Ningen Isu - Heartless Scat Japanese heavy metal at its finest! You can turn English subtitles on. Regards, Dave
“Smoorverliefd” — Doe Marr (1981) Dutch neo-ska, contemporaneous with the Two Tone movement in the UK.
“Amsterdam” — Jacques Brel (1964) A great, sweat-soaked performance – Jacques Brel sells a song like no other. Honorable mention: another Brel recording from 1964, “Au Suivant”. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band did a, well, sensational cover of that one (in English) called “Next” in 1973, which sounds like something along the lines of what Freddie Mercury and Queen might have done with it.
“1978” — Kleenex (1979) Undoubtedly my favorite Swiss band ever, Kleenex (who later became known as LiLiPUT for copyright reasons) was an all-female art-punk outfit from Zurich. They usually sang in English (more or less), but here they count off in German eins neun sieben acht! (1-9-7-8!) in what is otherwise an instrumental — so I'm taking advantage of that fact to post it here. Their 1978 debut single “Ain’t You” was included on the 1980 Rough Trade label British post-punk compilation Wanna Buy A Bridge?, which is how I learned of them.
“Dansa, Fastän” — Säkert! (2010) Annika Norlin, of Östersund, Sweden, is a musician, journalist and author who goes by Hello Saferide (when singing in English) and Säkert! (when singing in Swedish).
"Lullaby of Birdland" by Blue Stars (1956) A Top 20 Billboard hit, it was sung entirely in French. The vocal group was founded by Blossom Dearie after she moved to France around 1954. The group sort of evolved into the Double Six of Paris and still later the Swingle Singers.
"Sailor (Your Home is the Sea)" by Lolita (1959/60) In German, the title is "Seemann (deine Heimat ist das Meer)." It was a big hit in Europe and then crossed the pond to America, where a spoken-word English interlude was added by a still-unknown studio vocalist (possibly the same woman who spoke "1, 2, 3, 4, tell the people what she wore" on Brian Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"). This record peaked at #5 on the Hot 100 in late 1960.
“Soy de San Luis” — Texas Tornados (1990) The Tex-Mex supergroup featuring Flaco Jimenez on accordion.
The Mount Everest of songs that transcend mere language barriers. Even better is that Plastique did not actually sing the song. His producer allegedly did. He was Milli before there was a Vanilli.
Almost all of the releases from Italian prog bands from the 70's, up through the present. PFM, Banco, Le Orme, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Museo Rosenbach, Il Volo, etc, etc, etc. The first 4 Dues Ex Machina releases are sung in Latin.
For people of a certain age, this is DEFINITELY the most popular answer to this question. And, yes, the German-language original was much more popular than the English-language in America. I recall hearing both on the radio, but I preferred the German because it was so much more exotic to me.
Nolwenn Leroy "Tri Martolod" 2010 Nolwenn is a French singer but she sings also in Breton , she comes from Saint-Renan in Brittany.
Czesław Niemen & Akwarele ''Dziwny Jest Ten Świat'' ("Strange is this World") 1967 One of most outstanding Polish singer-songwriters !