Extreme Listening Mode!

Tonight sees ELM decamp en masse to see Dengue Fever, a strange little Jazz-pop combo who are fronted by a Cambodian lady and who, appositely, have a lot of songs with Cambodian lyrics. Now, pop music is very English-language dominated. How many times have you watched a German or a Lithuanian go 15 rounds with Shakespeare’s lingo on Eurovision? Whilst hilarious, it just doesn’t seem right.

Pop music does mainly seem to originate in the US or Britain and consequently is absolutely dominated by our language. It’s also less of a bugbear for our European neighbours, who have a far higher rate of bi-lingual citizens than we do. for example, 7 in 10 French people speak passable English, whereas only 1 in 10 in the UK speak passable French. That is because French is a stupid language, with three different words for ‘it’ depending on how many of you you are or something.

But even allowing for the gobbledygook that foreign types try to pass off as language, you do get some corking good songs belted out in non-English. Here are three of the best;

Nena – 99 Luftballoons

Insane German woman sings of a post-nuclear holocaust Planet to an incongruously catchy electropop backing. Indeed, given how fashion has spun 360 degrees, bands sounding like this are getting on the front of the NME. Nena was foxy in a strangely severe way, but being German didn’t shave her pits and had a bush you could lose a badger in. Probably.

Vanessa Paradis – Joe Le Taxi

Vanessa was only 15 when she released this ode to Parisienné cab drivers, and conjured up an image a touch more sexy than a Brit would have managed with ‘Frank the Cabbie.’ I recall – for I was a mere slip of a lad when this came out – being absolutely transfixed by her beauty. Now, almost twenty years later, when I went on YouTube (see above) to have a look for research purposes, I simply couldn’t believe how pointy her nips were. Still a cracking tune mind.

Sigur Ros – Hoppipolla

Now, this rocks frankly. The Ros sing in a language comprised of Icelandic, English, made up bits and Elf-ish. Yes, they made up their own language to sing in. It’s like rock’n'roll Esperanto. That is class. Of course, the true majesty is that even though you don’t have a clue what the hell they are on about, you are absolutely moved by the beauty and power of the songs. That, my friends, is truly special.

Now, loyal readers, any more spring to mind?

Filed under: General Stuff Tagged: | Dengue Fever, Nena, Sigur Ros, Vanessa Paradis