Once upon a time, in an attempt to break into a new market, record companies would compel artists to record versions of their songs with the vocal sung in a language other than English. This practice is less common as English has become more widely spoken in the world, but there are instances from more recent years. Some may have been recorded for non-commercial reasons – perhaps the artist simply thought the song sounded cool sung in a foreign tongue.
The foreign tongue in question was usually French, Italian or German, but I'm sure the RR hive mind knows of versions in more obscure languages.
To clarify: I'm not looking for cover versions, or songs with the odd line or verse in a non-English language. (So no Wooden Heart, Rocking Mitch.) I'd like the original artists' foreign-language versions of songs best known sung in English.
The toolbox:
* This week's collaborative Spotify playlist
* The RR archive
* The Marconium (blog containing a wealth of data on RR)
* The 'Spill (blog for the RR community)
* An explanation of how the word "dond" came to be used by RR people to mean to second another reader's nomination
Please do:
* Post your nominations before midday on Tuesday if you wish them to be considered.
* Write a few lines advocating the merits of your choices.
But please don't:
* Post more than one third of the lyrics of any song.
* Dump lists of nominations. If you must post more than two or three at once, please attempt to justify your choices.
Here are the results of last week's Readers recommend: songs about gossip.
