[Multilingual Monday Music] Poupee de cire
So I haven't done this in a while, but weklcome to another Multilingual Monday Music!
Below are four versions of the same song. Yes, really.
In 1965 France Gall won Eurovision for Luxembourg with a song called "Poupee de cire, poupee de son," which stood out from a sea of ballads that had been the standard in the competition since its inception a decade prior. Of course Ms. Gall was unaware of how the lyrics seemed to mock singers like herself (young singers who sing about love yet know nothing about it), and became further infuriated with the writer when other songs she sang for him had other double meanings (like "Les sucettes", which wasn't about lollipops but rather fellatio).
The melody has been popular for over forty years, and has been covered by tons of artists, including a more rockish cover by Arcade Fire:
The song even managed to get to Japan, where it had been covered by a number of artists, most notably 弘田三枝子, Mieko Hirota. Actually the lyrics are a rarity for Japanese covers of the time, in that it actually keeps fairly close to the meter AND still manage to be fairly accurate AND make sense:
And even in Japan the song is still know, having been covered by 石川梨華, Rika Ishikawa. Here she tries to sing the first stanza in French. Key word here is, of course, "try". I'm not sure why the subtitled lyrics are so amazingly wrong. :: laugh ::
Below are four versions of the same song. Yes, really.
In 1965 France Gall won Eurovision for Luxembourg with a song called "Poupee de cire, poupee de son," which stood out from a sea of ballads that had been the standard in the competition since its inception a decade prior. Of course Ms. Gall was unaware of how the lyrics seemed to mock singers like herself (young singers who sing about love yet know nothing about it), and became further infuriated with the writer when other songs she sang for him had other double meanings (like "Les sucettes", which wasn't about lollipops but rather fellatio).
Click to viewThe melody has been popular for over forty years, and has been covered by tons of artists, including a more rockish cover by Arcade Fire:
The song even managed to get to Japan, where it had been covered by a number of artists, most notably 弘田三枝子, Mieko Hirota. Actually the lyrics are a rarity for Japanese covers of the time, in that it actually keeps fairly close to the meter AND still manage to be fairly accurate AND make sense:
And even in Japan the song is still know, having been covered by 石川梨華, Rika Ishikawa. Here she tries to sing the first stanza in French. Key word here is, of course, "try". I'm not sure why the subtitled lyrics are so amazingly wrong. :: laugh ::