In the Netherlands the single became a hit twice, in 1969 and 1974. As I was 11 years old in 1974, I sure remember it. Didn't understand the words, but it was clear to all of us what it was about. Never seen the film from 1976. I don't think my parents would have allowed me to see it LOL.
solid music years, the Dutch gave us phonetically sung songs in English to top the charts a few times... and your national football team....
Shocking Blue's Venus was a smash hit all over the world. May well have made it to the top of the charts in Canada.
Marty Friedman surely transcended language barriers with this: And this is a terrific live version of the original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUQnlXsISvg
“Paralyzed” — The Legendary Stardust Cowboy (1968) Alright, this one is sung in English... allegedly, but still transcends languages because even English speakers can't decipher the lyrics. Yes, there supposedly are lyrics despite what the lyrics sites tell you. The Legendary Stardust Cowboy [Norman Carl Odam] was a pioneer of whatever genre you want to call this – psychobilly, outsider music... It's hard to believe this ever got recorded (Mercury pressed 500 copies), but in fact he made several other recordings. Some other fun facts about the singer and the song: Frequently cited as "The Worst Record Ever Made" or similar, and a Dr. Demento regular. Made a national television appearance (on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In). T-Bone Burnett ("J. Henry Burnett") co-produced this, and played the drums to boot. NASA blasted this song to wake up the astronauts, which led to the song's eventual NASA banning. There is an orchid named for him. David Bowie was a fan (hence Ziggy STARDUST), and covered his "I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship" in 2002. There's plenty more in another SHMF thread.
Those Were The Days as sung by Mary Hopkin - she also released versions sung in French Italian Spanish and German And The Beatles of course did German versions of She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand
This is easy for me! Some of the best progressive music ever, was and is produced in non-English speaking countries. Italy in the 70's, and up through today, has a reputation of prog equal to that of the well known British bands (YES, Genesis, King Crimson, etc). Bands such as: Premiata Forneria Marcpni, Banco dle Mutuo Sorccorso, Le Orme, and dozens more, created music sung in Italian, as good as English speaking bands. Same with France and Spain. While not as prodigious as Italy, these countries produced some world class prog, sung in French and Spanish. Hell, there were actually a good number of bands from Spain that sung in the enigmatic language, Euskera, that is spoken by the Basque people. Then, there is the French band, Magma. Long before Sigur Ros invented their own language, Magma invented their own, Kobia, with a set of grammatical rules and dictionary, which they sing every one of their albums in.
Let me add, that one of the great things about prog, is that so much of the emotional content, is conveyed in the music itself, that understanding the lyrics is not as important to the appreciation of the music. Hell, all one has to do is take a look at Jon Anderson's lyrics. Some think they are pretty indecipherable, and they are in English. When it comes to prog with lyrics in a language I don't understand, it becomes very easy to just think of the vocals as another instrument, adding another melodic line to the music. The music is enough to convey emotional and intellectual content.