Saturday, June 24, 2006

Foreign Language Fun, Vols. 1 & 2


I always thought it would be fun to make up a compilation of foreign language (at least if you're English speaking) versions of familiar songs and thought I'd have enough for a volume or two. However, when I looked for material in my collection to do it, I never realized I had so many of them. I think I'm up to volume 7 or 8 now, but here are the first two for your listening pleasure:


pw = you_dont_have_to_visit - on all volumes

Foreign Language Fun, Vol. 1

Track List:

01 - The Beatles - Sie Liebt Dich - [She Loves You] - [in German]
02 - Richard Anthony - Toi L'ami - [All My Loving] - [in French] (1964)
03 - Rita Lee - Minha Vida - [In My Life] - [in Portuguese] (2001)
04 - The Beach Boys - Ganz Allein - [In My Room] - [in German]
05 - Peter and Alex - Wir Wollen Nach Haus - [Sloop John B] - [in German]
06 - Dionne Warwick - Geh Vorbei - [Walk On By] - [in German] (1964)
07 - The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go? - [in German]
08 - The Temptations - Mein Girl - [My Girl] - [in German]
09 - Petula Clark - Dans Le Temps - [Downtown] - (French Version)
10 - Dusty Springfield - Auf Dich Nur Wart Immerzu - [I Only Want To Be With You] - [in German] (1964)
11 - ABBA & Mireille Mathieu - The Winner Takes It All - (French ver.) (1980)
12 - Salma & Sabina Agha - Ho Jayegi Badnami - [Money, Money, Money] - [in Hindi]
13 - Barry Manilow - Copacabana - (Spanish ver.)
14 - Gloria Gaynor - Yo Vivire - [I Will Survive] - (Version Flamenca) - [in Spanish]
15 - Mary Hopkin - Quelli Erano Giorni - [Those Were The Days] - [in Italian] (1968)
16 - The Beautiful South - Les Yeux Ouverts - [Dream A Little Dream Of Me] - [in French]
17 - Nat King Cole - Perfidia - [in Spanish]
18 - Björk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar - Í Dansi Með Þér - [Sway] - [in Icelandic] (1990)
19 - Les Chats Sauvages - Est-Ce Que Tu Le Sais - [What'd I Say] - [in French] (1961)
20 - Question Mark & The Mysterians - 96 Tears (En Español)
21 - Los Apson - Satisfaction - [in Spanish]
22 - The Monkees - Tema Di Monkees
23 - Nancy Sit - Love Potion No. 9
24 - Gene Pitney - Town Without Pity - [in German]
25 - Lesley Gore - Goodbye Tony - [You Don't Own Me] - [in German] (1964)


Foreign Language Fun, Vol. 1 - Part 1
Foreign Language Fun, Vol. 1 - Part 2

OR

(in one big file):

Foreign Language Fun, Vol. 1


Foreign Language Fun, Vol. 2

Track List:

01 - Marie Laforêt - Marie Douceur, Marie Colère - [Paint It Black] - [in French] (1966)
02 - Sonia - Aqui Et Mi Nube - [Get Off My Cloud]
03 - The Pets - Hello I Love You
04 - Los Apson - Suzie Q
05 - Johnny Hallyday - Noir C'est Noir - [Black Is Black] - [in French]
06 - Hugu Tugu - Fino A Ieri - [Somebody To Love] - [in Italian]
07 - Nicoletta - Je Ne Pense Qu' À T' Aimer - [How Can I Be Sure] - [in French] (1967)
08 - Nicoletta - Les Orgues D' Antan - [A Whiter Shade Of Pale] - [in French] (1967)
09 - Alejandra Guzman - La Casa Del Sol Naciente - [House Of The Rising Sun] - [in Spanish]
10 - Patricia - Mes Rêves de Satin - [Nights in White Satin] - [in French] (1968)
11 - Vierzehn - Stein Um Stein - [Another Brick in the Wall] - [in German]
12 - GLS United - Rapper's Deutsch
13 - Nena - 99 Luftballons - [in German]
14 - Blondie - Call Me - [En Espanol]
15 - The Beatles - Get Back - [in German]
16 - Rita Lee - Tudo Por Amor - [Can't Buy Me Love] - [in Portuguese] (2001)
17 - Sylvie-Anne - Un Tours Dehors - [Day Tripper] - [in French]
18 - Titti Sjöblom - Vi Kan Börja Om - [We Can Work It Out]
19 - Dick Rivers - Ces Mots Qu'On Oublie Un Jour - [The Things We Said Today] - [in French]
20 - Lara And The Trailers - Run For Your Life
21 - Cornershop - Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
22 - Bjork - The Fool on the Hill (Alfur Ut Ur Hol) - [in Icelandic] (1977)
23 - NDS - Sol, Sol - [Here Comes The Sun]
24 - Rita Lee - Aqui, Ali em Qualquer Lugar - [Here, There and Everywhere] - [in Portuguese] (2001)

Foreign Language Fun, Vol. 2 - Part 1
Foreign Language Fun, Vol. 2 - Part 2

OR

(in one big file):

Foreign Language Fun, Vol. 2



Where applicable, I generally put the more familiar English language title of the songs in brackets. Volume 1 has a special emphasis on versions that were closer in sound to the originals.

If you live in those countries where these were originally played or you speak the languages, it may not be as interesting a collection, but as for myself, I always enjoy hearing them.

Let me know if anybody wants me to put up the other volumes.

I realize the possibilities of gathering more foreign language covers are endless, so if anybody has any additions or suggestions that I don't already have, I'd love to hear them.

Also, sites like Rato, Endless Mike, April Winchell, WFMU, and so many others [check in the link list] are great sources for these and so much more.


Edit: right after I posted these, I saw 'fabfour4ever' at Hans' forum had posted foreign language compilations & 'gearfab' at Groovy Fab had posted some also (which I'm thinking is the same posting as at Hans' forum) right around the same time. Haven't downloaded them yet, but can't wait to grab them. Hopefully there isn't too much overlap.

Also, at around the same time I noticed in Peacock Alley's archives that she had also put up some foreign language tracks a while back. That's an incredible coincidence!! In the past year of looking at music blogs, I haven't seen any private foreign language compilations like that at all, and then right after I post mine, I see 3 of them all in a row within the space of a few days! What are the odds?

=======================

Anonymous left this comment, so I thought I'd put it up:

Anonymous said...

Your idea is good but let's stay with foreign language... If you choose french singers like Richard Anthony, Johnny Hallyday or Sylvie Vartan, it's normal that they will sing in French! In the sixties they made a lot of covers of English and US hits.(you can fill thousand and thousand cd's!). You should take Richard Anthony in Italian, German or English, the same for Johnny who also sang in Turkish or Spanish, Adamo in Japanese, Christophe or Dick Rivers in Italian etc...
Nena is a german group so it's normal that 99 luftballons was sung in this language. They also recorded it in English. That's a foreign language for a german group.
Cliff Richard has also hits in german, spanish, italian, french. Helen Shapiro, Lesley Gore, Brenda Lee in French, that's what you should publish.
I have a lot of these songs. Let me know if you want that I help you.
Please don't give up, but don't forget that foreign language is more than just a cover.

So, I thought I'd respond:

Hi anonymous!

Thanks for your interesting and informative comment! I really appreciate the feedback. I agree with your point that narrowing the focus to the one that you describe would also make for a great compilation. I love those kind of compilations. Although, that's not quite what I was going for. I should've described the criteria I was using more fully in the post, but after all those long-winded entries I had posted earlier, by the time I got to this one, I thought I'd spare the readers a lengthy description of the thought process behind the compilation (so here it comes anyway.....).

I was really approaching the comp from the side of the songs rather than the singers. It was meant to be a collection of songs that became hits or had become familiar to people (specifically, in America) in their English-language versions, but were now being performed in a different language.

So I was really using 3 different genres in the comps. 1) Songs performed in languages foreign to the singer, 2) Foreign language covers of songs, & 3) Songs that were well-known in their English-language versions or originally became hits in English.

A performer like Nena, for instance, was a bit of a cheat, I'll admit, but it fit the third criteria. Even though her song was originally a hit in German first before it became a big hit in America, I included it because people here were more familiar with the English-language version. They knew about the German version, but it wasn't as played over here. But I left out songs like 'The girl from Ipanema' in Portuguese though, because even though the English language version became a huge hit here, people were also familiar with the foreign language (at least to us) versions by Jobim (and others) in America as well.

I think a compilation of just songs in languages that are foreign to the singer would be really interesting too, but I was a little less interested in narrowing the focus to just that because there are other commercial albums like the Nadelstiche Volumes (at least I think those are commercial) that would do it better than me. I just make up the compilations for my own listening pleasure and so when I think about making something up, I usually try to find a different hook or angle that can narrow down the selection in a way that's usually different from something that's already out there. When I think about making up compilations of things that are already available on CD, for instance, it usually discourages me from doing it because I just think, 'Why don't I just go and get the CD instead? They'll do a more complete job with better sound quality anyway.' So I guess that's why some of my compilations end up being kind of unusual. I haven't even put up the weirder compilations yet (though most of those are on tape).

Another reason I chose not to make the compilation just about songs in languages foreign to the singer was because if you're not familiar with the singer, some songs may not be as interesting. For instance, you could have a lot of Asian or South American singers singing in English, but if you didn't recognize the songs they were singing or if you were unfamiliar with their careers and how big a departure it was for them to sing in English, it might not be as interesting. Also, under that criteria you could include a lot of singers like say, Ricky Martin, singing any one of his English language hit(s).

I suppose it's more interesting if you're mainly English-speaking to listen to the comps (although I mentioned that in the original post), so your point that it's not as interesting because it's natural to hear people like Richard Anthony, Johnny Hallyday or Sylvie Vartan singing in French, for instance, is a valid one. But like I said, it was more about the songs they were singing in those cases rather than the singers. In the case of people like Dionne Warwick singing in German or Cliff Richard singing in Italian, it may be more interesting as to who's singing rather than the song. I wanted to do both so I could have a little variety. It's also why I didn't limit myself to just doing specific eras or styles of music on any one volume. I included songs from the 1950's (in later volumes), 60's, 70's, & 80's. That's also why I put some Beatles songs on Volume 1 and others on Volume 2. I guess I could've made up whole volumes of just Beatles covers, but it didn't seem as interesting to me to put them all on one volume.

Like on Volume 1, it started out with 60's songs and then I got a little tired of that so I veered off into some 70's disco, briefly went back to the 60's, then some jazz, and ended up with a little rock and roll and pop. Usually, I do try to make compilations a little more consistent, but with this one I wanted a little different flow.

And as for the artists, I'd love to hear any additions you have. I put more Cliff Richard and Petula Clark in later volumes, for instance, but I don't have as many of the other artists you mentioned, so I'd love to hear them. If you wanted to put together a compilation too or just stick a bunch of them in a zip file, I'd be happy to put them on the blog and credit it to you.

Well, thanks for reading this long explanation! Your points were well-taken and interesting and I appreciate reading them.

=====================================

// posted by nomwl1 @ 1:40 PM
Comments:
Your idea is good but let's stay with foreign language... If you choose french singers like Richard Anthony, Johnny Hallyday or Sylvie Vartan, it's normal that they will sing in French! In the sixties they made a lot of covers of English and US hits.(you can fill thousand and thousand cd's!). You should take Richard Anthony in Italian, German or English, the same for Johnny who also sang in Turkish or Spanish, Adamo in Japanese, Christophe or Dick Rivers in Italian etc...
Nena is a german group so it's normal that 99 luftballons was sung in this language. They also recorded it in English. That's a foreign language for a german group.
Cliff Richard has also hits in german, spanish, italian, french. Helen Shapiro, Lesley Gore, Brenda Lee in French, that's what you should publish.
I have a lot of these songs. Let me know if you want that I help you.
Please don't give up, but don't forget that foreign language is more than just a cover.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : Sunday, June 25, 2006 1:59:00 PM
 
Hi anonymous!

See the end of the original posting to see my response. :))
# posted by Blogger nomwl1 : Saturday, July 08, 2006 3:31:00 PM
 
Many thanks for Foreign Language Fun Vol.1-4! I like it, most of these versions are very crazy stuff of the sixties. Nena sucks (because i´m german), but the other bands swing as much as they can...

Ahoi AtomBob
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : Thursday, September 28, 2006 2:46:00 PM
 
Hi Bob!

Thanks for the kind words! And I would have to agree that Nena isn't my favorite track on there either, but eventually I got used to it. :))

You're always welcome here, Bob!
# posted by Blogger nomwl1 : Thursday, October 05, 2006 4:04:00 PM
 
I don't know why but the password doesn't work at all !! pass: you_dont_have_to_visit - on all volumes
# posted by Blogger Verdier il Vampiro : Tuesday, April 24, 2007 3:36:00 PM
 
Hi,
I've just downloaded 'Foreign Language Fun, Vol. 1 + 2' (thanx a LOT for making them available), but aparently they need passwords. Any help? I've been looking for Titti Sjöblom for a very long time, and now that I've finally found, I can't wait to hear it..
# posted by Blogger Peter : Wednesday, January 28, 2009 1:59:00 AM
 
Files are password protected. So sad;.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : Wednesday, April 20, 2011 6:20:00 PM
 
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