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January 3, 2023 11:17 am  #1


Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

I was tuning across my radio on Tuesday morning and stopped at a station I almost never listen to - an ethnic outlet that was broadcasting a show in Italian. I don't speak the language and normally, I'd skip right by it, but this one stopped me mid-dial - was that a foreign language version of "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do?" 

A quick listen showed it was - and even more incredible, it was definitely by Neil Sedaka. I knew some big hits had been translated into other languages (The Beatles famously had a few in German, an homage to their Hamburg days) but I'd never heard of Sedaka doing one. 

If you're curious, here's what it sounds like, complete with the original backing track.

And by the way, I have to say, "comma, comma dum doobie doo dum down" sounds great in any language!


 

 

January 3, 2023 11:31 am  #2


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

Here's another one I just stumbled on - and it's pretty terrific, too. I speak un poco de Español, (took it in high school) and I recall hearing this once a long time ago on the radio but never since. And I've never been able to forget it. It's The Captain and Tennille doing their biggest hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together" in Spanish. 

The backing track is the same and yes, "Sedaka is back" appears in English at the end of the track. There's a reason this tune was the #1 song of the year in 1975. It's great in any language.

I'm aware there were tons of covers in alternate tongues. But did any other original big hit artists translate and perform their songs in any of them? Elvis' "Wooden Heart" was sung partially in German, but I'm talking about doing the entire hit in an alternate language specifically for those countries,

     Thread Starter
 

January 3, 2023 11:49 am  #3


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

Connie Francis and Petula Clark were two artists that came to mind as having covered their own songs in other languages. I looked up Connie Francis' Wikipedia article to doublecheck that I was correct in thinking that she had done this, and found the following info at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Francis#1959%E2%80%931973:_International_recording_star that mentions Clark and others who did this as well.

The success of "Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites" in late 1959/early 1960 led Francis to become one of the first American artists to record in other languages regularly. She was to be followed by other major British and American recording stars including Wanda Jackson, Cliff Richard, Petula Clark, Brenda Lee, the Supremes, Peggy March, Pat Boone, Lesley Gore, the Beatles and Johnny Cash, among many others. In her autobiography, Francis mentioned that in the early years of her career, the language barrier in certain European countries made it difficult for her songs to get airplay, especially in Germany.

 

January 3, 2023 12:48 pm  #4


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

And going the other way, Mocedades had an English version of Eres Tu on the B side of their big hit. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eres_t%C3%BA#Worldwide_success

 

January 3, 2023 1:50 pm  #5


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

Great research, as always Lorne. It seems Motown had a big affinity for Germany, because many of their artists were translated into that language and sung by the originals. Your mention of The Supremes doing a few foreign language releases led me to this version of perhaps my all time favorite, "Where Did Our Love Go." Apparently, "baby, baby" is the same in any tongue!



Seems The Temptations didn't have to change the title much for "Mein Girl."



One last example - Marvin Gaye proclaiming "Wie Schon Das Ist," (aka "How Sweet It Is.")



Fascinating to hear how familiar songs sound in another language, especially by the same singer with the same arrangement.

     Thread Starter
 

January 3, 2023 2:01 pm  #6


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

Lorne wrote:

And going the other way, Mocedades had an English version of Eres Tu on the B side of their big hit. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eres_t%C3%BA#Worldwide_success

Mocedades had a second minor hit in North America that was also great and did a similar English translation on the B side. It was called "Dime Senior," ("Tell Me, Lord.")

My Spanish teacher used to play both in the original language in our high school class, just for something different. Somehow, it's easier to learn a language when you can sing it to a catchy tune! Amaya Uranga was the lead singer of the group on both songs and even if you had no idea what she was saying, you have to admit she had a great voice.
 

     Thread Starter
 

January 3, 2023 2:25 pm  #7


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

aflem wrote:

Here's another one I just stumbled on - and it's pretty terrific, too. I speak un poco de Español, (took it in high school) and I recall hearing this once a long time ago on the radio but never since. And I've never been able to forget it. It's The Captain and Tennille doing their biggest hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together" in Spanish. 
The backing track is the same and yes, "Sedaka is back" appears in English at the end of the track. There's a reason this tune was the #1 song of the year in 1975. It's great in any language.
I'm aware there were tons of covers in alternate tongues. But did any other original big hit artists translate and perform their songs in any of them? Elvis' "Wooden Heart" was sung partially in German, but I'm talking about doing the entire hit in an alternate language specifically for those countries,

Hi aflem, here are more examples from Neil Sedaka's repertoire:
Esagerata (Little devil)
Un Giorno inutile (I must be dreaming)
Finchè vivrò (As long as I live)
Il Re dei pagliacci (King of clowns)
La Notte è fatta per amare (Another day, another heartache)

The Supremes:
L'Amore verrà (You can't hurry love)

Connie Francis:
La Valle senza eco (Breakin' on a brand new broken heart)

 

 

January 3, 2023 2:52 pm  #8


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

I also found:
Stevie Wonder - Il Sole è di tutti (A place in the sun)
Petula Clark - L'Amore è il vento (My love)

And surely there will be many more...

 

January 3, 2023 3:27 pm  #9


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

I've mentioned before that I'm fine with 1980s music being discussed here, and I just thought of a very significant example from 1983-84: 99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons by Nena. The Wikipedia article on the song at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_Luftballons#English_version_and_other_re-recordings has some interesting info on what ended up happening ... the English version did get the majority of the airplay here in Toronto, but the German version got some significant airplay as well.

American and Australian audiences preferred the original German version, which became a very successful non-English-language song, topping charts in both countries, reaching No. 1 on the Cash Box chart, Kent Music Report, and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, behind "Jump" by Van Halen.[17] It was certified Gold by the RIAA. The later-released English translation, "99 Red Balloons", topped the charts in the UK, Canada and Ireland.[18][19][20]

And then in 1985-86, there was a more complicated situation involving Rock Me Amadeus by Falco. I heard at least three different versions here, with varying amounts of German and English. Here's a brief summary of the situation from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Me_Amadeus#Official_versions_and_remixes:

The song was released in Europe in 1985 in its original, German-language version. For the international markets (United States, UK, Japan, etc.), several different single and extended mixes were produced by Rob Bolland; none of them were solely an English-language version, but the international single versions reduced the German lyrics. However, the video, which featured the original European version, was used worldwide.

 

January 4, 2023 8:46 am  #10


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

A little bit of a reverse twist to the English language songs being recorded in other languages.

When performing in concert, Petula Clark tells the story of how one of her biggest hits  "This is my Song" (written by Charlie Chaplin) was not intended to be recorded in English.


Clark recorded the song in French as "C'est Ma Chanson" (lyrics by Pierre Delanoë, who also felt the song a poor choice for Clark), German as "Love, So Heisst Mein Song" (lyrics by Joachim Relin) and Italian as "Cara Felicità" (lyrics by Ciro Bertini). Clark did not even wish to record the song in English, because she disliked the deliberately old-fashioned lyrics, which Chaplin refused to modify; however, after the translated versions of the song had been recorded, some time remained on the session, and Burke coaxed Clark to use this to record Chaplin's lyrics. The recording session featured the backing of the Wrecking Crew.[2]

 

January 5, 2023 3:30 pm  #11


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

Here's one I never even knew existed - America doing "Sister Golden Hair" in Spanish. It gives the song a whole different feel.

     Thread Starter
 

January 5, 2023 8:46 pm  #12


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

Taz wrote:

For partial, there’s Lou Monte with Pepino, the Italian Mouse.

As far as I know, Monte only did one version of Pepino, so it was the same kind of situation as Elvis singing Wooden Heart in two languages on the same recording -- as opposed to artists who covered their own song on a separate recording in another language, which is my understanding of what aflem is looking for here. 
 

 

January 23, 2023 1:35 am  #13


Re: Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - As You've Never Heard It Before

Lorne wrote:

And going the other way, Mocedades had an English version of Eres Tu on the B side of their big hit. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eres_t%C3%BA#Worldwide_success

I really should check in here more often ‘cause I get behind or worse, miss stuff posted
here.
As I got a few posts into this thread, I started thinking about Eres Tu and up popped
Lorne’s quote above.
When we (CFTR, Toronto) jumped on this Mocedades track, like just about everybody,
we played the original foreign language version.
A week or so in, I discovered the English take on the flip.
Light Bulb!
After a careful listen to both sides, the Program Director in me went to talk to John
Howard, our ace Production guy and asked him nicely if he’d take a shot at an edit.
If possible, make it close to the same length, start with the foreign lyrics for the first
chorus or whatever you want to call it, then switch to English for the next, and keep
going back and forth until the end of the record.
John was a Master with a razor blade…it was beautiful.
I told the guys they could play either version on the air and when they played the dual-language one, not to point out the differences.
Wish I’d saved a copy!

 

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