26 April 2012 - Vanessa Paradis - Joe Le Taxi

Vanessa Paradis was only 14 when she sang this ode to a cabbie named Joe.  Completely in her native language of French.  The surprise? It became a hit in the UK.  She was already a bit of a star in her native France, but no one else knew who she was.   They did now.  Of course, after this, she became an international model and Johnny Depp's girlfriend, but this is where it all started.

Even in French, it is clear that the song is innocent and fun and sweet. It's a shame it was never a hit on this side of the Atlantic. Enjoy it!



Update: I wanted to add this version of the song from 2009.  It's got a smokier feel, but it's still pretty cool.  More than 20 years later, she's still got stage presence.

22 March 2012 - Los Del Rio - Macarena

Do they still play this song at weddings?  You know, before it was played at weddings, and before I learned that silly dance (although it beats the hell out of the Chicken Dance and the Electric Slide).  A big hit, that just kind of happened by accident to a couple of old lounge singers.  The version you all know is the remix as done by a couple of DJs called the Bayside Boys.

 

For the record, Vittorino is a brand of meat.  That girl's boyfriend is named Meat.

For those of you so compelled, here is the song before it was remixed.  It's still a beautifully done song by a couple of old lounge singers.  It's not quite the same song - at all.  There's no women and no boyfriend named Meat.  Just a girl named Macarena.... who's quite free to have fun with her body.

15 March 2012 - CSS - Music Is My Hot Hot Sex

It's a little strange for me to be featuring English-language songs on International Thursday, but I did it again.

Cansei de Ser Sexy - literally translated as "tired of being sexy" - is a Brazilian 6-piece made up of club DJs who happen to know how to play instruments. The lead vocalist goes by the name Lovefoxx, so they can't be all that tired of being sexy.

They have had some moderate success in this country, largely on the strength of a song that has a salacious title that no one knows but, thanks to Apple, everyone has heard.  Thanks to Apple and this fantastically entertaining band, this song ranks among my top 10 favorites of all time.

Yes, there is some Portuguese at the end of the song.  So, international.

This song would have been relegated to club hit if not for a man named Nick Haley, who entered a contest to make an iPod Touch commercial.  And used this song.  He won the contest, and Apple used the commercial.

To be fair, Nick Haley probably heard the song in this Zune commercial, which came a year earlier.

23 February 2012 - Jenny Morris - Body and Soul

Jenny Morris is probably best known in the United States for.... well, she isn't really well known here, is she?  But in Australia, people know that the native New Zealander was a backup singer for INXS.  She also had a successful Australian solo career.  As luck would have it, in the studio, her backing band was INXS on this song.  They also produced this album, although I don't think they appear in the video.

It sounds like an INXS song, and it looks like Alannah Myles is singing it.  I know this.  Don't hate. Just enjoy.

26 January 2012 - t.A.T.u - All The Things She Said/Y Soshla S Uma

International Thursday.  I'm starting to see a theme growing here.

Remember when this song was new, and these two young Russians were in "are they or aren't they lesbians" news stories all the time.  This video did nothing to change that perception.  More than that, though, is that this was a great song with a terrific beat and a spooky hook at the beginning.

And yes, the song was originally in Russian.  "Ya soshla s uma" literally translates in English to "I have lost my mind."  Compare.  They clearly refilmed this, the original video, rather than redub.  The script, however, was the same.

19 Enero 2012 - Shakira - Suerte

Muchos de ustedes están viendo este mensaje, pensando que nunca han escuchado esta canción. Que usted tiene. Sólo que no han escuchado esta versión.

Yo estudié español (literatura), e hice algo de trabajo de la escuelade posgrado en lingüística española del Ohio State, donde también enseñó español 101 como un socio de la enseñanza de postgrado. No puedo hablar  español como solía hacerlo, pero yo todavía lo ama y lo entiendo. Shakira es una de las más grandes estrellas del mundo de habla española, y una de las pocas que han atravesado con éxito en en el mundo de habla Inglés. Shakira cruzó tan bien, ella fue capaz de liberar con éxito, en los Estados Unidos, un álbum en español que terminó siendo una alta (Fijación Oral Volumen 1).

Este fue su primer single cantado en Inglés, y fue un éxito. Más o menos. Esta no es la versión en idioma Inglés.

OK, I'll be nice.  Here it is in English.

A lot of you are looking at this post, thinking that you have never heard this song.  You have.  You just haven't listened to this version.

I was a Spanish (literature) major, and I did some grad school work in Spanish linguistics at Ohio State, where I also taught Spanish 101 as a graduate teaching associate.  I really can't speak the language like I used to, but I still love it and understand it.  Shakira is one of the biggest stars of the Spanish speaking world, and one of the few who have successfully crossed over into the English-speaking world.  She crossed over so well, she was able to successfully release, in the United States, an Spanish language album that ended up being a hit (Fijación Oral Volumen 1).

This was her first English-language single, and it was a hit.  Well, sort of.  This isn't the English-language version.

For those who are so inclined - here is the English-language version, titled Whenever, Wherever.  It's pretty much the same song, right down to Shakira feeling lucky that her breasts are small and humble so you don't confuse them with mountains - 'Suerte' is the Spanish word for "lucky". I just don't think it's quite as good as the Spanish version.