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April 20, 2020 8:30 AM   Subscribe

Please help me compile a list of Spanish covers of English songs.

I would like to listen to Spanish-covers of songs that are well-known in the English-speaking world, faithfully translated or not. Any genre or time period is fine, and this needn't be limited to really good songs that have been brilliantly reinterpreted. Thanks!
posted by skewed to Media & Arts (30 answers total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Check out The Dark of the Matinee done by Coco Freeman and Franz Ferdinand

I think the Buena Vista Social Club-related Rhythms Del Mundo album this comes from has a number of other similar popular songs (e.g., I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For) that have some or all of the lyrics converted into Spanish, but I haven't listened to the whole thing.
posted by Gadarene at 8:38 AM on April 20, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: 'Son Amores' by Natalia Lafourcade ('That's Amore')
posted by umber vowel at 8:46 AM on April 20, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Rebekah Del Rio's cover of Roy Orbison's "Crying", from Mulholland Drive.

Cover
Original
posted by sacrifix at 9:44 AM on April 20, 2020 [5 favorites]


Best answer: I really like this cover of Simon & Garfunkel's The Boxer by the Gypsy Vagabonds.
posted by terretu at 9:46 AM on April 20, 2020 [2 favorites]


Best answer: If you're into 90s R&B, Boyz II Men put out a Spanish language version of their album Evolution (Evolucion) that covers many of their biggest hits in Spanish. It's available on Spotify.
posted by Fuego at 9:51 AM on April 20, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: By covers, do you mean by a different band? ABBA did a whole Spanish language album, re-recording popular tracks, and I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred was re-recorded in multiple European languages, including Spanish.
posted by holyrood at 9:51 AM on April 20, 2020


Best answer: The Gipsy Kings' cover of Hotel California.
posted by iamsuper at 9:52 AM on April 20, 2020






Best answer: Oh my god, and how can I forget "Fotos y Recuerdos," Selena's cover of "Back on the Chain Gang" by the Pretenders, who have lavished praise upon it.
posted by fiercecupcake at 10:07 AM on April 20, 2020 [2 favorites]


Best answer: OK, last one, I keep thinking of them when I think there are no more. Beyonce's "Irreemplazable."
posted by fiercecupcake at 10:12 AM on April 20, 2020 [1 favorite]




Best answer: I suppose it depends upon your Morrissey fandom as to whether or not these are well-known songs, but there's an entire cover album of Morrissey songs in Spanish because of course there is:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/6890835/mexrrissey-no-manchester-morrissey-latin-album-premiere
posted by jabes at 10:44 AM on April 20, 2020


Best answer: Caballero Reynaldo's "The Grand Kazoo" album is entirely Spanish covers of Frank Zappa, if I remember correctly. (It's great fun.)
posted by eotvos at 10:55 AM on April 20, 2020


Best answer: lots of people have translated American country songs into Spanish. Here's Los Tigres Del Norte doing a commemoration of Johnny Cash's Live At Folsom Prison concert, and it looks like an interesting film came out of it (lots of clips on Youtube):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxPBsOlWabc&list=PLivQxzcho4T4Vx6yAcBjq7OZ6wMGWxNsP

accordion master Mingo Salvidar doing Ring Of Fire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKbP14V4EPc

and, again, Folsom Prison Blues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwMsKGw8Rkc&list=PLVtgojIH6u6jX-slEmcos_OdjjHoVyk2c&index=97
posted by twoplussix at 10:56 AM on April 20, 2020




Best answer: Abba has an ENTIRE ALBUM of Spanish language versions of their hits, Oro

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs has lovely cover of Strawberry Fields Forever, and at least on their live album set Hola/Chau, they sing it with Debbie Harry!

The often-covered Hungarian Death Song (aka Gloomy Sunday, aka Triste Domingo) has been covered at least once in Spanish by Agustín Magaldi

Secret Agent Man, covered by the Plugz as Hombre Secreto

Mother in Law, covered by Los Straitjackets as La Suegra, who also separately have at least one all-cover, all-Spanish album, Rock En Español, Vol. 1
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 3:31 PM on April 20, 2020 [2 favorites]


Best answer: And you just inspired me to search again for a grainy AM radio cover of the old Terry Stafford chestnut "Suspicion," and this time I found it: Sospecha, performed by Sandro
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 3:38 PM on April 20, 2020


Best answer: Looks like Sandro also has Casa Del Sol Naciente (House of the Rising Sun).
posted by umber vowel at 4:38 PM on April 20, 2020


Best answer: Dusty Springfield's I Only Want to Be with You, covered as Ahora Te Puedes Marchar (the lyrics of the "cover" are very different from those of the original).
posted by bricoleur at 4:54 PM on April 20, 2020


Best answer: Cypress Hill did an entire greatest hits album in Spanish ('Los Grandes Éxitos En Español') which is, well, what it is. Here's No Entiendes La Onda (How I Could Just Kill A Man).
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:05 PM on April 20, 2020


Best answer: Here's Fricción covering David Bowie's Heroes (I swear I know of non-Argentine muscians, this is just another coincidence)
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:42 PM on April 20, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: And purely for the schlock, La noche que Chicago se murio.
posted by gteffertz at 7:05 PM on April 20, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Another where the tune is the same but the lyrics are unrelated: Cuando Era Un Jovencito
posted by bricoleur at 8:13 PM on April 20, 2020


Best answer: An outstanding cover, in a surprising style. From mefi's own hanoixan.

Film Confession: I have a fantasy of this being the soundtrack for the opening montage in Werner Herzog's imaginary cinematic interpretation of Vernon God Little. He bought the option, but hasn't done anything with it afaik.

posted by j_curiouser at 10:55 PM on April 20, 2020


Best answer: These are mostly (all?) by the original recording artists. Before Pop and Latin charts were so intertwined, think 80's and 90's, it was a thing for big hits in English to get a Spanish translation of questionable quality and re-record for release in Spanish-speaking markets.

Roxette - No sé si es amor (It Must Have Been Love)
Blondie - Call Me
Madonna - Veras (You'll See)
Christina Aguilera - Genio Atrapado (Genie in a Bottle) & Si No Te Hubiera Conocido feat. Luis Fonsi
Backstreet Boys - Nunca Te Are llorar (I'll Never Break Your Heart)
Mariah Carey - Heroe & El Amor Que Soñe (Con Letra) (Open Arms by Journey)
David Lee Roth really butchered his entire debut solo album in Spanish, but especially bad is the Ol' Blue Eyes standard Así Es La Vida (That's Life)
Bon Jovi - Cama de roses (Bed of Roses) & Como Yo Nadie Te Ha Amado (This Ain't a Love Song)
Scorpions - Viento de Cambio (Winds of Change) [OMG!]
Celine Dion has done a bunch of songs, here's Sola Otra Vez (All By Myself)
Toni Braxton - Unbreak My Heart
Boyz II Men - Yesterday (Beatles) & Al Final del Camino (End of the Road)
Michael Jackson - Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu (All My Love For You)
posted by carsonb at 1:04 AM on April 21, 2020 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Os Mutantes doing Baby - English & Spanish
posted by carsonb at 1:08 AM on April 21, 2020


Best answer: Flans - Gracias (Dido - Thank You)

Phil Collins did all of his own singing for the Spanish Tarzan soundtrack. More broadly, any Disney movie and many Broadway musicals will have their own Spanish version(s). Under the Sea, Circle of Life, The Phantom of the Opera, Memory, I Dreamed a Dream. I could go on...
posted by Glier's Goetta at 3:11 AM on April 21, 2020


Best answer: The incomparable Meridian Brothers do Niebla Morada (Purple Haze)
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 3:45 AM on April 21, 2020 [1 favorite]


Los Straightjackets-Que Monstruo (I'll let you find out what it is.

Union 13-Raices Radicales Rancid-Roots Radicals
posted by East14thTaco at 12:27 PM on April 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


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