Comments | tongodeon: Iraqis love Lionel Ritchie!

tongodeon

Iraqis love Lionel Ritchie!

Jun 05, 2006 17:24

On last week's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" they cited an ABC News report claiming that "what David Hasselhoff is to Germany, Lionel Ritchie is to Iraq". Lionel Ritche "has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar and Libya" and says "I'm huge, huge in the Arab world. The answer as to why is, I don't have the slightest idea ( Read more... )

music, iraq

Comments 6

qp4 June 6 2006, 07:24:52 UTC

I heard a lot of pop stars mentioned over there. I no shit heard girls sing Britney and Jessica Simpson.

Never heard a single mention of Lionel Richie.

tongodeon June 6 2006, 15:04:55 UTC

I no shit heard girls sing Britney and Jessica Simpson.

Were they non-english-speakers singing an English song phonetically? That always sounds a little weird. It must seem like what Spanish speakers think when my mom sings "La Bamba".

qp4 June 6 2006, 19:07:33 UTC

They usually sang pretty badly, but it was mostly girls that could speak some english.

slownewsday June 6 2006, 20:45:09 UTC

This may be a larger epidemic - the young taxi driver I had in Paris knew every word to "Say You, Say Me".

giantlaser June 7 2006, 00:19:11 UTC

I will ask my friends, but I don't recall hearing any Lionel Ritchie in two years there. They are mad for ballads and most pop music, though. And there is plenty of market for older stuff - tapes are still quite common in the Middle East.

zalriva1 June 7 2006, 19:03:07 UTC

I'm still waiting for the explanation for Hasselhoff.

Until then, I have this bottle of Bacardi and I'm not afraid to use it...