Looking for covers of American or British classic oldies (or even some classic rock tunes) in non-English languages December 1, 2012 2:04 PMSubscribe
Looking for covers of American or British classic oldies (or even some classic rock tunes) in non-English languages--for example a cover of the Ronettes "Be My Baby" in French .
THANKS! :) posted by dottiechang to media & arts (47 answers total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
[There are at least two albums full of Motown originals in German and Italian out there.] posted by genghis at 2:14 PM on December 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
The Gipsy Kings - Hotel California (Spanish)
Ferhat Guzel - Beggin' (Turkish; a parody but it's awesome so whatever)
The Beatles have covered their own songs in German - Sie Liebt Dich (She Loves You) and Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand (I Wanna Hold Your Hand)
Oh and on second thought, I'm not sure if The Cure fits in the "oldies" category, might be a matter of generational reference... posted by PardonMyFrench at 2:33 PM on December 1, 2012
Ros Sereysothea does the Carpenters "Superstar" in Khmer posted by neroli at 2:46 PM on December 1, 2012
Fairport Convention covered Dylan's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" as the French language "Si Tu Dois Partir". And jolly good it is too. posted by hydatius at 2:49 PM on December 1, 2012
Here's a few more from 1961. I don't know what they're covers of (something famous). 12.
Never on Sunday (日曜はダメよ) was covered by Nishida Sachiko (西田佐知子) but I can't find it on youtube. posted by damo at 2:50 PM on December 1, 2012
I don't know if this is what you really want -- and it's really a case of the opposite, English speaking artists adapting a foreign language song into English -- but there's always Cake's Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps* and the Spanish version, Quizas, Quizas, Quizas.
Watching some of the other suggestions, I just found this relatively amazing Italian version of Paint It Black. Though I don't know how many versions of Paint It Black you really need in your life.
This isn't a cover of any particular American rock song, but it feels somehow germane. posted by Sara C. at 3:18 PM on December 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
My Boy Lollipop by Sakura and The Quests. Originally a UK hit by Millie Small, this is a nice surf rock style take in Japanese. Enjoy! posted by kuppajava at 3:33 PM on December 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
The Stones did their own "As Tears Go By" in Italian.
Lately I've been enjoying this contemporary sorta folky/indie rock version by East L.A. band Las Cafeteras. Note the presence of ukuleles, a Critical Mass bike ride, guys in trilbies, "BESOS NOT BOMBS!!!" and a kid doing the robot. It's still in Spanish, though.
But what about Hindi? Yes, there's a Hindi language cover of La Bamba. From a Bollywood movie, of course. This is a pretty loose cover -- they don't try too hard to get the Hindi verse lyrics to match the rhythm of the original song.
Maybe you were interested in the Weird Al version, "Lasagna"? Because that exists.
I thinkthis is a Japanese version. At least, it's a version by a Japanese band and I don't recognize any of the lyrics even though I'm pretty familiar with the words to "La Bamba".
There's apparently a Greek version, but the only YouTube example I could find was so unlistenably awful (yes, worse than that Bollywood version) that I couldn't verify that it's really in Greek and not just a Greek pop star singing in Spanish.
Here's one that made a strange round trip. Algerian-born Rachid Taha's Lyon-based band Carte de Séjour ("Residence Permit") created music that fused Algerian rai with rock. He's a big fan of The Clash and bumps into them before their show in Paris in 1981. According to Taha, he gave them Carte de Séjour's demo tape, and while he heard nothing from the band after that, Rock the Casbah hits the airwaves months later.
So it's only fitting that he records a cover, Rock el Casbah, with way more Middle Eastern instrumentation and a killer rhythm track. It sounds great, and I think it would fit easily equally well on the streets of Algiers and at alt-rock night at [insert your favourite North American club here].
Les Eaux de Mars by Stacey kent - in this case a French cover of Tom Jobim's "Águas de Março"
There is also a special sub-category for Christmas songs - for example you will instantly recognise "Vive le Vent" posted by rongorongo at 4:32 PM on December 1, 2012
I couldn't believe it when I learned that Maurice Chevalier covered "Yellow Submarine" (as "Le sous-marin vert") and it is exactly as awful as you might expect. posted by dropkick queen at 6:42 PM on December 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
Sounds like you might be interested in this compilation series from the 1950's-1970's, which includes a lot of covers of American and British popular songs. Here's a couple examples:
Most of this series consists of covers whose song titles have been translated into the language the cover is recorded in, so it might take a bit of filtering on your part, but this seems to be right up your alley. posted by _superconductor at 1:42 AM on December 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Bollywood! I Wanna Hold Your Hand by the Indian Beatles.
(True, according to the subtitles, the lyrics are different. But still!) posted by Rash at 8:53 AM on December 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Oh my goodness, this is amazing! Thank you everyone for chiming in!
This all started after I went on the hunt for the Spanish language version of Rosie and the Original's "Angel Baby."
Please keep em coming! As someone suggested, I am also interested in non-English versions of songs that are not covers (meaning the same band did English and non-English versions).
You guys are the best! posted by dottiechang at 1:25 PM on December 2, 2012
How about mixing two languages in one song? I love the little story told in both English and French in Daniel Lanois' Jolie Louise. posted by mannequito at 3:31 PM on December 2, 2012
A couple songs where the original version is in a non-English language:
Io Che Non Vivo - Pino Donaggio. This song was sung in English, albeit with completely different lyrics, as "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield.
Gloria - Umberto Tozzi. The cover, in English, was a big hit for Laura Branigan.
Seu Jorge's Portuguese Bowie covers
Marie Douceur, Marie Colere (Paint it Black)
posted by Gordafarin at 2:13 PM on December 1, 2012 [1 favorite]