for me it was Dschinghis Khan - Moskau - YouTube (of course my version of the lyrics included “see the Russian teddy bear dancing in his underwear”. *I was CONVINCED that they were the correct lyrics too )
Not sure it counts, but I went to immersion in French for three months, in kindergarten.
First month we learned Frere Jacques.
Second month we learned Alouette.
Thirs month we started learning Chevaliers de la Table Ronde, but I never really learned it (that third “month” only lasted two weeks, and then we moved - and I’m very happy we did, because that teacher was a complete bitch). All I could sing was “chevaliers de la table ronde, la la la lalala la la”. I had it as an on and off earworm for decades; finally, a couple of months back, I looked up the lyrics and found out it was a drinking song :eek:
Somehow I suspect Sister Bitch didn’t use the same lyrics I found.
The first songs I loved in a different language were Bjork’s Icelandic songs, especially The Anchor Song. But my all time favorite song in a different language is Maria Maria by Mercedes Sosa.
“Mavi, Mavi” by Ibrahim Tatlises. - YouTube I was about 35, and I had a Persian gf at the time. She played it, and I was hooked on this guy. At least, the “Mavi, Mavi” album. The whole thing kicks butt. I started to check out other Arabesque kinds of music, and nobody else was up to this standard.
Ok will take the first foreign song you learned to sing too. For me that was Adeste Fideles - just coz and the second was Shine Jesus shine in Auslan (sign language)
First song I learned in a language I didn’t speak was Bat, Bi, Iru, Lau (1, 2, 3, 4… its official name is probably something else), in Basque. I had no idea what it meant, though: I believe my parents had some Words with the friends from whom I’d learned it (its political message of “we want schools in Basque” was dangerous to say the least, under Franco). First song I learned in Catalan was Baixant de la Font del Gat (a not-so-innocent child’s song about a girl who’s coming down from the Cat’s Fountain when she meets a soldier), first in French Frere Jacques. I don’t know what was my first song in Latin (most likely, either Adeste Fideles or Salve Regina) or in English, but the only song in English I’ve actually been taught in class was We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Oh, and if I may shill: while I noticed French rap was very different from current American trends quite a while back, it was last year when I totally fell in love with Sexion D’Assaut, specifically because of their song Problèmes d’Adult (about children who have the kind of problems you’d expect an adult to have, such as being the man of the house).
The first foreign language song I can remember was taught to me by some missionary or another who was visiting my Grandparents - I think it is an equivalent to a sunday school song and I think it is about the apostles or books of the bible or something. I can’t really remember lyrics, but the refrain included [and it is totally phonetic and from the memory of a 4 year old]
Hoei mashu Peter, hoei mashe Paul
Of course it might actually be in some dialect of Chinese instead, my Grandmother was roommates with 2 chinese women who went to college with her back in the class of 1919 at Mt Holy oak who remained lifelong friends.
The first songs I ever learned in a language I didn’t speak at the time were Frere Jacques and Alouette. My mom used to get me and my siblings to sing them in the car, probably as a way to keep us from fighting/arguing. I can’t say I ever loved those songs. At the time, I thought they were simple ditties all kids sang.
Two foreign language songs I fell in love with, although I could speak Japanese at the time, were: Endless Story, sung by Ito Yuna from the movie Nana, and Dearest, sung by Hamasaki Ayumi
There was probably one in the 70s that took my fancy, but I can’t bring it to mind. But here’s one from the 80s that I absolutely loved: Sadeness by Enigma.
A popular hit when I was 12 was Da Da Da, by Trio. And later there was Rock Me Amadeus by Falco, of course.
First one in a language I don’t speak (English, Afrikaans) was probably Marieke by Jacques Brel. But that might be cheating, most of it is in Dutch which is perfectly understandable to me, only bits in French. The first fully foreign song would be La Vie en rose