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The must-know songs in your language | ||
Tags: Song Texts | Music | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio |  | |
| kyknos Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5315 days ago 103 posts - 140 votes  Speaks: Slovak, Czech*, English Studies: German, Spanish | Message 17 of 35 07 January 2012 at 4:21am | IP Logged |
My Czech Selection
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| Kat0 Diglot Groupie Austria Joined 4529 days ago 89 posts - 97 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Mandarin, Bengali, Russian, Arabic (Written) | Message 18 of 35 08 January 2012 at 7:08pm | IP Logged |
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For German music my very own choice would be (at the moment) in no particular order:
- "Muessen nur wollen" by Wir sind Helden - "Auch im Regen" by Rosenstolz - "Ueber den Wolken" by Reinhard Mey - "MfG (Mit freundlichen Gruessen)" by Die Fantastischen Vier - "Krieger des Lichts" by Silbermond and then I would have to add some Austrian German songs: - "I am from Austria" by Reinhard Fendrich - "Großvater" by STS - "Rock me Amadeus" by Falco - "Ich lebe" by Christina Stuermer - "Der Hoelle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" - the famous aria of the Queen of the Night in "The Magic Flute" by W.A. Mozart 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ligador Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4782 days ago 81 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 19 of 35 07 February 2012 at 7:19pm | IP Logged |
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These are just my recommendations.
English 1. American Pie - Don McLean <<< This song is a classic. 2. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin 3. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd 4. Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd (pronounced leonard skinheard) 5. Bad Company - Bad Company 6. Piano Man - Elton John 7. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana 8. Man in the Box - Alice in Chains 9. Paradise City - Guns n Roses Español 1. La Balada del Diablo y La Muerte - La Renga 2. Amapola del 66 - Divididos 3. De Música Ligera - Soda Stereo 4. Mi Pequeño Invierno - Maldita Nerea 5. El Embudo - Leon Gieco 6. ¿Para Que? - Las Pelotas 7. Elena - Enanitos Verdes 8. Pepe Lui - Divididos 9. Te Dejo Madrid - Shakira 10. La Voz Dormida - Mägo de Oz Deutsch 1. Popmusik - Die Toten Hosen 2. Aurelie - Wir Sind Helden 3. Spring - Rammstein 4. Walkampf - Die Toten Hosen 5. Am Ende - Die Toten Hosen To be fair though, my knowledge of German music is fairly limited. I haven't listened to English music consistently in over a year now, and if it weren't inconvenient my Spanish list would be much larger. If anyone needs Spanish music recommendations, pm me. I'm sure one of the 1000 Spanish songs in my iTunes will be to your liking. Edited by Ligador on 07 February 2012 at 7:25pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5512 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 20 of 35 08 February 2012 at 1:11pm | IP Logged |
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This has instantly become my new favorite thread on the forum. I can't even begin to do a list for English, so I'll do one for German instead. (If any of these videos are not available in your country, I recommend using hidemyass.com to access them.)
1. O Isis und Osiris sung by the character of Sarastro in "The Magic Flute" (Mozart) - If you don't listen to anything else on my list, just listen to this one. There's nothing like it. Here it's sung by Kurt Moll, who throws himself into the performance 100%. It's worth it for 2:12-2:26 alone, believe me. Nobody but Mozart could make two words – "kühnen Lauf" – that beautiful. (Bonus: check out Kim Borg's version too – what a voice he's got.) 2. Nie wieder Liebeslieder by Die Prinzen - These guys are the German Beatles, in my opinion. If you only know their "silly" songs, you are missing out! Their more recent stuff is the best, in my opinion. Check out Es war nicht alles schlecht (lovely song about growing up in the DDR – the lyric ranges from laugh-out-loud to tear-in-your-eye) and Leben strengt an (ignore the video, just listen to the song) too. 3. Horizont by Udo Lindenberg - If Die Prinzen are Germany's Beatles, I'd say Udo's the counterpart to Bob Dylan. Some don't like his voice, but I love it. Some of his newer stuff is really good, too; check out Was hat die Zeit mit uns gemacht? (again, ignore the video). 4. Irgendwo auf der Welt by The Comedian Harmonists - Hot tip: The biopic film about their career and dissolution is a brilliant piece of work with some really good actors, definitely worth seeing. 5. Dein ist mein ganzes Herz written by Lehar/Löhner-Beda/Herzer - I was introduced to this one by Max Raabe's lovely performance, so I'm including a link to that version here. Max is just delightful. 6. Deine Schuld by Die Ärzte - Warning: change of mood! Germany has produced some great punk, and I couldn't make this list without including one of the more powerful political songs by these guys. The chorus goes: "It's not your fault that the world is how it is – it'll only be your fault if it stays that way." Strong stuff. 7. Claudia by the Wise Guys - This song was my introduction to dialect-music. It's in the Wise Guys' native dialect of Kölsch, which is completely adorable if you ask me. 8. Der Weg by Herbert Grönemeyer - He's got numerous great ones. It's hard to pick, but I went with this one because it includes one of my favorite bits of lyric in any song: "Habe dich sicher in meiner Seele / Ich trag dich bei mir bis der Vorhang fällt" (I have you safe within my soul / I'll carry you with me till the curtain falls). 9. Was wir alleine nicht schaffen by Xavier Naidoo - Because every list of great German songs needs one that can double as an inspirational football song. ;) Seen as pure social/political commentary, though, it's also very powerful. 10. Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubilieret! by Johann Sebastian Bach - To end on a classical note again, here is one of Bach's most joyous moments and a piece I grew up with, sung by the Wiener Sängerknaben. For further recommendations (as well as a few tips for German films), see the fourth post down on this page from my 2011 language log. Edited by Jinx on 08 February 2012 at 1:26pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| PillowRock Groupie United States Joined 4553 days ago 87 posts - 151 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 21 of 35 12 February 2012 at 7:14am | IP Logged |
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This took a bit of thought. Because of the venue, I've tried focus for the most part on songs where the lyrics particularly play with or exercise the language. I'm not trying to find the 10 best guitar riffs, or anything like that. I also wanted songs that had already "stood the test of time". So nothing recent made my list; in fact the "newest" song on my list was written in the 1970s. I also decided, fairly arbitrarily, that I wouldn't use anything from any of the previous lists in this thread. Most, but not quite all, of these have been covered repeatedly by various artists.
My list follows, with title, songwriter(s), year, and either artist of the most notable (or sometimes simply first) artist to record it or the show that it was written for. After that I put a bit of commentary about each song. English White Christmas - (Irving Berlin) - 1942 - Bing Crosby You're Mean One Mr. Grinch - (Theodor Geisel & Albert Hague) - 1966 - The Grinch Who Stole Christmas I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General - (Gilbert & Sullivan) - 1879 - The Pirates of Penzance Alice's Restaurant - (Arlo Guthrie) - 1967 - Arlo Guthrie Summertime - (George Gershwin) - 1935 - Porgy and Bess My Way - (Paul Anka, lyrics) - 1969 - Frank Sinatra Eleanor Rigby - (Lennon & McCartney) - 1966 - The Beatles Roll Over Beethoven - (Chuck Berry) - 1956 - Chuck Berry Bohemian Rhapsody - (Freddie Mercury) - 1975 - Queen Paradise by the Dashboard Lights - (Jim Steinman) - 1977 - Meat Loaf One extra, the ultimate source being referenced by all of those "to-may-to, to-mah-to" lines over the last 70+ years: Let's Call the Whole Thing Off - (Gershwin, George & Ira) - 1937 - Shall We Dance White Christmas - The Guinness Book of World Records lists the 1942 Bing Crosby recording as the best selling single of all time, at least in part because it has kept selling continuously for the 70 years since. You're Mean One Mr. Grinch - Written and recorded (by Thurl Ravenscroft, remembered by all Americans over a certain age as the longtime voice of Tony the Tiger) for the 1966 animated special The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Virtually every American who has grown up with a TV in the house in the last 45 years knows it. With lyrics by Dr. Seuss himself, it plays with the language in a unique combination of the sounds of the words, the images it evokes, and the metaphors it draws on. I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General - Gilbert and Sullivan are almost single handedly (well, "two handedly") for the operetta form still is performed on a regular basis, at least in the US. This is probably their best known and best loved song. The pace is such that native English speakers generally have to maintain a higher level of concentration than usual in order to catch all of it. Alice's Restaurant - In many respects more an example of storytelling than "normal" songwriting, this 18 minute song is a complete snapshot of the counterculture in 1967. Summertime - One of those rare songs that seems to work in any musical idiom or genre. Just in my CD collection there are at least 14 or 15 different versions, without actually trying to collect it. Besides the original "show tunes" or "tin pan alley" renditions, I have it performed by everyone from simple folk singers to classically trained operatic singers; blues, soul, doo wop, a few different sub-genres of rock & roll, a few different sub-genres of jazz. My Way - It's difficult to overstate how large of a shadow Frank Sinatra cast in American pop culture for a few decades and this became his signature song. I've seen it claimed that this is the most covered song in history. Eleanor Rigby - I'll admit that to a certain degree this is a representative of the Beatle's overall output and overall significance. On the other hand, many of their other songs, as good as they are, have fairly simple lyrics that don't go much deeper than the surface. This one has some more depth. (Were it not for my no-repeat rule, Yesterday might be in this slot.) Roll Over Beethoven - When the Beatles choose to cover a song, you know you're talking about something special. Bohemian Rhapsody - Practically an entire rock opera in one song. It has made the year end charts in both the US and UK in both the 1970s and the 1990s. Paradise by the Dashboard Lights - A rarity on this list in that it hasn't been covered much, possibly partly because it requires male and female lead singers going back and forth and most bands aren't constituted that way. An overdub in the middle (recorded by the then radio announcer for the New York Yankees, Phil Rizzuto) pushes the longstanding American baseball metaphor for the progress of sexual relations about as far as it can go. The "one extra" is in honor of the thread about the pronunciation of "can't" in another section of this forum. ;-) Let's Call the Whole Thing Off - Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers introduced this song in Shall We Dance in a sequence that featured them tap dancing in roller skates. My favorite version is probably the one by Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald which is, predictably, jazzier. Edited by PillowRock on 13 February 2012 at 4:37pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4591 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 22 of 35 19 March 2012 at 3:11pm | IP Logged |
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In case someone's interested in Japanese, there's already a separate thread for the Top 10 Japanese songs. Unfortunately, my own knowledge of Japanese music does not extend far beyond music from anime and video games, so the only thing I can add on top of the contributions in that thread is my personal list of top 10 otaku songs:
10) 初音ミク - 初音ミクの消失: I'm not a huge Vocaloid fan, but I think this song is a great demonstration of what they are capable of. 9) 神前暁 - ふたりのもじぴったん: An excellent example of the cuteness that the Japanese language is capable of conveying, especially through its sound symbolism. "Ukiuki yakimoki daisuki" might be the cutest line I've ever heard in any language, and it isn't even nonsensical. However, the cutesy-sounding onomatopoeia can be quite misleading... 8) 平野綾、茅原実里、後藤邑子 - ハレ晴レユカイ (ED version; Full version): possibly the anime fandom's greatest dance craze. Just check out this. 7) 大杉久美子 - ドラえもんのうた: Doraemon isn't that popular among Western anime aficionados, but it's huge in East Asia and the Japanese see it as an important part of their culture. Plus, it's a good example of "old school" anime openings. 6) Alstroemeria Records, nomico - Bad Apple: I include this famous fan video to represent the myriad of fan works that sprung up around the independent video game series "Touhou Project". 5) 放課後ティータイム - 桜が丘女子高等学校校歌[Rock Ver.">: I thought I absolutely have to include a song from K-On!, the hit anime series about an all-girl high school rock band, but I had a very hard time deciding which song to pick (heck, I could make a whole top 10 list just for songs from that show). Eventually I went with this less well-known song, which I believe to be quite underappreciated by the fans. What other series has schoolgirls singing a rock song in classical Japanese? And did I mention that it's a cover of their school's anthem? 4) 中原麻衣 - 笑顔・はっぴぃ・ピース♪: An interesting aspect of anime music is the so-called character song or image song - a song that usually does not appear on the show itself, released in special CD singles and collections, sung by a character's voice actor from that character's perspective. I chose this particular song as it fits its character perfectly - starting out sickeningly sweet and happy it then makes a sudden turn for the ominous and creepy. The character in question is on the page image of the TV Tropes' article for "Cute and Psycho". 3) 木村弓 - いつも何度でも: Composed by Joe Hisaishi for the soundtrack to Miyazaki's "Spirited Away". The movie is often considered to be Japan's, if not the world's, best animated feature film ever, and this beautiful song is the cherry on top. 2) the pillows - Ride On Shooting Star: FLCL (pronounced "Fooly-cooly") is widely considered to be the most bizarre anime series ever made. Reactions to its whimsy vary greatly, but its alt-rock soundtrack by the pillows is widely praised. The clip in the link is my favourite anime ending ever. 1) 高橋洋子 - 残酷な天使のテーゼ (OP version; Full version): The opening to the famous/notorious series Neon Genesis Evangelion, widely considered to be the best anime opening of all time. The song has won awards and is one of the most popular songs to sing in karaoke in Japan. Also, I'm not exactly sure why, but the sentence だけどいつか気付くでしょう、その背中には 遥か未来めざすための羽根があること made me fall in love with Japanese grammar. Edited by vonPeterhof on 19 March 2012 at 3:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Kappa Groupie Japan Joined 5339 days ago 99 posts - 172 votes | Message 23 of 35 21 March 2012 at 1:41pm | IP Logged |
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Japanese
上を向いて歩こう - 坂本九 (作詞 永六輔、作曲 中村八大) 時代 - 中島みゆき なごり雪 - かぐや姫 贈る言葉 - 海援隊 異邦人 - 久保田早紀 負けないで - ZARD 愛のために - 奥田民生 One more time, one more chanse - 山崎まさよし 涙そうそう - 夏川りみ (森山良子 作詞、BEGIN 作曲) 月光 - 鬼束ちひろ Arabic Emel Mathlouthi - Fi Beli (Tribute to Che Guevara) Lena Chamamyan - Youma La La Amal Murkus - La A7da Ya3lam Rim Banna - Fares Odeh Tania Saleh - Khlso el-dafater Rasha - 3azara al-7ay Souad Massi - 7ayati Natacha Atlas - Adam's Lullaby Rima Khcheich - Bikaffini English My Favorite Things - Julie Andrews Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland L-O-V-E - Nat King Cole Love Will Find A Way - Sam Cooke Lean On Me - Bill Withers Don't Worry Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin It Goes Like It Goes - Jennifer Warnes When You Say Nothing At All - Alison Krauss Hallelujah - John Cale When She Loved Me - Sarah McLachlan Shores of Avalon - Tina Malia Kabyle - Any song by Idir Italian - Any song by Valentina Giovagnini (May she rest in peace) Hungarian - Any song by Szalóki Ági Portuguese - Any song by Sara Tavares or Lisa Ono Hebrew - Any song by Daniela Spector or Din Din Aviv Armenian - Some songs by Sirusho Turkish - Any song by İrem, some songs by Nil Karaibrahimgil Edited by Kappa on 21 March 2012 at 1:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| htdavidht Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4442 days ago 68 posts - 121 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: French | Message 24 of 35 31 March 2012 at 12:04am | IP Logged |
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For Spanish:
1. La fuerza del Corazon - Alejandro Sanz. 2. Asi fue - Juan Gabriel. 3. El camino de la vida - Trio America. 4. Si se calla el cantor - Mercedes Sosa y Horacio Guarany. 5. Predestinacion - Aries Vigoth. 6. Burbujas de amor - Juan Luis Guerra. 7. Antologia - Shakira. 8. La Rebelion - Joe Arrollo. 9. Volver - Carlos Gardel. 10. Hijo de la Luna - Mecano. For English: 1. Wild World - Cat Stevens. 2. Paradise - Tesla. 3. The shadow of your smile - Barbra Streisand. 4. The Sage - ELP. 5. Dear Mama - 2Pac. 6. Stranger In Moscow - Michael Jackson. 7. Forever Young - Alphaville. 8. Uninvited - Alanis Morissette. 9. Imagine - John Lennon. 10. Innuendo - Queen. I am studying French, I like this songs: 1. Le manége - Stanislas. 2. Vois Sur Ton Chemin - Les Choristes. 3. Je ne veux pas la fin de nous - Michael Jackson. 4. Juste Attendre - Maxence Hayek. 5. Non,Non,Rien N'a Change - Les Poppys. And those are the ones I have so far piked up. My idea is to learn them as part of my learning French goal. On Italian, I like this ones: 1. Non C'è - Laura Pausini. 2. Vivo Per Lei - Andrea Bocelli. 3. 'O sole mio - Luciano Pavarotti. 4. La mia storia tra le dita - Gianluca Grignani. 5. Tutta la vita - Lucio Dalla. Somehow Italian seams to be more easy to me than French. I understand it whith less pain and study than French. Still French is my number one target lenguage. Now I am going to take notes on other posts to see if I can increase my French repertory. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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