Covers sung in a different language

I always enjoy these for some reason.

Inspired by The Cambodian Space Project's very good cover of Iggy Pop's The Passenger which showed up on my spotify discovery playlist this week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu4sa9gHS6k

I'm sure there are countless great examples of this, was kind of surprised that I couldn't find a thread about it

Gypsy Kings - Hotel California

http://youtu.be/TPmYg-QbWbk

god i hate these non-embedding links

http://youtube.com/TPmYg-QbWbk

http://www.youtube.com/TPmYg-QbWbk

argh i give up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFo5_aTx0dw

classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hHznB-_Gbs

Roisin Murphy - Mi Senti

EP in which Roisin sings italian classics - described the studio process as a tearjerker, the difficulty of learning the language as an irish speaker

Mondo Cane - Mondo Cane - Mike Patton's italian ballads/opera cover album, one of the best records he did recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmmCSOpPzZc

^ really good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVgF_DoNFcU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0HPj3AJGg

Keiji Haino's "covers band," Aihiyo, taking apart the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" for 15+ minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjGukiqn_II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q7w7gk1JhQ

that's the original language though

Truth! I meant to post this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y323GrCsN_Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV8wHwgNcB4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pevEW7xdWQo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K1vJ0r0ax0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NcL3K65fRU

When I was a child we had a record of Johnny Hallyday singing Da Doo Run Run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXYfxw5c5Ic

I don't think it was this recording. In my memory the record goes "Oui, oui, oui," which is very funny if you're a 7-year-old American boy.

i like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSFUfIcSb04

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2j9Ps_bha4

Geeta's blog turned me on to Salma and Sabina's amazing Abba covers years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH6eOCQJGhs

Re:Jambalaya, this version is pretty great, too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNjbpNhPPag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmPJGUcpsno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSYS7cPc3nE

Does Frank Sinatra My Way count or was the song rewritten along the way?

I'd heard that David Bowie had a new set of English lyrics for the French song Comme d'habitude before Paul Anka came though with the now much better known ones. But wasn't sure to what extent Anka had translated the French song or just taken the main form and constructed something new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_5V62wxnWY

Here's Rebekah del Rio performing Llorando, the song she also did in Mulholland Drive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elDYQFD19RY

And this is my favorite Eagles cover of all time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HpmbVw7soQ

Mo' Plen Bacharach is a pretty amazing compilation of Bacharach songs in Italian

lol @pplains' eagles cover, that's pretty nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9NQlhId3ow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQm_8uoljWM

Clinic (1979) with a faithful, but nice, cover of Chris Spedding’s great Video Life:

http://youtu.be/xuO2eVRRLZI

I have probably hundreds of these but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

For some reason i went down a rabbit hole of Korean-language covers of the Soviet rock group Kino a few weeks ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cQ8utxtzSk&list=RD8cQ8utxtzSk&index=1

https://youtu.be/8cQ8utxtzSk

i always liked both of these. moving from french-to-english

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5qwEzk0FK4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-3_Xtqd4wk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHYUUSlU2xY

^

Nicoletta turning Can't Give You Anything (But My Love) into the Frenchest thing imaginable.

This one is pretty terrible but...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLwM9r20HpU

I've always enjoyed this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io-snhxPgoM

taking revolution rock from roots to full-blown ska

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUo4P4GvmIs

Does this count lol?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s55WC-qkQa4

...but I'm sure this does:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQKyMZ8gsPI

Both of these are pretty weak compared to the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBfFDTPPlaM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GchzuRqFpY

I've always thought it was pretty strange that more bands didn't do what Amen Corner did with (If Paradise) Is Half As Nice and cover big European hits that never really took off in the UK / US.

This cover of "Call Your Girlfriend" was actually a huge hit here in Québec, staying 11 weeks at #1 and winning song of the year in 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIfLIDJVhos

https://youtu.be/Mbh92VDmKwY

<3 Puffy’s cover of Kylie Minogue’s Turn It Into Love.

Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvfQq5wkCGU

(cover of The Zombies' "Leave Me Be")

Another one from Nina Simone (and one of my all-time favorites of hers):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuFMdHr2Z2U

that hindi abba song is great!

The Abba in Hindi ep is great. I've got a foreign language reworking of Video Killed The Radio Star somewhere that's amazing but I can't find it or even remember the title or what language it was in. (I want to say Hindi too but I I've got a real suspicion it's African)

This whole EP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-10xMpeOT74
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE1QsPpF0ZE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfuNhIyoLLg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZPtnuPKyu4

charanga 76 - no nos pararán (ain't no stopping us now)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP7IBtiySYM

No youtube but please click and listen to their cover of "A Forest." It's SO GOOD.

https://ibibiosoundmachine.bandcamp.com/album/eyio

here's a polish language cover of bill withers' "use me".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzQhC3RPtLU

Re: Aldo, I'm guessing you're talking about this track?? The whole movie and soundtrack are great but this one definitely bites the Buggles pretty hard at points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vylXQbEULQ

Yes! Thank you!

I went through multiple combinations of owa owa but would never have thought of spelling it that way.

Had no idea relatively well-known (among francophones) Joe Dassin song "Le Moustique" is a cover of a post-Morrison Doors song (The Mosquito)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2uH96a3RP0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQaOghBVOKg

The cover has a 20 second Manzarek-style organ solo, in the original that part is 4 minutes

Most of the biggest hits of Luis Miguel, who is one of the best selling latin artists of all time, are Spanish covers of these songs:

* Ahora te puedes marchar: Dusty Springfield - I only want to be with you
* Yo que no vivo sin ti: Dusty Springfield - You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
* Sera que no me amas: Jackson 5 - blame it on the boogie
* Que nivel de mujer: Tower of Power - attitude dance
* Cuando calienta el sol: Engelbert Humperdink - Love Me With All Of Your Heart
* Es Mejor - Four Tops – Reach Out (I’ll Be There)
* Ayer - David Foster - All That My Heart Can Hold
* Alguien Como Tu - Somebody In Your Life – Peabo Bryson
* Perdoname: Eric Carmen - all by myself

Many regional mexican music (norteño, cumbia…) does this too… some hits top of my mind:

* Banda Toro - la noche que chicago murio (paper lace - night chicago died) <- I love this one, cumbiaparty must-have.
* Grupo Pegaso - Anna (Beatles - anna)
* Vicente Fernandez (and several other versions, it’s a mariachi classic nowadays) - a mi manera (My way)
* Los Felinos - yo quiero quebrarte (war - lowrider)
* Ramon Ayala - cuando yo era un jovencito (ccr/leadbelly - cottonfields)
* Priscila y sus balas de Plata - corazon de cristal (blondie - heart of glass)
* Juan Gabriel - gracias al sol (CCR- have you ever seen the rain)

Probably a hundred more of these I’m missing… I’ll find and report if there’s interest in these lol

Josh Groban's "Alejate" was an adaptation of Celine Dion's "Just Walk Away". it was translated into Spanish by Claudia Brant and then it was given to Groban to sing that version because...who knows.

Oh I forgot two big ones… which I hate because they’re so ubiquitous and there’s a 90% chance they’ll be played at some point in any wedding in Mexico:

Caballo Dorado - payaso del rodeo (don’t tell my heart - marcy brothers)
Caballo Dorado - no rompas mas (achy breaky heart - billy ray cyrus)

Oh wait they’re both covers of the same song lol they made a career of making two “different songs” from the same one.

Here's an Italian translation of Galaxie 500's "Strange" from Luca Dai:

https://lucadai.bandcamp.com/track/strani

I vaguely remember a great Spanish-language version of "Leader of the Pack" from ... Freaky Trigger? an mp3-blogs? ... back in the day, but can't remember the artist or title.

Mmm was it this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpwhljKJaXk

Speaking of covers found in mp3 blogs… I love this one which I think I first found via soulsides:

Las Cuatro Monedas - Buena suerte (Desmond Dekker - 007)

That's the one, Moka, TYSM!

(in case the YT link disappears down the line, it's Mexican girl-group Los France, "El líder de mi clan"

German-language cover versions tended to change the original lyrics quite a bit, or, as with this OMD cover by Nino de Angelo, to sing over the instrumental part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd_FXVEqsyM

A couple of examples already mentioned but the whole French « Yéyé » scene in the sixties was about covers of US and British pop hits. It was terrible.

Does recording your own song in a foreign language count?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vx8qpaKmlk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5835_MraeI

Yes, Spanish language Abba is so good

There's two(!) different Spanish covers of I turned into a Martian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O33hLxq70A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPUg7d1c16A

I wonder if that's a situation where one cover got popular enough to get covered again like this joke cover of Want You to Want Me for a Gael Garcia Bernal soccer movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKZAWvs9qpY

that spawned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nraTcHYCbZ0

Pavement's "Motion Suggests" re-rendered by Uruguayan alt-rockers Buenos Muchachos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw2u3-qvATY

I hate the family's life
Si saben que voy por ahí
Aquí o allá
Si puedo no dormir

Buscan for my clothes
Buscan for my nose
Quieren tenerlo todo
Y no ven que no soy...

Now I won't need someone
To let me be

Se encierra en el placard
Esconde su lunar azul
No es triste ya no existe
Su lugar

Que tiene que correr
O tiene que volar
Para patear al alba
Llorando al andar...

Now I won't need someone
To let me be
Now I won't need someone
To let me go
Let me free!!!

Spanish and French covers of "Hanging on the Telephone" by Davila 666 & Souvenir:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuy0ZLanLao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFnNlRkLlGw

There's two(!) different Spanish covers of I turned into a Martian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O33hLxq70A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPUg7d1c16A

I wonder if that's a situation where one cover got popular enough to get covered again like this joke cover of Want You to Want Me for a Gael Garcia Bernal soccer movie:

― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 16:16 (two hours ago)

Molotov are very political and tongue in cheek. Marciano comes from a full album of “covers” called “con todo respeto”. Their choice of covers in there is actually sort of brilliant and on point for them.

I remember Molotov, one time when I was in Mexico they had a really catchy single called "Yofo" out, thought they were sort of like Bloodhound Gang lol

That’s kind of an apt comparison for a great deal of their hits, but instead of singing mostly about sex they usually sing about corruption in the government and the media (at least in their first albums) But there’s definitely plenty of brattish comedy in their catalogue.

One of the most trascendental songs they have is “gimme the power” which is sort of a national anthem in Mexico. Probably one of the most important and impactful rock songs in the country.

Even “Yofo” as idiotic as it sounds adds political message in the lyrics

(I don’t know how to even translate it properly as it’s based on a popular made up idiom for kids in mexico called “The F idiom” which consists in adding an f+vowel in between every vowel to play-speak without other people understanding)

As for popular artists covering themselves in Spanish here’s several:

Phil Collins - the Tarzan soundtrack
The White Stripes – “Conquest” / “Conquista”
ABBA – “Mamma Mía”
Céline Dion – “All By Myself” / “Sola otra vez”
‘NSYNC – “Gone”
Beyoncé – “Irreplaceable” / “Irremplazable”
Bon Jovi – “This Ain’t a Love Song” / “Como yo nadie te ha amado”
Sting – “Fragile” / “Fragilidad”
Robbie Williams – “Angel” / “Ángel”
Michael Jackson – “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” / “Todo mi amor eres tú”
Madonna – “You’ll See” / “Verás”
Scorpions – “Wind of Change” / “Vientos de cambio”
Back Street Boys – “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” / “Nunca te haré llorar”
Blondie – “Call me” / “Llámame”
Stevie Wonder – “For Once In My Life” / “Por primera vez en la vida”
Gloria Gaynor – “I Will Survive” / “Sobreviviré”

Xpost: pig latin is the term I was looking for

compare/contrast spongebob's latin vs castilian spanish covers (of a cover? -- Twisted Sister metacover?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ4qESepPLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gvaMTm5mBw