Also, most of the songs on Paul Simon’s Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints.
And if “Weembowe” means anything, The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
Hmmm… none of these are American, however, gained some (though a couple are minor) popularity in the US:
Pet Shop Boys - Se A Vida E (That’s the Way Life Is) (Spanish?)
Air - Sexy Boy (French)
Stereolab - Cybele’s Reverie (French)
Blur - To The End (French)
“Una Soda” by the Refreshments has a few lines in Spanish. I think my favorite is “Donde el baño, señor?”
OK, if we’re allowing songs by non-Americans that made it to the American pop charts, then there’s Kyu Sakamoto’s “Sukiyaki,” an early 60s hit sung entirely in Japanese.
Or, if we just want to keep it to homegrown bands, then the Electric Prunes whole “Mass in F Minor” concept album, also in the 60s, was sung in Latin. And though it didn’t turn the Prunes (best known for the delightful “I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night”) into a major pop culture force, the cut “Kyrie Eleison” did make it onto the “Easy Rider” soundtrack.
There’s also a chance that Oliver (born in North Carolina) was singing some sort of pig-Klingon in the middle of “Good Morning, Starshine”
Which is perfectly clear, except for that bizarre last line.
According to Creedence Clearwater Revival, there’s a bathroom on the right!
‘Guantanemero’ was released here by Carmen Miranda, wasn’t it?
I don’t know about Carmen Miranda, but Guantanamera was a top ten hit for the easy-listening group The Sandpipers in 1966.
I believe Pete Seeger also performed it often.
Although I hesitate to post this, Loverboy is, in fact, Canadian. Sigh. And posting of Canadian singers that we’ve shared with the world (hey, why suffer alone?), Celine Dion has recorded a lot in French I understand (not that I’ve ever listened). Has any of that made the airwaves in the US?
Thanks to the intervention of an international coalition of troops, no.
My Cherie Amour by Stevie Wonder
Der Kommissar by Falco (although he’s not American)
Did Falco’s Der Kommissar even get any airplay in the US. I know the one I heard the most was from After the Fire.
“Smooth” by Santana (with Rob Thomas) has a line in Spanish, “My munequita,”
though I have no idea what the word means. (My little mannequin?)
There’s the song Doris Day sang on one of those Alfred Hitchcock thrillers “Que Sera, sera/Whatever will be will be.”
There’s the David Bowie song** All the Madmen** with the lyrics “Zane, Zane, Zane, ouvre le chien.”
I finally got to add something new to a music trivia thread!
Not that you’d often hear them on the radio but many of Isreal Kamamawiwo’ol’s songs have lyrics in Hawaiian, although maybe that doesn’t count as a foreign language.
Yeah, “Der Kommissar” did get US airplay.
I know, but I’m asking if the FALCO version got airplay. I had never even heard the Falco version before 2002, when I saw the video for it during an 80s night at my local bar.
My mistake. The only one I’m familiar with is the After the Fire version, myself. I’m still bummed about Falco’s death.
Heh. No problem. Actually, the only Falco piece I can remember getting much American airplay was “Rock Me, Amadeus!”
The Man Who Knew Too Much.
Because I just listened to it, I’ll mention Dr John’s “I Walk on Gilded Splinters”:
Je suis un grand zombie
…
Ti’ Alberta
…
Put gris-gris on your doorstep
Since the definition of “American” is pretty loose here, I’ll offer the Beatles’ “Across the Universe”, whose refrain is …
Jai, Guru-Deva. Aum …
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
The first line is Sanskrit, and it (more or less) means “Hail to thee, my learned teacher,” and I assume it has something to do with John Lennon’s dabbling in “eastern” thought/Maharishi Mahesh Yoga-type stuff, which he later rejected in interviews and in song (“Sexy Sadie, what have you done? You made fool of everyone …”).
Most covers I’ve heard of this song leave it out.
*Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazon *
“I love you infinitely
I love you, oh, my heart.”
I don’t know about radio airplay, but it was an early staple on MTV.