Searching for international melodies!

October 23, 2023 4:47 PM

I need some songs that people from different nationalities (at least from the USA, Germany, and the Ukraine) can sing together. To be clear, the idea is for the lyrics to be sung in the individuals' first language. So we're looking for songs that exist in different languages, preferably melodies that are reasonably well-known.

So far, the list is short:

- Silent Night
- Disney songs (which, in itself, could be a very long list. But we don't want to only sing Disney songs)

Any thoughts?

posted by toucan to Media & Arts (16 answers total)

Shchedryk is originally a Ukrainian song, which was used as the melody for the English Carol of the Bells, which has been translated to German and other languages.
posted by mbrubeck at 4:57 PM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]

Despacito is originally in Spanish, with an official remix in a mix of English and Spanish, and some unofficial cover versions on YouTube in various languages including Ukrainian and German (see video descriptions for lyrics).

Some other songs with lots of unofficial translations on YouTube including German and Ukrainian include “My Heart Will Go On” (from the Titanic soundtrack) and “Soon May the Wellerman Come.”
posted by mbrubeck at 5:38 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

Amazing Grace
posted by mbrubeck at 5:50 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

There are French and English (at least) lyrics for "Frère Jacques".

There are Hebrew and English (at least) lyrics for Ma'oz Tsur/Rock of Ages, and probably some other "Jewish songs".

"Adeste Fidelis" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" are the same melody and at least pretty similar lyrics. I bet there are more Christmas carols in similar situations, but I don't know much about it.

Does it help if two songs have the same melody, but the lyrics don't mean the same thing? I'm thinking of "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", which has the same melody as the standard English ABC song/"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"/"Baa Baa Black Sheep", but there are probably other cases.
posted by likedoomsday at 6:40 PM on October 23, 2023

- Disney songs (which, in itself, could be a very long list. But we don't want to only sing Disney songs)

Along those lines, there are a lot of musicals - especially the big Broadway hits - that have been translated into local languages for local performances.
posted by trig at 7:21 PM on October 23, 2023

Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 (AKA the Ode to Joy) has lyrics in both German and English, likely good translations for all the other languages of the EU of which it is the anthem, and is incredibly recognisable and pretty much universally known.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:02 PM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]

I don't know if the Elvis Presley song Wooden Heart is well known enough these days, but it's based on the German folk song Muss i denn. The tune is the same, and the Elvis version even has a stanza that is in German and begins "Muss i denn" and then another half a stanza in German.
posted by FencingGal at 8:03 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Hindi version of We Shall Overcome (हम होंगे कामयाब) is very popular in India.

There seem to also be versions of this song in German and other languages, but I cannot attest as to how popular they are.
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:10 PM on October 23, 2023

Auld Lang Syne.

Son Ar Chistr.
posted by offog at 10:06 PM on October 23, 2023

Yeah a lot of protest songs are in multiple languages as noted. Try also Bread and Roses and The Internationale.
posted by Iteki at 10:39 PM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]

Quick YouTubing btw suggests that while Internationale is considered leftist in much of the world it seems more explicitly Soviet in Ukrainian links.
posted by Iteki at 10:42 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

Gala's Freed From Desire is familiar to the whole of Europe I'd bet. Not sure how well known it is in the USA, but it has become known as a 'World Cup song', often played at football matches. Plus it's super easy to sing along to.
posted by guessthis at 3:34 AM on October 24, 2023

Maybe a bit much for a sing-along, but Les Mis is pretty internationally known, and (I think) the songs are translated into ~17 languages.
posted by adekllny at 6:28 AM on October 24, 2023

Happy Birthday?
posted by creatrixtiara at 6:58 AM on October 24, 2023

I don't know what the song's called in Japan, but for some reason pedestrian crossings there play the Burns song Comin' thro the Rye.
posted by scruss at 7:27 AM on October 24, 2023

My hat, it has three corners
Three corners has my hat
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:47 AM on October 24, 2023