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Gideon CoeΒ permalink
Foreign language in English records?
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Message 1.Β
Posted by tolhurst (U6377463) on Wednesday, 4th February 2009
as in not so much "wow that Plastic Bertrand can speak good French (although he's Belgian)" or "Goodness me, Kraftwerk have some command of German!"
more "blimey, that English-language band haven't arf got some perishin' foreign lingo in that record and no mistake!"
If the foreign-language bit has to be good, that may well disqualify Blondie and Prince. And while it's useful to have the French bit in Visage's "Fade to Grey" so that you know "the lonely platform" is of the station, and not the oil, variety, I'm not sure the French is correct!
I heard The Sisters of Mercy's "Marian" on Sunday. Brilliant! In English she is calling, but in German he is screaming too! Could that be the best example?
(I love the Cocteau Twins, but even though they could be singing a shopping list in Swahili, I'm not counting them...) -
Message 2
Posted by laurencea (U4486044) on Wednesday, 4th February 2009
Robyn Hitchcock did a Swedish version of "alright, yeah!" on the vinyl release of Moss Elixor.
The Teardrop Explodes did a French version of Treason (it's just a story). it sounds a bit schoolboy french, but it's a brave try.
Ian Dury threw in a few words here and there.
Laurence in new malden -
Message 3
Posted by MickShrimpton (U10147690) on Thursday, 5th February 2009
The German verse in 'Marian' is indeed fantastic even though I have little or no idea what he's saying.
And while German is clearly the official language of the Sisters, it could only ever be French for the Tindersticks. Happily they slip into quite regularly - for a whole song in the case of 'Plus de Liaisons'.
And if I may just mix threads for a moment, pretty much the whole Tindersticks oeuvre (see what I did there?) counts as fine drinking music - red wine induced melancholy rather than lager fuelled shouting of course. -
Message 4
Posted by Lee1975 (U4412355) on Thursday, 5th February 2009
Debbie Harry has been known to slip into French quite a bit I recall, ("Denis" and one other famous song of their's, was it "Rapture"?).
Also "Michelle" by the Beatles, that's got quite a bit of French in it too.
"It Doesn't Have to Be" by Erasure has a bizarre section in it where Andy Bell, (no, not the guitarist out of Oasis, the other one), sings in Swahili. He also went on to sing "La Gloria" on the "Wild" album, which is entirely in Spanish.
There's quite a few songs that Dean Martin sang where he slips between Italian and English, "Volare", "On an Evening in Roma" and "Return to Me" for example.
Then there's Elvis of course, who sings part of "Wooden Heart" in German.
Ian Brown sings "El Mundo Pequeno" in Spanish on his "Music of the Spheres" album.
That's all I can think of at the mo. -
Message 5
Posted by Al McGregor (U2976807) on Thursday, 5th February 2009
I seem to remember Howard Devoto slipping into some Franglais on the version of "Light Pours Out Of Me" on Play, and Siouxsie Sioux would occasionally display evidence of her dad's Walloon origins.
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Message 6
Posted by Mozo (U10059077) on Thursday, 5th February 2009
Well you can't really avoid Roxy Music with 'Song for Europe' can you? and in a similar vein their's Japan and 'Despair' from the Quiet Life album (jolly little ditty that).
Generally I think crooning in French was supposed to convey a degree of class and smoothness but it usually went right over my head. All a bit Sunday night and the London Palladium for me. Leave it to Charles Aznavour is what I say. -
Message 7
Posted by CardiffGentleman (U13471703) on Friday, 6th February 2009
How about ' J'adore - Ich neeber dich, hit me hit me hit me' - I think that's French and German Guv.
And Siousxsie going all German industrialist on Mittsegeisen
And classic ooma palloma blanca
Not forgetting the Kings of mmid song Spanish - The Pixies , Rosa oh oh oh a Rosa -
Message 8
Posted by tolhurst (U6377463) on Friday, 6th February 2009
I have compiled the following from memory. I'm sure it's copyright. I've tried to keep the metre but chucked the rhyme. This is the German bit in "Marian":
what I can and what I could do
I don’t know any more
Give me something beautiful
Pull me from this sea
I hear you calling, Marian
Can you hear me screaming? I am here alone
I hear you calling, Marian
Without your help
I’ll be lost inside this sea...
As sung, it sounds 100% genuine and largely sellotape-free to me (unlike most other attempts)...
For a nation of "cheese-eating surrender monkeys"
, the French exert a peculiar fascination on Americans, particularly those with artistic pretensions. Blondie's "Sunday Girl" has lots of quasi-French (may be real French, I've never checked) in it, and you can't try to write out the words to Talking Heads' Psycho Killer without imagining your French teacher poised to scrag you as you attempt to spell kesskersay, I mean qu'est-ce que c'est...!
It's true that in my mind I can hear Howard Devoto going "La conspiration"...though I'm unsure that's necessarily the right French word for "conspiracy of silence" (three different possibilities on leo.org)...and I imagine Siouxsie trilling something not unlike Yiddish to a "Camberwick Green musical box" tune...
croeso Cardiff Gentleman, Ian Dury was singing "Je t'adore, ich liebe dich!" He had a better command of foreign than Manhattan Transfer did TBH. And "Je t'aime - moi non plus" (Jane Birkin is British) means "I love you - me neither" AFAIK.
Big shout out to the far North East and to Laurence in New Malden. That's the Korean centre of Europe, I think. Any Korean pop records? -
Message 9
Posted by Valour Gull (U1637480) on Sunday, 8th February 2009
I'm having 'La Pastie de la Bourgeousie' by Belle & Sebastian; 2 words (1 twice), that's enough French to qualify for this game.
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Message 10
Posted by CardiffGentleman (U13471703) on Monday, 9th February 2009
Just heard 'Denis' whilst half alseep and there's 2 verses in French
And also 1 2 3 4 in German on 'Rumble in Brighton' by The STray CAts -
Message 11
Posted by tolhurst (U6377463) on Monday, 9th February 2009
There's a Bowie(/Eno?) track too including lyrics something like
"over the hilltops, over the trees"...
...with a bit in it something like
"Oh hamay n'ganay n'ganay"
I guess it's an African language so I apologise that it's spelt wrong... -
Message 12
Posted by laurencea (U4486044) on Tuesday, 10th February 2009
i've just remembered... although not on recorded record of any kind.
a couple of years ago Sir Robyn Hitchcock did a gig in Shoreditch where he performed a short set... entirely in french. "i often dream of trains" was one track - they still went to "Basingstoke or Reading". I can't remember the other tracks now... there were only three or four. It was a very unusual gig and i think my friend and i were the only fans there as it was a secret.
ta Chris... no Korean pop that i know of. maybe there'll be a Korean music festival in the near future. -
Message 13
Posted by RichardW (U1168137) on Thursday, 12th February 2009
Kirsty MacColl went the whole hog on her 'Kite' album, the last two tracks being 'La Foret de Mimosas' and 'Complainte Pour Ste Catherine'. Entirely en francais and pretty damn good too.
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Message 14
Posted by tolhurst (U6377463) on Friday, 13th February 2009
"Lire" or "en lisant"
is obvious, but how on earth do you say "Basingstoke" in French??? -
Message 15
Posted by laurencea (U4486044) on Saturday, 14th February 2009
"basingstoke"
sadly, it changes not in translation.
other foreign singers... Jonathan Richman has done songa and an entire album in Spanish. "when harp played his harp" is very beautiful in spanish.
Josh Rouse now lives in Spain and sings in that language now and again.
Gid mentioned r.e.m. doing an Italian "talk about the passion", but it wasn't them, it was Samson and the Philistines doing a cover. very lovely it is too... is this another sub-thread, foreign language covers? -
Message 16
Posted by RichardW (U1168137) on Sunday, 15th February 2009
Does the Wedding Presents Ukranian stuff fall into this category? Finally got round to downloading one of their Peel sessions last week - after not having played the C90s for a long time and it was a fine reminder of what a joy the tracks were. 'Verkhovyna' in particular being an absolute barnstormer.
Peelie said, after playing the session "If you asked someone to name the band doing that, they'd never have said The Wedding Present in a million years"............. -
Message 17
Posted by PeteIsLegend (U10945656) on Monday, 16th February 2009
I've got several words for Basingstoke in French. No doubt the mods would throw the book at me if I uttered them.
Pete in Basingstoke -
Message 18
Posted by tolhurst (U6377463) on Thursday, 19th February 2009
Basingstoke. Of course "The Magic Roundabout" is "Le Manège enchanté".
The Balenescu Quartet's "Luminitza" is Romanian but it's an instrumental...or is it in English? -
Message 19
Posted by PeteIsLegend (U10945656) on Friday, 20th February 2009
Ah no... the magic roundabout is in that other glorious town, Swindon. Basingstoke has a lot of roundabouts, just not all wrapped around each other. Doughnut city is a nickname, I believe (amongst the others). Or Krapfenstadt as it may perhaps be called by Austrians.
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Message 20
Posted by tolhurst (U6377463) on Friday, 20th February 2009
yes, Basingstoke is more the town of no escape or approx "Voie Sans Issue".
We even know that there is a place called "Dummer" near Basingstoke, though I wouldn't say myself that there must be another place near it called "Dumm"...
I'm not sure what escape velocity is needed to exit Basingstoke...
NB I've spent a few days in Basingstoke and like anywhere it seems very pleasant in the right bits. It is, however, impossible to follow the original course of the A30 in a car... -
Message 21
Posted by tolhurst (U6377463) on Friday, 20th February 2009
NB I am now a trusted boardmember with the right to post directly to the board! I shall try to use this power wisely...Γ§a plane pour moi...
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