# English-language pop songs rendered in other languages **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875 "2015-05-26T13:21:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/1 "2015-05-26T13:21:50Z")
Only seen a couple of songs with English-language lyrics that have been performed in other languages: [White Rabbit, in Arabic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAJ4-Ey7jBM) [Hotel California, in Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMYyxqaaWew) I also recall [99 Red Balloons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_Luftballons) from the 80’s, although the original was actually in German, with the English-language version being released after that. So maybe that don’t count. What else ya got? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/2 "2015-05-26T14:01:41Z")
The Cranberries’ 92 hit [Dreams, in Cantonese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hHznB-_Gbs) (from Chungking Express), performed by the rather wonderful Faye Wong. I think it’s awesome. Although I may be biased, since it’s from my favorite movie. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/3 "2015-05-26T14:16:26Z")
[Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4NLqkv-J4k) [Sie liebt dich](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVF-WyrwPI8) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/4 "2015-05-26T15:09:07Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > The Cranberries’ 92 hit [Dreams, in Cantonese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hHznB-_Gbs) (from Chungking Express), performed by the rather wonderful Faye Wong. > > I think it’s awesome. Although I may be biased, since it’s from my favorite movie. Good, freakin’ grief. This was the exact song I was going to give! The Dope is a world of coincidence sometimes. So I’ll go with Pat Benatar’s cover of her _Ooh Ooh Song_ in [Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo1ako8UXpU). I’d also like to cite Blondie’s French version of Denis but I can’t find a YouTube video of it. So I’ll just link to them doing the [English version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQBE3eSLFpk) on the _Mike Douglas Show_ in 1978! ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/5 "2015-05-26T15:12:28Z")
There are lots, but this one is not well-known: German pop duo Cindy & Bert with their take on Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iSsVskUcfo) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/6 "2015-05-26T18:30:45Z")
There have been quite a few done in Hebrew. Here are a some that come to mind: [Moondance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0M8iteoBSU), Gidi Gov. [Whiskey in a Jar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nJKLXmbFaY), Gidi Gov again. [A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9u_svtR3Sg), Aviv Geffen. [Dayton, Ohio - 1903](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXyPleFGYn0), Arik Einstein. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/7 "2015-05-26T20:22:58Z")
I’ve heard George Harrison’s _Love Come to Everyone_ in Brazilian Portuguese. It wasn’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/8 "2015-05-26T23:36:00Z")
Peter Gabriel re-recorded an entire album in German; here comes [Here Comes the Flood](http://www.youtube.com/rFmx_Pmgq3M). ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/9 "2015-05-27T01:13:56Z")
A lot of English pop songs covered in Japanese, but two that come to mind first and were major hits in Japan are: [Goldfinger 99](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s2bzAolQWE) by Hiromi Go (Cover of Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ la Vida Loca”.) [Let it Go](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA4wb6qoFaY) by May J. (Cover of the Disney song by Idina Mentzel.) ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/10 "2015-05-27T01:36:51Z")
In my Spanish class back in the mid-late '80s, we heard a Spanish version of the theme from _Strictly Ballroom_. (Of course, that movie didn’t come out until 1992, so I didn’t recognize the song at all.) “[Love Is in the Air](https://youtu.be/NNC0kIzM1Fo),” by John Paul Young “[Siento tu querer](https://youtu.be/kdC8jS34Ffk),” by Enrique Guzmán I think the only song in my music library that qualifies is Cornershop’s Punjabi cover of “[Norwegian Wood](https://youtu.be/y_5V62wxnWY).” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/11 "2015-05-27T01:46:43Z")
Here’s a Polish version of [House of the Rising Sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq9z90oHYVY) by the band Kult. (The lyrics are different in the Polish, about a dying prisoner. The title is a Polish translation of “House of the Rising Sun,” though.) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/12 "2015-05-27T02:52:21Z")
Wow, am I the only David Lynch fan here? Roy Orbison’s “Crying” in Spanish. [“Llorando”](https://youtu.be/xrC3Bf-CvHU) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/13 "2015-05-27T03:53:41Z")
Gary Lewis’s _This Diamond Ring_ -\> [El Diamante](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkMpm5qE4fs), Julio Ángel From Broadway, _If I Were a Rich Man_ -\> [Si Yo Fuera Rico](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtCWThqiehM), Chucho Avellanet From Bonnie Tyler to Lissette Álvarez: [Eclipse Total del Amor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h91SFD2GK58) ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/14 "2015-05-27T04:45:59Z")
I once heard a French version of the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”. " Nous habitons dans un petit sous-marin jaune." I don’t know who performed it. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/15 "2015-05-27T05:47:17Z")
Can’t find a link but a friend had Free Ride (Edger Winter Group) in German. Don’t know if it was a cover or what. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/16 "2015-05-27T15:22:34Z")
Does Lynyrd Skynyrd count? Siniestro Total’s [Miña Terra Galega](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t02dFZI7nw4) is considered a classic in its own right, there’s covers of the cover. I remember hearing a cover called _Mi ciudad Buenos Aires_ (evidently by an Argentinian group), but I can’t find it now. I like playing _Miña Terra galega_ when some innocent soul asks me to play “Spanish music” and watching the reactions… 😃 Gloria Gaynor’s I will survive -\> Gloria Gaynor’s [Sobreviviré](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZnX3dDu3ao) -\> Celia Cruz, [Yo viviré](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRID6bN71dY), particularly poignant as it is from her last album: the TLDR of the lyrics is “so long as there’s music here, I will live”. Hello Mary-Lou -\> Teen tops’ [Qué tal, Marilu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sB6cI1vNPM) or many, many instances of [Hola, Marilu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlXaL-xSjoM) or Hola, Mariluz. I’ve also heard it in German and in French. Adding to the self-covers, ABBA recorded all their songs in both English and Spanish; some of them changed titles but others [did](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4QqMKe3rwY) [not](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4QqMKe3rwY). Shakira’s released several albums with double language versions as well, and like the ABBAs she says that some of the songs came first in English, others first in Spanish. All of Loquillo’s albums include at least one cover. A detail I like about his [Hombre de negro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4QqMKe3rwY) is that the lyrics are a very, very close translation of the original Man in Black. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/17 "2015-05-27T18:21:11Z")
[quote=“Art\_Rock, post:5, topic:720875”] There are lots, but this one is not well-known: German pop duo Cindy & Bert with their take on Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. [/QUOTE] What the hell was that? It was something about the Hound of Baskerville set to Paranoid. Then were were a bunch of hippie Germans dancing. Scorpions did Wind of Change in both [Russian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPQge1FkqeU) and [Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK2W_Sz5MsY). ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/18 "2015-05-27T18:37:37Z")
Debbie Gibson recorded Lost In Your Eyes in Japanese for her Ms Vocalist album. The other songs on the album are Japanese pop songs translated into English. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/19 "2015-05-27T18:50:03Z")
Ben Folds Five released [“Song for the Dumped” in Japanese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J302iv6t-3M) as a b-side to a single at some point, I think. And then as an extra on the song’s album’s remastered version. ---
**Author:** ![Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90ced4/32.png) [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waltzes_with_Cacti)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875/20 "2015-05-27T19:19:36Z")
Monty Python is big in Germany. Here are the songs “Not Yet Dead,” “Knights of the Round Table” and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from a German-language production of _MP and the HG_ in Cologne: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/61I-apYwsjA/hqdefault.jpg "Spamalot zu Gast bei "Wetten, dass..?" am 21.03.2009") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61I-apYwsjA) The Pythons recorded several of their sketches in translation for German tv. Here’s Palin’s Westerwald version of “The Lumberjack Song.” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aiVOG199X2c/hqdefault.jpg "Lumberjack-Song in German") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiVOG199X2c) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-pop-songs-rendered-in-other-languages/720875.md?page=2)