If you're at all familiar with continental European pop music of the 1950s to the 1970s (particularly the genre known as Schlager) what's surprising is the number of artists who were plying their trade in foreign tongues. I'm most familiar with the German scene, but I also know that there were also English-speaking singers who had success with French and Italian language hits. A few of the British and American singers who had great success by recording in German were Petula Clark, Connie Francis, Ireen Sheer and Peggy March. All of these names were also (to various extents) known at the time in the English speaking countries. And here's one you probably haven't heard --and who doesn't even have an English wikipedia article, but unsurprisingly has one in German -- South African singer Howard Carpendale. Hey, even the Beatles recorded two songs in German (German language versions of I want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You) despite not being able to speak any German and having to have the German texts written out "phonetically" for them! And some singers even had success by recording in several European languages. And that's just the English speaking stars I've mentioned. France's France Gall also had a very successful German recording career (particularly after her fame in France started to wane) as did a number of Swedish and Dutch stars. Anyway, I could keep going but I'm sure you get the idea.
Some of these stars, although not completely unknown in their home countries, were much bigger stars in their "adopted" lands. In the 60s and 70s Peggy March was a much bigger sensation in Germany than her native America. To my mind this represents an admirable entrepreneurial spirit; why be content to be a mediocre star in Britain and the United States who is soon forgotten when you can become a much bigger international star by recording in German, French and Italian? Instead of today's bland homogeneity where the same record in English is sold the entire world over the true pop music entrepreneurs of days past would adapt to local markets by singing in the local language.
Compare that with the pop music scene of today where this entrepreneurial spirit is for the most part lacking. Of course on one level the pop stars of today also want to break into foreign markets. But on another level it's not the stars themselves but the marketing executives that do it for them. While not denying that back in the day pop stars (as was the case with the Beatles) were pushed into doing foreign language recordings by their record companies, for the most part there was a good dollop of individual ambition and entrepreneurship. After all it was the pop stars themselves who would go to the effort of learning a language well enough to sing (and possibly also give interviews) in it. And some of them would do it very well. While the very early Peggy March had a noticeable (but by no means bad) American accent when she sang in German, within a short time her German was such that it was very hard to detect an accent. And many of them were up and coming stars who while having some success failed to crack the big time at home and went off looking for greener pastures abroad. Not all of them made it, but some of them did. But can you imagine any of that happening today? Seriously, I can't imagine your average British or American pop star (or band) being bothered to learn a foreign language in order to sell records abroad. Just think of some of the big name pop bands of today or the last 10-15 years and the thought becomes risible. Most of them can barely string together an intelligible sentence in English let alone in a foreign language. Can you imagine the Spice Girls, Girls Aloud or the Pussycat Dolls doing their routines in French or German ... or Japanese or Chinese? :-D
Of course in all of the non-English speaking countries there are local stars recording in their local languages, but apart from that the foreign acts all tend to sing in English. Acts from the various English-speaking countries sell their records in English to non-English speaking audiences and even singers from non-English speaking countries will record in English (or least try!) if they want to sell records in other non-English speaking markets. Compared to days past it's all rather bland I have to say. There's something exciting about hearing Petula Clark sing in Italian or the Beatles in German (quirky accents included!). But in an important respect the difference reflects the linguistic and commercial reality of our time. Linguistically, more young people today have at least a basic knowledge of English than in the 1950s, 60s and 70s and the saturation of American popular culture (not least of which MTV) means today's youth are much more attuned to hearing music in English (of course how well they understand it is a different matter). And commercially, the music market, although not fully international, is far more internationalised today then the period under discussion. Back in the day there wasn't really such a thing as an international pop music scene or market let alone international stars. The Beatles were probably the first truly international stars and their success would eventually pave the way for a more internationalised pop music market. Although recording in German, the Beatles never wanted to record in a foreign language but were forced to by their record company as the company thought that they would need to sing in German in order to crack the German market -- at least initially until the public was familiar with them. In retrospect we can say that the Beatles would still have been big enough to crack the German and other European markets without ever recording in German (or other European languages). The Beatles paved the way for international pop stars. But of course it would take some time for the full transition to occur and in the meanwhile there was still a place for stars recording in foreign languages. But by the 1980s, however, this was petering out.
Today's world of pop music is a very different place to that of the 1950s-1970s and I doubt we'll ever see a return to anything like the situation of those days. So here's to all the polyglots of pop from a bygone era. I'll leave you with a few renditions of Down Town in various languages by Petula Clark. Enjoy!
English
German
and Italian
There's also a French version which sadly I've not been able to locate online.
Some of these stars, although not completely unknown in their home countries, were much bigger stars in their "adopted" lands. In the 60s and 70s Peggy March was a much bigger sensation in Germany than her native America. To my mind this represents an admirable entrepreneurial spirit; why be content to be a mediocre star in Britain and the United States who is soon forgotten when you can become a much bigger international star by recording in German, French and Italian? Instead of today's bland homogeneity where the same record in English is sold the entire world over the true pop music entrepreneurs of days past would adapt to local markets by singing in the local language.
Compare that with the pop music scene of today where this entrepreneurial spirit is for the most part lacking. Of course on one level the pop stars of today also want to break into foreign markets. But on another level it's not the stars themselves but the marketing executives that do it for them. While not denying that back in the day pop stars (as was the case with the Beatles) were pushed into doing foreign language recordings by their record companies, for the most part there was a good dollop of individual ambition and entrepreneurship. After all it was the pop stars themselves who would go to the effort of learning a language well enough to sing (and possibly also give interviews) in it. And some of them would do it very well. While the very early Peggy March had a noticeable (but by no means bad) American accent when she sang in German, within a short time her German was such that it was very hard to detect an accent. And many of them were up and coming stars who while having some success failed to crack the big time at home and went off looking for greener pastures abroad. Not all of them made it, but some of them did. But can you imagine any of that happening today? Seriously, I can't imagine your average British or American pop star (or band) being bothered to learn a foreign language in order to sell records abroad. Just think of some of the big name pop bands of today or the last 10-15 years and the thought becomes risible. Most of them can barely string together an intelligible sentence in English let alone in a foreign language. Can you imagine the Spice Girls, Girls Aloud or the Pussycat Dolls doing their routines in French or German ... or Japanese or Chinese? :-D
Of course in all of the non-English speaking countries there are local stars recording in their local languages, but apart from that the foreign acts all tend to sing in English. Acts from the various English-speaking countries sell their records in English to non-English speaking audiences and even singers from non-English speaking countries will record in English (or least try!) if they want to sell records in other non-English speaking markets. Compared to days past it's all rather bland I have to say. There's something exciting about hearing Petula Clark sing in Italian or the Beatles in German (quirky accents included!). But in an important respect the difference reflects the linguistic and commercial reality of our time. Linguistically, more young people today have at least a basic knowledge of English than in the 1950s, 60s and 70s and the saturation of American popular culture (not least of which MTV) means today's youth are much more attuned to hearing music in English (of course how well they understand it is a different matter). And commercially, the music market, although not fully international, is far more internationalised today then the period under discussion. Back in the day there wasn't really such a thing as an international pop music scene or market let alone international stars. The Beatles were probably the first truly international stars and their success would eventually pave the way for a more internationalised pop music market. Although recording in German, the Beatles never wanted to record in a foreign language but were forced to by their record company as the company thought that they would need to sing in German in order to crack the German market -- at least initially until the public was familiar with them. In retrospect we can say that the Beatles would still have been big enough to crack the German and other European markets without ever recording in German (or other European languages). The Beatles paved the way for international pop stars. But of course it would take some time for the full transition to occur and in the meanwhile there was still a place for stars recording in foreign languages. But by the 1980s, however, this was petering out.
Today's world of pop music is a very different place to that of the 1950s-1970s and I doubt we'll ever see a return to anything like the situation of those days. So here's to all the polyglots of pop from a bygone era. I'll leave you with a few renditions of Down Town in various languages by Petula Clark. Enjoy!
English
German
and Italian
There's also a French version which sadly I've not been able to locate online.
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