US hits in English that were originally in a foreign language

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Andreas, Jan 13, 2005.

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  1. Andreas

    Andreas Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Frankfurt, Germany
    Examples:
    Domenico Modugno - Volare ==> US hit sung (mostly) in English by Dean Martin
    Jacques Brel - Le Moribond ==> Seasons In The Sun for the Kingston Trio and later Terry Jacks

    Can you list some other examples?
     
  2. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    BEYOND THE SEA/La Mer

    Everything by Burt Kaempfert. BURT DID IT FIRST!! :)
     
  3. Andreas

    Andreas Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Frankfurt, Germany
    You mean when he translated his name from "Bert" to "Burt"? :)
     
  4. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

  5. Lord Hawthorne

    Lord Hawthorne Currently Untitled

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Sonny & Cher's "What Now My Love" came from France (Jaques Brel?).
    Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" came from Italy.
    Herb Alpert's "A Banda" came from Italy, originally called "La Banda" by Mina.
    Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind" came from Germany.
    Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days" came from Russia.
     
  6. soundboy

    soundboy Senior Member

    "Gloria" and "Ti Amo", by the late Laura Branigan, both originally in Italian.
     
  7. Andreas

    Andreas Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Frankfurt, Germany
    Gilbert Becaud - Et Maintenant (assuming you are talking about the same song that was also sung by Shirley Bassey and Frank Sinatra).

    (And Jacques Brel was from Belgium, not France.)
     
  8. Andreas

    Andreas Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Frankfurt, Germany
    Original versions by Umberto Tozzi.

    Please, could you all include the original artist (or song title), if you know them? :)
     
  9. Andreas

    Andreas Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Frankfurt, Germany
    Since he was a German, his name was definitely Bert. I don't know if he considered changing it to Burt when living in the US.
     
  10. ChristianL

    ChristianL Senior Member

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    My first thought was Burt Bacharach ;)
     
  11. Another Side

    Another Side Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco
    My Way by Sinatra was Comme D'habitude by I forget who... Claude Francois?

    Does 99 Big Red Balloons count?
     
  12. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    "Let It Be Me" by the Everly Brothers was originally French, I believe. G Becaud's name appears in the credit. But I've never heard it in French. :(

    Neat thread idea!
     
  13. XMIAudioTech

    XMIAudioTech New Member

    Location:
    Petaluma, CA
    A couple more:

    Sukiyaki: Kyu Sakamoto ---> A Taste Of Honey
    Der Kommissar: Falco ---> After The Fire



    It shouldn't, as it is just an English-language (and incorrectly translated, for that matter- but that's another thread) version of the same artist's song, and was released simultaneously (at least in the US as the B-side of the 45 and 12") as the foreign-language version (which was the real US hit, surprisingly enough...)

    Others that wouldn't count on the same criteria would be:

    Major Tom (Coming Home)/Major Tom (Völlig Lösgelost) -Peter Schilling

    And many of the simultaneous English/Spanish releases by the likes of Julio Iglesias and Gloria Estefan...

    As always, YMMV. :)

    -Aaron
     
  14. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    99 Red Balloons - Nena (I much prefer the German version, 99 Luftballoons)
    Der Kommissar - After The Fire (english) & Der Kommissar - Falco (german)

    Oh well, had this ready to post for almost two hours but only sent it now. I see those have since been mentioned. :rolleyes:
     
  15. Dawson

    Dawson New Member

    I Will Follow Him - Peggy March......Chariot - Petula Clark (much prefer Pet's!)
     
  16. Rider

    Rider Forum Resident

    Je T'appartiens (1955)

    Other Titles:

    It's Now Or Never (1960)
    Surrender (1961)
    Can't Help Falling In Love (1961)
     
  17. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    "Bernadette" by the Four Tops was originally in Italian

    "Gloria" by Laura Branigan was originally in Italian

    "Sukiyaki" was in Japanese, then A Taste Of Honey applied different English lyrics and had a hit with it in 1981.
     
  18. Jeff H.

    Jeff H. Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern, OR

    Her single "Self Control" was also an Italian pop song that was translated into English. Written by the same songwriter IIRC.
     
  19. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    If its the song 'a banda' written by Chico Buarque de Hollanda, and I think it is, then its brazillian all the way (Buarque lived in Italy during the 60s)
     
  20. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Verdelle Smiths glorious 'Tar and Cement', Italian originally..
    'Its Now or Never'..
    'the girl from ipanema' was recorded a number of times in brazil before it was done by Getz/Gilberto..Billy Blanco was one
    Andorinha Preta (brazilian lovebird) -Nat King Cole..originally sung by a host of brazilian artists as well..trio irakitan had a hit with it by themselves
    'Wimoweh'...the weavers did it but they sang it translated(?) but there are original swahili lyrics which somehow (strange story) got to be 'the lion sleeps tonight'

    of course there are a whole bunch of Antonio Carlos Jobim songs..'quiet nights', 'how insensitive', 'one note samba', 'dindi' etc which were all given very poor english lyrics (Gene Lees et al) but still were hits..I'll dig thru my bossa vinyl for some of the original brazilian versions.
     
  21. mavisgold

    mavisgold Senior Member

    Location:
    bellingham wa
    The Rokes Let's Live For Today - Piangi Con Me - Grassroots
     
  22. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    The Three Bells was the subject of a thread some months ago. It was mentioned there that the original (Les trois cloches) was by Edith Piaf.

    I'm sure many of her songs and perhaps also Marlene Dietrich songs are well known in English.
     
  23. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Apologies to you or anyone else who knows this, but the composer Burt Bacharach's father was Bert Bacharach, a well-known newspaper columnist. So it kinda ties in!
     
  24. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    If you include Christmas songs that are popular in the US in English, there are a few:

    "Silent Night" by Bing Crosby ... "Stille Nacht" (German, written by Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr)
    "O Come, All Ye Faithful" ... "Adeste Fideles" (Latin, unknown authorship)
    "O Holy Night" ... "Cantique de Noel" (French, written by Adolphe Adam)
    "O Christmas Tree" ... "O Tannenbaum" (German traditional)
    "Carol of the Bells" ... originally in Ukrainian, "Shchedryk" by Mychal Leontovich

    And some others:
    "I Get Ideas" by Tony Martin ... from an Argentine tango called "Adios Muchachos"
    "There's No Tomorrow" by Tony Martin ... from "O Sole Mio" (just as "It's Now or Never" was!)
    "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks ... from a song written by Belgian Jacques Brel, "Le Moribond" (The Dying Man), the Kingston Trio did an English version long before the hit.
     
  25. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    A lot of the Brazilian and Bossa-Nova hits of the 60s were translated or rewritten with English lyrics. Too many to list all of them, but...

    "A Day In The Life Of A Fool" was the song from Black Orpheus, "Manha de Carnaval" (yes, I probably mangled the spelling), aka "Morning of the Carnaval".

    Tom Jobim also had songs with both English and Portugese lyrics; I even have a couple of CDs of his that have alternate takes sung in an alternate language. And for that matter, many of the songs on both Sinatra/Jobim albums are English translations or rewrites of Brazil's finest.
     
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