[78-L] fwd: FW: Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord ^

[Michael Biel]

Jeff Lichtman wrote:
>> If we are to believe
>> the viewer comments, apparently the French lyrics are not at all like
>> Anka's, so maybe he is saying that boy when he gets out in the world he
>> is going to do things the way he wants to, but right now his mommy is
>> telling him to take a bath and find out what time it is.
>>
>> Mike (former 17-year old) Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>>     
>
> Here are the French lyrics put through the Google translator. The 
> song is about a relationship in which the love has been lost, and the 
> couple is just going through the motions:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yhacm3o
>
> So no, the Anka lyrics are nothing like the original French lyrics. 
> He used only the music.
>
>
>                         -        Jeff Lichtman

Songs like this about a failed love are a dime a dozen.  The song is 
NOTHING in its original form. Anka turned it into a classic tale of 
gutsy S.O.B. who lived a mean, tough life. 

> Actually I can think of a few songs that became hits here
> in the U.S. without English words. . .Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com


I'll go further than that. It's not necessary for a song to be 
popular in the U.S. for it to be important. There is a lot of music 
that most people in the U.S. never hear, yet is enormously popular in 
other parts of the world. I don't like to treat popularity in the 
states as if it were a stamp of validity.

I never meant to say otherwise.  I was doing the same thing as you, 
arguing against David's contention that English lyrics are important in 
making a song important, or even a hit in the U.S.  I was showing that 
it has happened that a song is a hit even in the U.S. in a foreign 
language.  However it is the exception that proves the rule.  It is a 
shame that there are so many songs from around the world that we never 
hear in the U.S. because we ARE a closed inward-looking society -- which 
is why I prefer to deny being American when overseas!!!  (and if need 
be, I am willing to eat French Fries in France without ketchup!  And not 
call them Freedom Fries, either!)

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com