I have a CD and Sheena Easton does a Spanish version of her song Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair) on it. I also know the Captain & Tenille had a their Spanish version of Love Will Keep Us Together. As did Toni Basil’s Mickey which she also recorded in Spanish. (oddly enough I don’t speak Spanish but the Spanish version of Mickey is MUCH better.)
I was wondering when artists record the same song in different languages, do they mean the same thing, I mean in general.
All three of those songs, the words do rhyme, although I don’t know what they mean, I can tell they rhyme.
So my question is to people that speak other languages, do the songs say basically the same thing?
You’ll find lots of examples of a “yes” answer to your question and lots of examples of “no.” One example of the latter is the song “My Way” by Frank Sinatra which was a French song for which Paul Anka wrote a set of English lyrics that have nothing to do with the original French lyrics.
As a Shakira fan, I’ve seen a few of these…She tries to keep the general feel of the song when she translates from Spanish into English, but the scene in an individual verse may be different. Meter is more important than verbatim translation.
Back in the 60s, when my mom was a teenager, it was common to translate U.S. pop hits into Spanish for the Latin American audience; for example, “Devil with a Blue Dress” became “Diablo con Vestido Azul”. Another example:
Hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on
became
Hey, Lupe
Lupita mi amor
The lyrics tended to undergo major changes, sometimes to the point of changing the original meaning of the song entirely. Not long ago, I heard her singing a Spanish song to the tune of “Chapel of Love,” but the lyrics said something like, “come with me my love, I know he doesn’t love you…”.
ABBA recorded two albums of Spanish versions of their songs. They also did some in Swedish (well, duh), a few in German, and Waterloo in French.
Musicals are translated in other languages and occasionally a foreign language show hits the English market, mostly notably a French show called Les Miserables. The show that has been translated into the most languages is Jesus Christ Supesrtar.
Obviously, a translator cannot just take one language’s version and do a literal translation into another language. They have to convey the same general idea (if it’s a musical, not so much for regular songs), fit the music, fit the syllables, and fit the ambience of the song. It’s an extremely hard thing to do, and the people who do it make beaucoup bucks.
ETA: Sometimes two different translators will do entirely different translaltions for the same language! The Austrian German CATS is very different from the Germany German CATS.
Old news, definitely, but this makes me think of that old hit Japanese song, Ue o muite arukou, ‘I shall walk looking up’ which, while not translated into English, was renamed for the English language market.
The lyrics begin (sorta) as:
“I shall walk looking up / So that my tears will not fall / As I remember the days in Spring / On this lonesome night”
A touching and sentimental song, it was confusingly retitled Sukiyaki for the foreign market. Of course, sukiyaki is the name of a popular Japanese stew-like dish. The new name had absolutely nothing to do with the song, but it was decided that “Sukiyaki” was easier for a foreign audience to remember while still sounding suitably Japanese.
As for an example of “no”, the Mexican singer Luis Miguel (for one) recorded “Ahora Te Puedes Marchar” (“You Can Leave Now”) using the tune of “I Only Want To Be With You”.
Indeed, sometimes a good recording can provoke a Palovian response. I cannot hear the song “New York, New York” without belting out Dudu Fisher’s Hebrew lyrics. And I don’t know Hebrew.
I love the Gipsy Kings version of Hotel California.
Also - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou soundtrack by Seu Jorge is fantastic! It’s this one guy doing acoustic guitar versions of David Bowie songs in Portuguese.
Jennifer Lopez had a hit about ten years ago called “Waiting For Tonight.” The Spanish version was called “Uno Noche Mas” (“One More Night”). Not a great translation, but “night” and romance make it close enough, I guess.
Madonna has a really beautiful version of ‘‘You’ll See’’ in Spanish
*
Ya lo verás
no necesito a nadie más
Podré resistir, voy a poder seguir
Lo haré por mi
será mi gloria personal
Nadie ni tu me la podrá quitar
Verás*
The lyrics aren’t a verbatim translation but pretty close…
English
vs (rough Spanish translation)
You’ll see
I don’t need anyone else
I will resist, I will be able to survive
I’ll do it for myself
It will be my personal glory
Nobody, not even you, will take it from me
You’ll see
I think the Spanish lyrics have an even greater weight than the already quite moving English version. Since Madonna doesn’t speak Spanish she sings the lyrics quite haltingly, which adds to the vulnerability of the words.
Enrique Iglesias frequently releases songs both in Spanish and in English. The lyrics often don’t match up. One song that really made me do a double-take was “Hero.” The chorus in English goes:
I can be your hero baby
I can kiss away the pain
I will stand by you forever
You can take my breath away
In Spanish (translated):
If I could be your hero
If I could be your god
And save you a thousand times
You can be my salvation
Back in 1973 Mocedades had a big Eurovision hit with the song Eres Tu.
*Eres tu como el agua de mi fuente
(Algo asi eres tu)
Eres tu el fuego de mi hogar
Eres tu como el fuego de mi hoguera
Eres tu el trigo de mi pan *
Which translates into
You are like the water of my source
(Something like that, you are)
You are like the fire of my home
You are like the fire of my bonfire
You are like the wheat of my bread
You are…
Which didn’t scan at all in English, and eventually was rewritten into the song Touch the Wind
Touch the wind
Catch my love as it goes sailing
Touch the wind and I’ll be close to you
I’ll be easy to find
On the winds of the morning I’ll come sailing
I’ll be easy to find
And, baby, I’ll be close to you
Making Finnish-language versions of international hits was HUGELY popular especially in the 60’s and 70’s, but it also continued in the 80’s and sometimes even today. When most Finns didn’t yet have a good command of foreign languages, it was thought that people would get more out of songs that were in Finnish.
The translations sometimes followed the original song fairly closely, like Mikä fiilis, a cover of What A Feeling. At other times, not so much: Dusty Springfield’s Son Of A Preacher Man was made into a song with the name “Salapoliisin tytär” or “Daughter of a detective”…