There is a song by Concrete Blonde called “Mexican Moon” on their Mexican Moon album. There are two versions of the song - one in English and one in Spanish. The Spanish version is titled **“Bajo la Lune Mexicana.” ** Even the English version has a few Spanish words.
All I can remember off the top of my head from the Spanish version is:
Pensando de ti
bajo la lune mexicana…
(thinking of you underneath the mexican moon…)
Que linda me la traiga Cuba,
la reina de la Mar Caribe.
Cielo sol no tiene sangreahi,
y que triste que no puedo vaya,
Oh va, oh va, va.
Madonna’s “Who’s That Girl” has a bit of Spanish in it:
Quien es esa nina, who’s that girl
Senorita, mas fina, who’s that girl
as does “La Isla Bonita” (a spoken bit in the beginning, and, well, La Isla Bonita)
She also did a “Spanglish” version of “Ni Llores por mi Argentina.”
ABBA recorded “Voulez-Vous” La question c’est voulez-vous.
Let’s not forget the only American song featuring lines in Koine Greek, Kyrie Eleison by Mr. Mister.
The Pixies’ “Debaser” has an almost nonsense English French/Spanish mixture-
“I am un chien Andalusia”
99 Luftballons is not an American song. It was recorded by Nena who is German.
Blondie’s Call Me has some French verses, also I think Manhatten Transfer are American, they released a song entirely in French in 1977 called Chanson D’Amour.
The Showtune Queen steps in…
“Wilkommen” from Cabaret. The entire first part of the song is set up as a repetition of the lyrics in German, French and English.
C’est La Vie – ELP
Painful though it may be: Living La Vida Loca – Ricky Martin
Michelle - Beatles
My
C’est La Vie – ELP
Painful though it may be: Living La Vida Loca – Ricky Martin
Michelle - Beatles
My Sweet Lord - George Harrison (Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, Rama Krishna. . .)
By the same token Hare Krishna shows in a few Beatles’ songs.
They’re british, but The Clash have a fair few spanish lines, in Should I Stay or Should I Go* there’s lines like “Esta undecision me molesta”, and Spanish Bombs* has a lot of spanish. Those are just a few examples.
Bob Dylan, Black Diamond Bay
But the dealer says, "Attendez-vous, s’il vous plait,’’
…
While she’s out on the balcony, where a stranger tells her,
“My darling, je vous aime beaucoup.”
Bob Dylan, Romance in Durango
“No llores, mi querida
Dios nos vigila
Soon the horse will take us to Durango.
Agarrame, mi vida
Soon the desert will be gone
Soon you will be dancing the fandango.”
Neil Diamond, Canta Libre
Canta libre, Canta vida, de mi madre, y mi padre,
Canta mi corazon, Para los ninos, y sus ninos, canta libre.
Dean Martin, An Evening in Roma
Como e bella ce la luna brille e strette
Strette como e tutta bella a passeggiare
Sotto il cielo di roma
Dean Martin, Return to Me
Ritorna me, cara mia ti amo.
Solo tu, solo tu, solo tu, mi amo.
I was aware of that. I thought that me saying that I would allow it because it was released on American radio explained that. Sorry for the confusion.
So close, but they’re Canuckis, I believe.
‘Weird’ Al, however was born in CA and has the song ‘Taco Grande’ with many words in Spanish included.
Plus, there’s Michigan’s own Madonna w/ ‘Isla Bonita’; there’s a line that goes ‘girl with eyes like Barbados’ that my friends and I always sung ‘potatos’ instead of Barbados.
Again, I don’t think the nationality rule matters that much, since Superdude has specified that Nena counts. He’s allowing anything on American radio.
And, since I feel like flaunting the “nationality doesn’t matter anymore really” principle, I’m going to cite the Beatles’ “Across the Universe”:
Jai guru deva, om
…which is, of course (if you look at the full lyrics) a reference to Un chien andalou.
What about that swing hit “Bei Mir Bistu Schoen”, originally all Yiddish? All that remains in the Andrews Sisters’ cover is the title line.
If you’re thinking of the line I’m thinking of, it’s young girl with eyes like the desert.
The only thing in the song that sounds like “potatoes” is “San Pedro”. It is found in the first line: Last night I dreamt of San Pedro, and later I fell in love with San Pedro.
Madonna has also recorded Spanish versions of her songs “You’ll See” (Veras), and “What It Feels Like For A Girl” (Lo Que Siente La Mujer). “Lo Que Siente” got some airplay on the radio and Madonna sang the Spanish version on her Drowned World Tour.
In “Paradise (Not For Me),” she sings one verse in French:
Au tour de moi, je ne voit pas
Qui sont les anges, ce n’est pas moi
Encore un fois, je suis casee, encore un fois, je ne crois pas.
All around me, I cannot see
Who are the angels, they are not me
Once again, I am broken, once again, I can’t believe.
She also sang Ray Of Light’s “Shanti/Ashtangi” Sanskrit track on MTV. It was a chant from her yoga classes that she set to electropop. After she was criticized by some Hindu groups for her lazy (Americanized) pronunciation on the album, she cleaned up her act and twisted her mouth around the more unfamiliar vowel sounds on MTV and while some monks watching overseas were scandalized by Madonna co-opting their chants, there were reports of others nodding their heads and saying she was a “true seeker”.
No doubt when her next album is released, I can resurrect this thread with a critique of her version of “Hava Nagila” (which her husband seemed to have an obsession with even before the Special K rotted his brain).
~ kfl,
[sub]Purveyors of Fine Madonna Fanaticism since 1984.[/sub]
It makes sense as a film reference; Un chien andalou was the name of a film collaboration between Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali.
Any number of Tex-Mex, Salsa and Cajun songs could qualify. Maybe the OP needs to tighten up the parameters of the definition of “American song”?
I would add that Pearl Jam song from the Dead Man Walking soundtrack, the one with vocals by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.