languages sung.
00:00:00
1. Man Of Arun – Loud Hailers Introduction (2023)
00:00:06
2. Blondie – Llámame = Call Me. (Spanish)
Written by Debbie Harry and Giorgio Morodor for the Richard Gere film American Gigolo.
00:02:25
3. Ohio Express – Yummy yummy yummy (Italian)
One the sources for this week’s compilation that isn’t of the highest calibre and is still pretty ropy despite a lot of work cleaning it up and equalising.
00:03:45
4. The Wedding Present – Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable = Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now. (French)
A rare occasion of a song that wasn’t a bit hit being recorded in a different language.
00:06:14
5. David Bowie – Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola = Space Oddity (Italian)
It wasn’t until after the recording that Bowie found out the Italian lyrics were nothing to do with his own.
00:10:36
6. The Supremes – Baby, Baby, Wo Ist Unsere Liebe = Where Did Our Love go (German)
As you’ll hear Motown must have been full of polyglots as well as musicians and car makers.
00:12:46
7. Marvin Gaye – Wie Schön Das Ist = How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) (German)
I’m not sure who his family have sued for a vague similarity to this one.
00:14:45
8. Connie Francis & The Kids Next Door – Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport (Australian / Cockney)
00:16:01 9. Pat Boone – Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport (Unsure)
The vaguely Caribbean lilt to Pat’s interjections perhaps indicate he realised the song was heavily influence by calypso – or perhaps not.
00:17:00
10. The Monkees – Tema Dei Monkees = The Monkees Theme (Italian)
00:18:48
11. Harry Nillson – Si No Estás Tú = Without You (Spanish)
00:21:52
12. Mary Hopkin – Le Temps Des Fleurs / Que Tiempo Tan Feliz / An Jenem Tag / Quelli Erano Giorni = Those Were The Days (French / Spanish / German / Italian)
The record holder amongst tonight’s entries with versions in four languages.
00:26:57
13. Gene Pitney – A Poche Ora Da Te = Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa (Italian)
00:29:11
14. Peter Gabriel – Spiel Ohne Grenzen = Games Without Fronties (German)
From the imaginatively named Ein deutsches Album – a version of Peter Gabriel III with lyrics written with Horst Königstein and some musical differences. He’d wanted to do versions in various languages but only his German record label were interested.
00:32:19
15. Gloria Gaynor – Yo Viviré = I Will Survive (Spanish)
00:34:54
16. The Honeycombs – Hab Ich Das Recht = Have I the right (German)
It’s not clear why bands persisted with German versions of songs as the originals in English always did much better in the charts.
00:36:24
17. The Swinging Blues Jeans – Good Golly Miss Molly (German)
I don’t remember any mentions of whisky or bongo bars in the original.
00:37:26
18. The Rutles – Baby S’il Vous Plaît = Baby Let Me Be (French)
00:38:36
19. The Hollies – Regardez Par Des Fenêtres = Look Through Any Window (French)
00:40:00
20. The Searchers – Tausend Nadelstiche = Needles & Pins (German)
00:42:06
21. The Rolling Stones – Con Le Mie Lacrime = As Tears Go By (Italian)
00:44:47
22. Dusty Springfield – Auf Dich Nur Wart Ich Immerzu = I Only Want To Be With You (German)
And the award to most tenuous link to a pop star goes to Dusty Springfield giving my parents a blanket as a present for my sister’s christening.
00:47:21
23. Kate Bush – Un Baiser D’Enfant = Infant Kiss (French)
Aimed at French Canada rather than the mother country.
00:50:10
24. The Police – ドゥドゥドゥ・デ・ダダダ = De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (Spanish / Japanese)
Cheated a bit here as it’s actually the Spanish version first. Japanese is one of the easier languages to sing phonetically as it sounds as written.
00:52:23
25. The Chords – Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter (English?)
One of the many bands named the Chords this American beat combo make probably the worst attempt at an accent of the lot.
00:53:36
26. Johnny Cash – Fuego D’ Amor (Anillo De Fuego) = Ring Of Fire (Spanish)
Whereas Johnny Cash, like David Gedge heard earlier with the Wedding Present, avoided any issues by not bothering with an accent at all.
00:54:58
27. Johnny Cash – Wer Kennt Den Weg = I Walk the Line (German)
I thought JC may have known some German from his time in stationed in Germany but the only language other than English he was fluent in was morse code. His job was to write down Russian communications.
00:56:17
28. The Beatles – Sie Liebt Dich = She Loves You (German)
00:58:32
29. David Bowie – Helden / Heros = Heroes (German / French)
01:01:56
30. Jimmy Ruffin – Se Decidi Cosi = What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted (Italian)
01:03:48
31. The Four Tops – Gira, Gira = Reach Out (I’ll Be There) (Italian)
This was during the phase that Motown was influenced by Bob Dylan and on this recording Levi Stubbs was told to shout sing like Bob.
01:05:14 32.
32. The Four Tops – L’Arcobaleno = Don’t Walk Away Renée (Italian)
01:07:32
33. Terry Jacks – In Den Gärten Der Zeit (German)
A Canadian singing a German translation from English of a French song written by a Belgian.
01:10:48
34. Cliff Richard – Man Gratuliert Mir / Qué buena suerte = Congratulations (German / Spanish)
Cliff had something of a second career doing songs in German from the early 60s to mid 70s and was the exception to English language releases being more popular with a couple of number ones. These are versions of a song that came second at the Eurovision Song Contest.
01:12:58
35. Dionne Warwick – Geh’ Vorbei = Walk On by (German)
01:14:45
36. Zager & Evans – Nell’Anno 2033 = In The Year 2525 (Italian)
01:17:58
37. America – Hermana Cabello Dorado = Sister Golden Hair (Spanish)
As produced by George Martin.
01:20:51
38. The Temptations – Mein Girl / Solamente Leí = My Girl (German / Italian)
01:23:20
39. The Supremes – L’amore Verrà = You Can’t Hurry Love (Italian)
01:24:32
40. Stevie Wonder – Por Primera Vez = For Once In My Life (Spanish)
I think the harmonica is still in English though.
01:26:26
41. David Bowie – 7 Years in Tibet (Mandarin)
ITMA. (It’s That Man Again for those not familiar with 1940s English radio comedy programmes).
01:30:10
42. Matt Monro – Libre = Born Free (Spanish)
01:32:48
43. Smokey Robinson – Aqui Con Tigo = Being With You (Spanish)
01:34:50
44. Petula Clark – Ciao Ciao / Dans Le Temps / Geh In Die Stadt = Down Town (Italian / French / German)
01:38:34
45. Nat King Cole – Amore = Love (Spanish)