Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
09-28-12, 09:55 PM
#1
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Thread Starter
Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
Not many, that I'm aware of. I know the obvious ones, like "99 Luftballoons" by Nena in 1984 - it was first released in the German-language, and that's the version that went to No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Later, Nena re-sang the lyrics in English, but many people who grew up on the have the German-version on their iPods. Maybe they have both, like I do. But I like how Americans embraced a song in a language where they could have been saying literally anything, and you wouldn't know it. You just sit there and bob your head to the song. Kids.
And "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto in 1963, which became a U.S. No.1 hit. A japanese-language hit in America, imagine that. Those crazy kids in '63 - so much turmoil, they were so messed up that they bought 13 million copies of "Sukiyaki."
Imagine if Liverpool was not an English-speaking land. Imagine the Beatles spoke and sang in a foreign language - do you think Americans would have been as "gaa-gaa" over them in '64 if they spoke Swahili?
I'm sure there are many many many foreign-language songs that could have been hits over here, but if they're not exposed to us, we're not gonna know, right?
So, are these the only two foreign-langage songs that became "big hits" in America?
And "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto in 1963, which became a U.S. No.1 hit. A japanese-language hit in America, imagine that. Those crazy kids in '63 - so much turmoil, they were so messed up that they bought 13 million copies of "Sukiyaki."
Imagine if Liverpool was not an English-speaking land. Imagine the Beatles spoke and sang in a foreign language - do you think Americans would have been as "gaa-gaa" over them in '64 if they spoke Swahili?
I'm sure there are many many many foreign-language songs that could have been hits over here, but if they're not exposed to us, we're not gonna know, right?
So, are these the only two foreign-langage songs that became "big hits" in America?
09-28-12, 10:00 PM
#2
Premium Member
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Grazing in a field somewhere...
Posts: 23,630
Received 694 Likes
on
464 Posts
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
La Bamba
Macarena
Feliz Navidad
Der Kommissar (in the same sense as 99 Luftballoons)
Rico Suave
Du Hast (pretty big in that genre)
Macarena
Feliz Navidad
Der Kommissar (in the same sense as 99 Luftballoons)
Rico Suave
Du Hast (pretty big in that genre)
09-29-12, 01:02 AM
#7
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
I was told by my folks that "The nun song" was a pretty big hit here.
(Can't get embed to work)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j67CRvHEVvs
(Can't get embed to work)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j67CRvHEVvs
09-29-12, 08:09 AM
#8
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ClxJITJOcGQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gChOifUJZMc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ixbzAbLWOAU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gChOifUJZMc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ixbzAbLWOAU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Last edited by arminius; 09-29-12 at 08:16 AM.
09-29-12, 01:19 PM
#9
09-29-12, 01:26 PM
#10
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4F9DxYhqmKw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
09-29-12, 05:31 PM
#12
DVD Talk Legend
09-29-12, 08:04 PM
#13
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ClxJITJOcGQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gChOifUJZMc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ixbzAbLWOAU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gChOifUJZMc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ixbzAbLWOAU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
09-30-12, 12:46 PM
#14
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1s3BIX0duKs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Peaked at #9.
Peaked at #9.
Last edited by Nick Danger; 09-30-12 at 12:53 PM.
10-01-12, 06:55 AM
#16
DVD Talk Godfather
10-20-12, 09:26 PM
#18
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Thread Starter
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
OhOhOh my goodness...I'm glad I'm an old fart and listen to my own dated music from 20 years ago...if kids today are rockin' out to new shit like "Gangnam Style." Can somebody tell me if this is the new Marcerena? LOL (kids today are getting the short end).
It's No.2 now on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, so it's obviously "the rage" with the kids, but who's kids?! Chinatown's?
It's No.2 now on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, so it's obviously "the rage" with the kids, but who's kids?! Chinatown's?
10-20-12, 10:52 PM
#19
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
<iframe width="250" height="188" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UT6xiYUtlT4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="250" height="188" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HrZQk03uKsQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If you're wondering... yes, this is the real Beatles singing German versions of a couple of their songs.
Now imagine if all of their songs were in German.
10-21-12, 12:38 AM
#20
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
I was told by my folks that "The nun song" was a pretty big hit here.
(Can't get embed to work)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j67CRvHEVvs
(Can't get embed to work)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j67CRvHEVvs
10-21-12, 08:22 AM
#21
DVD Talk Legend
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Formerly known as Groucho AND Bandoman/Death Moans, Iowa
Posts: 18,295
Received 372 Likes
on
266 Posts
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
OhOhOh my goodness...I'm glad I'm an old fart and listen to my own dated music from 20 years ago...if kids today are rockin' out to new shit like "Gangnam Style." Can somebody tell me if this is the new Marcerena? LOL (kids today are getting the short end).
It's No.2 now on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, so it's obviously "the rage" with the kids, but who's kids?! Chinatown's?
It's No.2 now on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, so it's obviously "the rage" with the kids, but who's kids?! Chinatown's?
More like Little Korea than Chinatown.
10-21-12, 10:41 AM
#22
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
"Bei Mir Bist du Schoen" by the Andrews Sisters, back in the '40s.
Nat King Cole:
"Darling, je vous aime beaucoup
Je ne sais pas, what to do"
I'm still waiting for one of my Japanese pop hits to make it in the U.S. But K-pop has overtaken J-pop. And all my karaoke renditions of "Ai Araba, It's All Right," "Dakishimete Dakishimete," and "Anata no Kokoro ni" haven't helped a bit.
Nat King Cole:
"Darling, je vous aime beaucoup
Je ne sais pas, what to do"
I'm still waiting for one of my Japanese pop hits to make it in the U.S. But K-pop has overtaken J-pop. And all my karaoke renditions of "Ai Araba, It's All Right," "Dakishimete Dakishimete," and "Anata no Kokoro ni" haven't helped a bit.
10-21-12, 03:10 PM
#23
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
OhOhOh my goodness...I'm glad I'm an old fart and listen to my own dated music from 20 years ago...if kids today are rockin' out to new shit like "Gangnam Style." Can somebody tell me if this is the new Marcerena? LOL (kids today are getting the short end).
It's No.2 now on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, so it's obviously "the rage" with the kids, but who's kids?! Chinatown's?
It's No.2 now on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, so it's obviously "the rage" with the kids, but who's kids?! Chinatown's?
10-21-12, 04:22 PM
#24
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Foreign Language songs that became HUGE American hits!
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hdDvYA6upfE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Only a minor hit here. Was #58 on the Billboard chart. Nice catchy tune.
Only a minor hit here. Was #58 on the Billboard chart. Nice catchy tune.