English Speakers Sing In Spanish

OK, Mary Hopkin sang "Those Were The Days" in Spanish, Jay And The Americans tried the loving tongue too. Who else?

 

Sting - Nada Como El Sol (Nothing Like The Sun)

 

The Young Rascals-Groovin' (released as a US single with Italian version on the flip)
Nilsson-Without You (I have this on tape)
Police-De Do Do Do....

 

David Lee Roth's Eat Em And Smile was released in Spanish......the song Shy Boy became Timido....quite funny!

 

Michael Jackson did a Spanish-language version of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," the first single from Bad.

Sheena Easton recorded Spanish versions of some of her hits; she had an entire LP's worth of them, and I have a 45 with "We've Got Tonight" on one side and "Almost Over You" on the other, both in Spanish.

Most of the song "Guantanamera" by the Sandpipers, except for the spoken middle section, is in Spanish.

Plenty of Hispanic singers whose first language is English have also recorded in Spanish -- Christina Aguilera and Gloria Estefan are two that come to mind immediately.

 

MADONNA- La Isla Bonita, Who's that Girl, Don't Cry For me Argentina, You'll See

 

Blondie - Llamame (hope I spelled that correctly!) aka Call Me

Captain & Tennille - Por Amor Viviremos aka Love Will Keep Us Together

and, from my understand, a great many others.

 

Polygram released a CD collection titled Stars in Spanish several years ago, which collected up several of these one-off Spanish versions. It was in print for about 15 minutes. If you ever see a used copy, grab it! Track list:

1. Todo Lo Que Hago, Lo Hago Por Ti performed by Bryan Adams
2. Cama de Rosas performed by Bon Jovi
3. Viento de Cambio performed by Scorpions
4. Senza Una Donna performed by Zucchero
5. Fragilidad performed by Sting
6. No Dejemos Que Muera el Amor performed by Boyz II Men
7. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da performed by Police
8. Noches de Seda performed by Moody Blues
9. Oye Como Va performed by Santana
10. Sukiyaki performed by Four PM
11. Let's Get Serious performed by Jermaine Jackson
12. Vuelve a Mi performed by Janet Jackson
13. Luka performed by Suzanne Vega

 

Off the top of my memory...

Sting did the whole "...nothing like the Sun" album in spanish.

"Regatta de Blanc" by The Police is sung in spanish (Ay caramba! Arriba! Un cometa! Ay, ay, ay, ay!)

Billy Crystal - You look MAHVELOUS ( ) -> Saludos, my darlings... and so on.

Sheena Easton & Luis Miguel - Me gustas tal como eres.

I think Nat King Cole did a version of "Unforgettable" in spanish.

Just a note - "Oye como va" is sung by Santana - he's not an english speaking singer. He's mexican!

 

Warren Zevon did a version of "Leave My Monkey Alone" in Spanish..it's on the SENTIMENTAL HYGIENE remaster. And of course, there's "El Amor De Mi Vida" on THE WIND.

Linda Ronstadt "Lo Siento Mi Vida" from HASTEN DOWN THE WIND. Not to mention all her Mexican songs...great stuff btw.

 

In addition to albums such as Canciones de mi padre, she also recorded "Blue Bayou" in Spanish ("Lago Azul").

 

Abba - Oro
Okay technically it's Swedish speakers who speak English who sing in Spanish
Aaron

 

a couple by the Clash:

Spanish Bombs
Should I Stay or Should I Go? (story goes that Joe called a Salvadoran housekeeper to give him a very rough translation of the verses sung by Mick. a Spanish-speaking friend nodded and said, "So, that's why it makes no sense.")

 

Herb Alpert sang his big "This Guy's" hit in Spanish, called "Yo Soy Ese Amor" (and also did it in Italian as "Un Ragazzo Che Ti Ama").

Herb later did two more Spanish language tunes, "Noche De Amor" and "Quiereme Tal Como Soy".

Herb and wife Lani Hall redid their A/C song "Come What May" as "Lo Que Siento Hoy Por Ti".

Lani herself did three full albums in Spanish, LANI, LANI HALL, and ES FACIL AMAR, the latter of which won her a Grammy.

Carpenters did one of their hits, "Sing", in Spanish as "Canta".

Sergio Mendes' hit "Never Gonna Let You Go" was reworked in Spanish as "Nunca Mas Diras Adios" on a Latin edition of the album called PICARDIA.

I have a 12" record with Barry Manilow doing "En El Copa", the Spanish version of "Copacabana."

Wilson Phillips did a few of their hits in Spanish including "Otro Amor" and "Mi Sueño Vive Aun".

And finally The Corrs, with Spanish star Alejandro Sanz did one of their tunes, "One Night" as "Una Noche", and one of his songs, "The Hardest Day" as "Me Iré".

 

Hola FJ.

I think it's just two songs, Si estamos juntos (We'll be together) and Frágil (Fragile).

The rest of the two-record set (in my case) is the regular English-language release.

BTW, someone tell Doris it is not 'Que sera, sera' but 'Lo que será, será'.

And Warren and the Eagles that 'desperado' is not a word in Spanish.

Regards.

 

The most horrendous cover of a beautiful song is Yolanda 'sung' in Spanish by Robert Wyatt. Mr. Wyatt also did 'Dada was here' in Spanish for Soft Machine II.

 

Cliff Richard did a pretty good album - When in Spain. The only track title that I can remember is Maria no Mas.

Avoid the recent twofer remaster. Go for the earlier 2 albums on 2 CDs (DADC Austria pressings)

 

The Sandpipers did quite a few songs in Spanish, enough actually to fill out a full album. After doing four albums for the A&M label, a fifth album was released with a compilation of those Spanish songs, called, imaginatively, SPANISH ALBUM (SP 4159).

Track listing:

Guantanamera
La Bamba
Estraños en la Noche (Strangers In The Night)
Lleveme a la Luna (Fly Me To The Moon)
Cancion de Amor (Wanderlove)
Louis, Louis
Cuando Sali de Cuba (The Wind Will Change Tomorrow)
(the next three from the Beatles catalog)
Ayer (Yesterday)
Michelle
Y La Quiero (And I Love Her)
Enamorado
Ojos Españoles

By the way, the English recitation in the middle of "Guantanamera" is producer Tommy LiPuma.

 

Robbie Williams also sing like two songs in Spanish. Angel and Be a Better Man or somethink like that...

 

"Si No Estas Tu" is also a bonus track on the new Vic Anesini remaster of Nilsson Schmilsson.

 

I think Fragilidad as sung by Stung is in Portuguese not Spanish

 

I have 8 albums completely in Spanish by Orquesta de la Luz.....
The whole band is Japanese!

 

Pete Seeger was the first "gringo" to perform "Guantanamera" and I think he's the guy who "discovered" the song and added the English translation.

And speaking of "gringos"--there's Wendy Waldman's "Gringo In Mexico."

And for all the daddys out there, don't forget Raffi's version of "De Colores".

 

Does anybody remember a parody of "Guantanamera" that Dr. Demento used to play (Early 70's?) called "One Ton Tomato"? I'd love to hear that again.

 

Mike Nesmith did something similar for an episode of his 80's Television Parts TV show, but it was only a short bit, not the entire song.