Monday, February 09, 2009

Singing In Tongues: 3 Pop Tunes Go Poop


Listen to..."RINGO" sung in Italian.
Try a Scandanavian take on "RAGS TO RICHES."
Spin the "Windmills of Your Mind" via a Greek translation.

Some pop songs get stale with age.
With a different language and a different singer, a tired tune can perk up!

Forlorn over Lorne Greene? The vivid spaghetti western version of "Ringo" here is sauced by Adriano Celentano. He was a huge singing star in Italy in the 60's, with over 40 albums under his belt (he wore oversize pants). He also enjoyed a long acting career in the 70's and 80's, and most viewers enjoyed it, too.

The phrase "it's all Greek to me" is akin to "something's ass backwards." Usually, it's the singer, but not in this case. The Greek translation isn't "Windmills of Your Behind." The song's sung in Greek only because wiley Vicky Leandros likes being an "International Star," and the more languages she can cover, the better. She sings the tune in English and French elsewhere on the blog...now we've backed into the Greek version. (Yes, that's a recent photo of Vicky.)

"Rags to Riches" was notably used in "Goodfellas," but let's chill the Mafia taint by taking it up north to the Netherlands, and re-naming it "Ik heb geen geld en geen juwelen." As for singer Jan Verhoeven, he's still going strong. Hij zat in diverse orkestjes en trad ook solo op bij bruiloften en partijen. Jan speelde al op zijn 10e jaar bescheiden gitaar, maar genoeg om zijn broer te begeleiden en te zingen. Toen nog zonder microfoon of geluidsinstallatie. And if you want more, why, visit janverhoeven.nl

Rags to Riches from Verhoeven
Windmills of Your Mind in GREEK
The Spaghetti Western version of "Ringo"

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