Lingua
Johnny Cash spoke German!
Well, at least once he did, in around 1978. You see, that was the year he sang I Walk the Line in German, the lyrics of which go a little something like this: “Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zurück?”. Which kind of misses the spirit of “Because you’re mine, I walk the line,” but there you have it.
In fact, it seems that back in the day, it was reasonably common for musicians to sing their hits in foreign languages. The Beatles sang Geh Raus (seemingly less popular than the original Get Back), and who knew that David Bowie (in the guise of Ziggy Stardust) sang Space Oddity in Italian – or should I say Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola?
I know what you’re thinking, and I thought it too – no, these musical geniuses (genii? genies? Ah who knows) were not also linguistic genuises. They actually learnt the foreign ditty off-by-heart, taught by a native language coach. I wonder how convinced the Deutschies were by the Man in Black’s attempt to speak their language? You can listen to his attempt (as well as those of the others) here, and sing along with the lyrics here. Now you can hassle Johnny Cash’s German language skills instead of mine!
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Nice writing style. I will come back to read more posts from you.
Susan Kishner
Johnny Cash had another link to Germany as well. He did a hitch in the United States Air Force working in reconnaissance where he was proficient in morse code. He spent a tour in Landsberg, Germany eavesdropping on Russian military radio networks. He was in Germany from 1952 to 1954. He met his first wife while he was in the USAF. They divorced in 1966.
Haha, trashy Volksmusik radio stations in Austria play German version of songs that are English ever greens. Oh this is so bad. I wish there was a law against it…
I am thankful that this is a 60s trend and not a thing of our generation. We’re educated right?
Did you know that even the King (aka Elvis Presley) himself sang a song in German?
In his song “wooden heart”, he sings in German by incorporing the song “Muss I denn zum Städtele hinaus” into his lyrics. Awesome!
you forgot about “komm gib mir deine hand” and “sie liebt dich”
@philipp
You must be talking about Schlager.
In Bayern and BW you can hear Schlager covers of many English songs.
Proper Schlager requires someone to wail upon an accordion. Preferably someone who is tone-deaf.
Proper Schlager can only be appreciated after 2-3 maß Bier.
In Bayern you must prove that you own 1 Schlager album in order to own property and vote.
@ frost,
so true, same goes for austria… this is hilarious!
@ Roland: I did not know that! Was that in ‘Walk the line’?
@ Tessa: Are they also Johnny Cash songs?
@ phillipp, frost, phil: Schlager is hilarious! My main experience with it is in bars very late in the evening (or early in the morning), when the fun music stops and then suddenly Schlager comes on and everyone drunkenly sings along! Haha.
@ Phil: Teehee I didn’t realise you were the same person as Phillipp! Silly me. Goes to show I should check the link on the name before commenting.
oh no problem, there are various people in my life saying that i am suffering from a personality crisis and me myself and i are schizophrenia kinda people.
Phil, don’t confuse “schizophrenia” with “split personality”. Those are different disorders.
Oh I’m sorry. But I have been accused of both. Obviousy we got that wrong again
Yes! German schlager versions of english originals – I’ve been tormented with that in my childhood.
At least I found out that they did (and still do!!) that in Italy too. Recently I shocked a friend of mine by telling him that some song (don’t remember which unfortunately) is not by You-name-your-italian-crooner but somebody completely non-italian.
There are two Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus episodes for German TV – in one of these they speak German themselves… The clips were on youtube once but have been removed as I just found out.
They can be ordered here:
http://www.guerilla-films.com/mp/fz.htm
Transcript:
http://orangecow.org/pythonet/zirkus/index.html
Und Sie mit der Trickkamera! Hau ab!