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

[Michael Biel]

Attributions got mixed up a little, so this might clarify who said what.
>   
>>> 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
>>>     
>>>       

Jeff Lichtman wrote:

>> 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
>>     
>
>   
Michael Biel wrote:
> 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. 
>
>   
Michael Biel wrote:
>> 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
>>     
>
>   

Jeff Lichtman wrote:

> 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.
>  Jeff Lichtman
Michael Biel wrote:
> 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