# What's your favorite song in a language you don't understand? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 4, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363 "2022-11-04T17:17:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/101 "2022-11-12T16:54:06Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > There are also some good answers in this thread from a few years back. > > … Even if you don’t understand the words. I’m American - I don’t speak or understand french - but this song really resonates with me: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDcgOpUp2nc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDcgOpUp2nc) While I love the song and the singer from that thread’s OP, I have to admit that as far as I can tell from online lyric translations, the song is just about as incomprehensible to native speakers. > **[Zaz - Éblouie par la nuit lyrics + English translation (Version #5)](https://lyricstranslate.com/en/%C3%A9blouie-par-la-nuit-dazzled-night.html#songtranslation)** > > Translation of 'Éblouie par la nuit' by Zaz from French to English ( First verse: _Dazzled by the night with mortal lights,_ _to graze cars, eyes like pinheads,_ _I waited for you a hundred years in the streets in black and white;_ _You came whistling_ ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/102 "2022-11-12T17:13:39Z")
> [@InfraBlue](#): > > The song that completely floored me, though, was Skip James’ _Devil Got My Woman_. Oh, I’ve been listening to that a lot lately. Very cool earworm. Did you know there are multiple live versions on YouTube and yet another on a live recording of the Newport Festival? The best, IMO, is [the first one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtZ6DoeimP4) he recorded in 1931. I read the other day that it was the first thing he recorded at that session. ---
**Author:** ![Drsunflower1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drsunflower1/32/12711_2.png) [@Drsunflower1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drsunflower1)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/103 "2022-11-12T18:08:29Z")
I speak German but still. This needs to be up here . [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/A3zSIQ-9e5U/hqdefault.jpg "Nina Hagen Live - Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3zSIQ-9e5U) Apparently this is a favourite of Mutti Merkel: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zTuzXvLk7AQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Stabsmusikkorps - Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (Großer Zapfenstreich für Angela Merkel)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTuzXvLk7AQ) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/104 "2022-11-12T18:53:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > _Prisencolinensinainciusol_ is an absolute jam, but I don’t know if it counts given that it’s in a language nobody understands. Supposedly it’s supposed to be what American English sounds like to Europeans. That’s one I came in to mention. Don’t know that it’s a favorite, but I love the idea of it. Two that I don’t think have been mentioned: _Håll dej till höger, Svensson_ The title translates to “Keep to the right, Svensson”, and it was released in the year that Sweden transitioned to driving on the right side of the road. From what I’ve found online, the lyrics have little to do with driving and may be related to Swedish slang “going left” to mean cheating on your wife. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6ODZtwkBYPs/maxresdefault.jpg "The Telstars - Håll dig till höger, Svensson.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ODZtwkBYPs) _Guten Tag_ I was working in Germany about 20 years ago, and as I was walking by a co-worker’s office I heard some music. He told me it was a band called Wir Sind Helden. I picked up one of their CDs, good stuff. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0CnsY3hN71k/hqdefault.jpg "Wir Sind Helden - Guten Tag") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnsY3hN71k) ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/105 "2022-11-12T19:53:47Z")
**Fairuz - Al Bosta** [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-wbLBZmL43Q/hqdefault.jpg "Fairuz - Al Bosta") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wbLBZmL43Q) ---
**Author:** ![Runik8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/0ea827/32.png) [@Runik8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runik8)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/106 "2022-11-14T02:11:06Z")
[https://youtu.be/9ufQQ3r79EE](https://youtu.be/9ufQQ3r79EE) 20,000 Baci is my jam. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/107 "2022-11-14T02:17:17Z")
A favorite by Louis Prima. Keely Smith’s stone-faced act is the perfect accent to Prima’s over the top antics. I still have no idea what the song is about. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SWq8jafqYV0/hqdefault.jpg "Louis Prima & Keely Smith - Zooma Zooma") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWq8jafqYV0) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/108 "2022-12-19T11:26:01Z")
I am compelled to make a very late, really meta entry to the list. Here’s a group that uses a language made up by themselves, so almost no one understands the lyrics! Čankišou, pronounced chahn-key-show, is from the Czech Republic. My faves from them are [Sham Sut](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BbZ2ixS1Y4), [Zuha](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApfVoxqyKxA) and [Bwindiorhans.org.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGghobNr6kA) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/109 "2022-12-19T12:04:02Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > Porque te vas (as used in the movie Cria Cuervos) Here’s another happy-sounding song in Spanish about a sad childhood. A child talks to his cuckoo clock, about how his parents and siblings ignore or abandon him, and he’s afraid of the dark, but he tells it matter-of-factly. Good song from a late-90s Mexican album with several other good ones (the rocker “Déjame Entrar,” and the exquisite power ballad “No Ha Parado de Llover”). The lead singer’s voice reminds me of Sting’s. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-0BfutsFiBc/maxresdefault.jpg "El Reloj Cucú") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0BfutsFiBc) ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/110 "2022-12-19T12:26:08Z")
[The Monkees - Riu Chiu (Official HD Music Video) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riG85oA6Wy4) Surprisingly, very well worth a listen. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/111 "2022-12-19T12:45:50Z")
The Eurovision Song Contest is of course a more than 60 year old gold mine for weird music in languages not normally heard in popular music. Mostly, we point and laugh, but every now and then something comes along that transcends the dreck that is par for the course. Yes, this is schmaltzy, but I still find it beautiful. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Zz24GrITV8o/maxresdefault.jpg "Hari Mata Hari - Lejla - (Official Video 2005)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz24GrITV8o) ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/112 "2023-05-18T18:46:13Z")
I used to own a CD called _The Moon and the Banana Tree._ It was a compilation of various musicians from Madagascar. I loved every song. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/113 "2023-05-18T19:04:28Z")
I just heard this in a movie I was watching. So beautiful. [La Mer.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJuK3NLaC1Y) Bobby Darin had a hit with the Americanized version - though I don’t think the translation was accurate. Years ago I went to Vegas to see O, [in which they played this song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdpvsjD0KNI) So much passion in this song. Have no idea what it’s about but I feel heartache when I listen to it. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/114 "2023-05-18T19:05:48Z")
I like Rammstein’s “Du Hast”. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/115 "2023-05-18T19:10:12Z")
Charles Trenet! I love that song! La Mer I remember it from a movie too. Can’t recall which one I think it was on TCM. Also a favorite from Ismael Lo with Marianne Faithful. Without Blame [https://youtu.be/woadGdI6tIQ](https://youtu.be/woadGdI6tIQ) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/116 "2023-05-18T19:18:41Z")
I love Charles Trenet singing any song. The songs that came immediately to mind have already been mentioned (99 Luft Balloons, Ode to Joy), but I love all the Pennywhistlers’ songs not in English, and all the Gaelic songs by The Fisher Family. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/117 "2023-05-18T20:16:57Z")
I recently rediscovered Les Double Six, a French vocalese group from the early 60s lead and aranged by Mimi Perrin. They only operated for a few years but their work is fascinating. I can understand a bit of French, but this is so fast and rhythmic that I can’t really catch any of it. Here’s two songs in a rare recorded live example, but I could have picked any number of songs. > **[Double Six of Paris - 2 VIDEO performances German TV 65](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRPw0xGwYNQ%2F)** > > Double Six of Paris 2 songsFour Brothers composed by Jimmy Giuffre 3:14Moanin' composed by Bobby Timmons 2:59performed by Les Nouveau Double Six d... ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/118 "2023-05-19T00:05:14Z")
Sorta cheating, because I now understand more Spanish than I did when I first discovered the album, but I love Gloria Estefan’s Spanish-language album _Mi Tierra_. Lots of great songs on that record - “Tus Ojos”, “La Tierra”, “Si Señor” - but if I had to pick a favorite, it’s the beautifully melancholic "[“Volverás”:](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O7mAHHsu3Us&pp=ygUXdm9sdmVyYXMgZ2xvcmlhIGVzdGVmYW4%3D) I was searching YouTube for Gaelic mouth music once, and I stumbled across Rhiannon Giddens, singing [“S’iomadh Rid”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8RtT0obOS80&pp=ygUXcmhpYW5ub24gZ2lkZGVucyBjaWFtYXI%3D)', a pair of traditional wedding songs. How an African-American banjo player and singer from North Carolina came to sing in Gaelic, I know not; but I’m glad I found this. To go _really_ far afield, the Faeroese singer Eivør Pálsdottír has a haunting, mostly _a capella_ song called [“Tròdlabùndin”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wsl-KHGe4Kk&pp=ygUMdHJvbGxhYnVuZGlu). It’s amazing, the sounds she can make with her voice, and you can see her having a lot of fun with it in this performance. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/119 "2023-05-19T00:43:35Z")
One of her friends is a expert in Gaelic. Not naming them b/c internet, but I assume this is how it happened (I know the friend but have never met the singer.) ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363/120 "2023-05-19T01:53:15Z")
Celtic, but not Gaelic… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/BYmZogQwUGQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Ever wondered what the Cornish Language sounds like? Listen to Gwrello Glaw by The Changing Room") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYmZogQwUGQ) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-song-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/974363.md?page=7)