Cover in Another Language

Ever hear a song and say, "Yeah, this is nice. But what would it sound like in French/Spanish/Greek/Swahili/Urdu?" Well, then, friends, you're in the right place. This week we take songs that are already good in English and some how get even better in a foreign language. And the best news? No one picked "Yesterday"!

SONGS:

Freedom Fry: Stayin’ Alive (Cover 2021) (Bee Gees 1977)

Mikel Erentxun: Esta Luz Nunca Se Apagara (Cover 1992) (The Smiths 1986) 

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Other Covers of Popular English Songs in Another Language

Rachid Taha (Arabic): Rock the Casbah (The Clash)

Karel Gott (Yiddish): Paint it Black (The Rolling Stones)

Eileen (French): These Boots Are Made for Walking (Nancy Sinatra)

Selena (Spanish): Fotos y Recuerdos (The Pretenders)

David Bowie (Italian): Space Oddity (David Bowie)

Seu Jorge (Portuguese): The Life Aquatic (David Bowie Tribute)

Marta Kubišová (Czech): Hey Jude (The Beatles)

Albert Pla (Spanish): Walk on the Wildside (Lou Reed)

Lena Lovich (Japanese): I Think We’re Alone Now (Tommy James and the Shondells)

Nina Hagen (German): Sonntagmorgen (Velvet Underground)

From Pluribus

Maro (Portuguese): Era de Aquário/Deixa o Sol Entrar (The 5th Dimension)

Kit Sebastian (Turkish): People Are Strange (The Doors) 

Murat Evgeen (Turkish): Nobody Told Me (John Lennon)

Vince Gilligan Talks Pluribus Soundtrack (Brooklyn Vegan)

Learn More

About Freedom Fry

About Blondfire

Duet Between Two Nationalities: A Conversation with Freedom Fry (Atwood Magazine, 2016)

Freedom Fry Covers (Spotify)

610 Foreign Covers of Popular English Language Songs (Spotify User James Haardiing)

Beach Boys’ Fans Talk Foreign Cover Versions (Endless Harmony)

Readers Recommend Foreign Language Versions (The Guardian)

Multimodal Refractions of Bob Dylan in French Covers (Jean-Charles Meunier, Ph.D. thesis)

Pushing Aside Stayin’ Alive: New songs to keep the (heart)beat during CPR

The Office CPR Scene

Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive” Drum Loop from “Night Fever”

Mikel Erentxun (All Music)

Duncan Dhu - En Algun Lugar (YouTube)

Naufragios (1992), de Mikel Erentxun (Efe Eme)

Todo es igual siempre (YouTube)

Gotcha Covered: “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”

Unsolicited Advice

Radio France: FIP

FIP: Curious Radio and More

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at stereothematica@gmail.com! We will write back! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

I'm Christine. And I'm Christina. In 2024, I moved to Texas from LA. And to keep in touch, Christine and I started a weekly game where we each pick a song that fits a chosen theme.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

This game deepened our understanding of each other and the songs that shape us, inspiring the podcast you're listening to now. Each week we share our pics, swap stories, and dig into tracks you might love and a lot of the time have never heard of. Welcome to Stereothematica, your favorite atypical music podcast. Christina, I'm curious about something. Do you consider yourself to be a curious person?

SPEAKER_02 0:40

You know, I do consider myself to be a curious person, but I think I'm also a little bit lazy. I mean I'm not agreeing. You can agree. I I think the way that I mean that is that it manifests in I wonder about something. And like sometimes I just like to wonder instead of being like, let me look that up on my phone. I'm like, hmm. I'm gonna keep pondering about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

No, that's that's exactly where I thought you would go with this. Because I I know you to be a very curious person. And also, like all of us in this era, we get distracted, and or sometimes it's like you're curious about something, and you're like, oh, I gotta Google that. And then you forget and it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

I find you to be a very curious person too. Is that how you perceive yourself?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

I do, but it's almost veering on obsession, obsessiveness sometimes. I think you've probably witnessed that.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Well, I was just thinking about our last episode where you talked about your Elton John deep dive.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Oh, oh, the two hours.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Yeah. The two hours researching the what was it, the dedication?

SPEAKER_00 1:41

It was it was the dedication. I wanted to see who was actually accurate in the wording. And it took two hours to find to be sure of what it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

And in some ways that's such a benefit to you, like in your profession. And you know, obviously, I don't think anyone's really grading or scoring this podcast until we find out that they are. But it's that can be a benefit, but it could also your point be a little bit of a a mania.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

It's definitely a mania, and it can definitely like get you like in at least it gets me into this like monotropic focus where I can't do anything else, I can't like eat, go to the bathroom, and then I'm just like sweating and stressed out.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Oh no. Yeah, that's where you're crossing the line.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah, but okay, so one more question. What is one of the weirdest ways that you don't mind sharing that you've expressed your curiosity?

SPEAKER_02 2:36

And when you say you've expressed your curiosity, do you mean like asking people a question? I'd love to hear yours first.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

My example is back in the days when we were using Evite, I think there's something new people use now. I will Google everyone on the invitation list to see what I'm getting myself into.

unknown 2:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Oh, interesting. Okay. That's a really good, I think that's good. That's just called research.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Yeah, it's it's a little too much. It's it's like that one's varying on stalker. I'm not really doing anything with the knowledge except just like, okay, I have it.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

What if you show up to the party and somebody's like, hi, I'm and you say their name for them and you've never met? Has that ever happened?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Honestly, not that specifically, but there has been something where I recognized a person that I shouldn't have known who they were because of my research. And curiosity.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Were they are they a public figure or just literally somebody who's like the same party?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Somebody who ended up becoming my friend. Oh, that's cute. But I researched them, not knowing that I would become their friend, but because another friend had mentioned them. I'm just gonna shut up because now I feel like everyone who's listening is gonna be like, is she talking about me?

SPEAKER_02 3:54

I feel like back, did you ever have a Facebook?

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Okay. Back in the Facebook heyday, I feel like that's when people would really be like, you know, Facebook stalking each other and wanting to like look and learn. I remember being at a music festival once, and someone walked up to me and said, Hey, you're Christina's sister, right? And I had never met this person, and I was like, Ooh, you got the sister wrong. Yeah, but so it's like clearly they had been doing some research, but it was like the wrong. It just that was a really weird moment for me.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

That is, I mean, creepy or cool, creepy or flattering.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Creepy, creepy, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

I guess it depends who's doing it.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Yeah, true. If it was like some hottie, then I would have been like, yeah. No, I will say the way that my weird curiosity manifests is in smelling things. I like to smell things even if I think they might smell bad. And then even if it does smell bad, you're like, let me just double check. Yeah, oh that's and you're like, yeah, it smells really bad. Okay. What is that? I think it's because we're animals.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

No, I think so. I think you're wanting to make sure that it's safe. Safe to eat.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Uh uh something I even if it's definitely not. Like, have you ever had that experience where you're like, you smell this, it's gross. Like, and you you pass it to someone else to smell it too. Like there's no intention of eating it. Yeah, it's the way I feel most akin to my dog, I would say. Because he likes to smell smelly stuff too.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah, I get that. That's kind of nice. It's nice when you have something that you have in common with your dog. It's fun. See, Ivan, I do. We we share some interests. That's no, that's very sweet. So I know, like, with curiosity, like, I don't know, for me at least, I feel like there's a limit to it because like sometimes when I'm doing research on something, I'm like doing some deep dive, I actually get really stressed out and feel like my brain is going to explode.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Like, you feel like you can't know everything about the thing, and then you get stressed because like you know there's so much more to know, and then you just keep digging and digging, and then your butt starts to hurt from sitting in the chair for so long.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Oh no. Yeah. Interesting. I feel I have the opposite where I've I'm very at peace with not knowing everything. It feels like almost gratifying to know that the only time I really get tripped up is when I'm, you know, I want to be on Jeopardy.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

So, like sometimes I watch these people on Jeopardy who know so much stuff. And it's just like the most random thing. And I'm like, I'll never be that way. Because maybe I'm not curious enough, or also just my brain doesn't work that well.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Well, I mean, as we get older, the pruning network is not doing as well as it used to. That's also a relief. Yeah, no, I mean, who cares? It's it's it's all good. So, anyway, speaking of brain explosions, I felt like my brain was coming close to it in researching this week's theme. Covers of popular English language songs in another language. Yeah, that makes sense, right? Okay, and I want to emphasize the popular English song part for this particular episode, because I'm sure we'll have other types of cover versions in the future. But since English is our first language, that's what we're referring to, other other than English, right? Will be foreign language because that's what's foreign to us. And I know it's common in Europe, for example, to have like a popular French song or an Italian song recorded in a bunch of different languages. Remember from the problematic songs show? Lete Indienne. Oh, yeah. That one has 10 foreign language covers, including an English language version sung by Nancy Sinatra. Interesting. Yeah. Now there's an instance where like I'm curious, but I didn't take that extra step to listen to the No, didn't care. Because I really like the original.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Yeah, the original. You don't sometimes you don't want to sell you it.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

No.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Now, before we get into our picks, can we talk a little bit more about the wonders of a cover in another language?

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Oh, for sure. We have to.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah, okay, good. Do you know what the most covered song ever is?

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Hmm. Is it the happy birthday song?

SPEAKER_00 8:18

You know what? That's actually I should have said pop songs because I think the that happy birthday is is is up there for sure. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

How many languages can you sing it in?

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Happy birthday. I mean maybe two, like maybe Spanish and French.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Yeah, there you go. Even I'm with my bastardized French, I can sing it. And in Spanish, that's an easy one.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah. Um, but yeah, yesterday. Yesterday has been covered 4,000 times. But yeah, that actually includes English covers. So probably in other languages it's closer to 2,000. But that was another one. It was actually really hard to find like a definitive number for the international or foreign language covers.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

I wonder, I mean, I feel like yesterday has to have even more than 4,000 covers because you've got to think about every ding dong out there who's like, I'm a musician, and oh yeah. They're like, I I might as well start out with yesterday. I'm sorry, I don't think it's an easy song to sing, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:21

No, I mean, no, not for me.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Not for me, because I don't love it.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Yeah, it's not, it's definitely not one of my like even top 20 Beatles songs. It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

But it makes sense why people would be covering it. It's yeah, it's a classic.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Yeah. Um, you know what else? Second, second place for pop pop ish, and I don't even think this is really a pop song. Leonard Cohen's Alleluia.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Do you say alleluia? I know, I know.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

I realized as I said it, I'll I said allelujah because I feel like that's how it's said in Spanish, in like in church, in Latin. It's alleluia.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Is it?

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Yeah, hallelujah.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

It's a good song.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Yeah, it's hallelujah.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Did we talk about it when I did my Rufus Wayne reading? You did. You mentioned it. Because his version is very good. I like it a lot.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

See, there's another case.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

I didn't look it up. I like the hallelujah song better than yesterday. Oops.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Yeah, no, that's okay. I'm I'm gonna say something maybe even more controversial, which is I'm not really a fan of the Leonard Cohen version. Um, it's sad.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yeah. I guess it's a sad song though, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, it's supposed to be. I mean, most of his songs feel kind of sad to me.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

I feel like this is gonna bum my mom out because one time she asked me, why don't you guys ever talk about Leonard Cohen? Uh oh. And I was like, we'll probably get there. Sorry, mom. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

No, I I do there's other songs of his that I love, but this one I'm just not that much a fan of.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

So do you have any um favorite foreign language covers besides your pick?

SPEAKER_02 10:58

Yeah, I actually do. I know that we've talked about one singer in particular, so I don't want to steal your thunder in case you want to talk about them. But um, did I ever share with you that Selena cover of it's called Photos y Recuerdos?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

No.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

And it's the cover of Back on the Chain Gang by the Pretenders.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

No, no.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

It's so good.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

It's like a totally different version. I actually I don't know. I don't want to say I like it better, but that's a bob.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

That one I am curious about. I will look it up.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

I can share it in the in the links too. Please.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Oh yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Please do. We'll have a bunch of them in there.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Yeah, we'll have a bunch, I'm sure. But I was looking through my favorites and like I don't remember like saving a ton of I probably have more out there. Yeah. But I was gonna say I love so George.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Oh yes. We talked about him extensively in our um iconic venue iconic performance episode.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

And that's all bowie. All like his bowie tribute. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

I did want to mention one that I thought, I don't know, because you you were very clear at the top talking about covers in a foreign language, not an English song, but I had to think of this one song. Have you heard of it? Chick Habit by April March. No. Okay. It's a cover of you're gonna have to help me with the uh the it's the France Gaulle Serge Gainsburg song. Uh-huh. Laissez tomber le fit. Yeah, laissez tomber le fit. Yeah, yeah, that's it. I know that one. It's a funny song because like you hear it, and I'm like, what do first of all, what does that mean? It's leave the girls alone. Okay, that makes sense. That was one that I recognized. It was an English song, English cover of a French song, and then I was like listening to it, and it kind of it was almost like an earworm because I was like, What is this? I know this song.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah, no, it's it's I haven't heard this cover. It doesn't count. No, so I'll just move it. Doesn't get along. I mean, it doesn't count for this episode. I have a feeling we will do at some point a cover from a foreign language song.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Okay, that's fun. I won't pick that one since we're already talking about it.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

So, okay. I've got a ton of them and I'll share them in the show notes. I think one of my favorites is Rashid Taha's Rock the Kazbah. That that one is very cool. Another French one, which is there's a few versions of it of Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made for Walking. And the version I like a lot is Eileen's. It's just a fun song. I mean, all around. It's a great song in English, too. I mean, I could truly go on about all the covers, but I want to share instead that there is a Spotify playlist with 600 of them.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Yes. You kind of sent that to me.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

No, I know, dude. It's amazing. I wish I could take credit for this, but this is the work of some kindred spirit named Thomas Harding. He lists the songs in alphabetical order of language, starting with an Amharic version of Black Sabbath's War Pigs and ending with a Zulu version of Ed Sheeran's song, Shape of You.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Wow. I might actually listen to an Ed Sheeran song if it was in Zulu.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

I know, right? Yeah. I had to like qualify because I've never heard, I mean, I I know who Ed Sheeran is. I don't even know if I'm saying his name or Against Your Will.

unknown 14:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

But I definitely don't know the song. But even so, this guy has 600 songs, and they're not like the most obvious ones, which is really cool. But you know, he's missing a bunch. And like he didn't have any Sejugeurs on there. And, you know, I would like to contribute a few.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Maybe he's like to mainstream. He wants to do like deep cuts.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

No, exactly. Speaking of deep cuts, the music supervisor, Thomas Golobic, who has the Deep Cuts podcast, he's actually the music supervisor for Pluribus, which we've talked about a little bit in a previous episode. They got a few like really good foreign language covers. Did you remember any of them?

SPEAKER_02 14:59

I don't remember from your watching.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

So there's this really good one. It's a Turkish version of People Are Strange. You know that? Yeah, yeah. It's it's well, yeah, no, you know the door. Sorry. Of course, you know the door song, but but it's sung by Kit Sebastian.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Okay. Which uh in Turkish, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Yeah, it's sung in Turkish. And Kit Sebastian, who I only learned about because of this song, I didn't know them before. They're, I guess they were formed in London, but they spend their time between like Turkey and France. And I was reading about this, how they went, like the supervisors went about getting these songs. They went to kind of some of their favorite foreign language musicians and asked them to do covers of these like famous songs. That is cool. Um yeah, but it goes on and on. There's like a Beach Boys fanboard with people sharing their their favorite foreign language covers. And then this is where I like seriously almost lost it. There's a PhD thesis, another one I know, and this one is by Jean-Charles Meunier, and it's called The Multimodal Refraction of Bob Dylan in French covers. I'm like, I just want to like stop my life right now and go spend time reading.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Go to grad school, get a PhD, I know, collaborate with Jean Chang.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Yes. So I've only read like the introduction because the whole thing is 500 pages. Lord. So in that introduction, which is like maybe four pages, he references like, I don't know, some 20 resources.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Good God. So I love that.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

So yeah. And then he discusses like more than a hundred Dylan songs. And like at this point, I'm just like, uh, I need more hours in the day to deal with all this. But long story short, he's looking at the French language covers as recontextualizations across lyrics, voice, and cultural setting. And I think what to me is really interesting, what Munia is talking about for the Dylan songs, goes kind of for any foreign language cover. They're never just the same song with different lyrics. They're a completely different system based on all the variables involved, right? Like these covers are less a mirror and more of a prism. They're still recognizable for the most part, but once they pass through another language and that that performer's set of circumstances, they come out bent and changed, which finally, I know, brings me to my poem. That of course was a cover of the Bee Gees Staying Alive by the LA-based duo Freedom Fry. Christina, are you shocked? The LA based part is what I'm asking you. Are you shocked that they're LA based?

SPEAKER_02 18:03

I can't see a French band calling themselves Freedom Fry.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

I mean, I thought I always thought it was a little corny, but sometimes French bands can be corny.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

But you know, wait, but are they you said LA based, but you know.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Okay, so yeah, they are LA-based. One of them is French American. The lead singer here is the Paris-born Marie Cerrat, and her husband is Bruce Driscoll. Cerrat used to be a stylist for Gucci and then met Driscoll while working as his stylist for a video on one of his other projects, Blondefire. Have you heard of Blondefire? I don't think so. Is that a band? So this is something he it was actually at first a duo with his sister, Erica Driscoll. And I think at one point they called themselves a stare, like Fred Astare.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

The Freedom Fry bio says the duo's originals span genres and their covers often reinterpret songs across languages, shifting between English and French in ways that make them feel entirely their own. And I would have to agree. It does have a couple other French covers, including Harry Nielsen's Everybody's Talkin'.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

And an English language cover of Serge Gainsberg's just Suive Nu to do que je m'en vais, which in English means I came to tell you I'm leaving. And I actually prefer Freedom Fry's version of all these songs.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Wow. Yeah. Now I'm gonna have to listen to them because I really do love everybody's talking.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

They do a really good cover. I think I think you're gonna like. And of course, we we'll share all of these in the shortcuts. I praise. Yeah, I know, right? But you know, despite loving their covers, I think I satisfied my curiosity with this band. So I'm just gonna say a few words about the original Staying Alive. So we all know, I think it's from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which the Library of Congress added to the National Recording Registry in 2012. And they only had like 25 recordings a year, and it's gotta be something deemed historically significant, so it's an honor of sorts. And then in 2004, Staying Alive was placed at 189 by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and I'm not like particularly feeling the song, the original. What about you?

SPEAKER_02 21:02

No, it's I think this is one of those situations where I'm like, love and appreciate somebody who's got a lot of vocal range. But for me, it feels too much.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, I'm not. I mean, in general, I'm not a fan of the Bee Gees.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Yeah, me neither. I can appreciate there is one song that's really good.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Uh oh, what's that?

SPEAKER_02 21:20

To Love Somebody.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

And that's a song that's been covered so many times. I think I've even shared it with you. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Um, but okay, so did you know that Staying Alive featured the first drum loop ever recorded on a pop music track?

SPEAKER_02 21:34

I definitely did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

I didn't know it either until researching for this episode. So in 1977, while recording coincidentally in France, the drummer Dennis Byron had to leave the sessions after his mother died, and they couldn't find a replacement drummer. So they ended up, I mean, the the drum machine sounded artificial, so they took the isolated drum track from the already completed Night Fever song and Recorded the best two bars on a separate tape machine and physically spliced the ends together to create a continuous tape loop. I mean, now it's pretty much easier. But at the time that was like a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

But speaking of beats, um, the original Beachy song is famously used as a CPR rhythm reference because its tempo is close to the recommended compression range. I feel like you would know that.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

That I did know. Have you ever did you watch The Office?

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Uh yes, I did.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

There's like that hilarious scene where they're trying to learn CPR and then instead of doing uh the compressions, they all just like start dancing and singing to staying alive. We'll have to share that video. That's hilarious. So silly. I think about it anytime I think of this song.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah, I I totally forgot about that. Please we'll sh we'll share that one. But there's an article from UT Southwestern that it clocks in around 104 beats per minute within the 100 to 120 beats per minute for the CPR guidance range. And the same piece also shares other songs by the decade that can be the rhythm to you your CPRing.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Do you remember any off the top of your head?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Poker Face is one of them.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

That's a better one.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Uptown Funk is another. Uptown funk. Yeah. Uptown funk. You up. And then do you stop and go, say what? Yeah. No, that's that's pretty good. Billy Jean. Wait a minute. Poker face? Poker face. Pop, pop, pop, poker face, pop, pop.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

I don't know. I might be killing someone.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

Do you have CPR training?

SPEAKER_02 23:36

I was a lifeguard for many years, Christine. But my CPR training has lapsed. But maybe I'll get back into it. If the music's worth it, I know there's so many songs to choose from. All it takes is a little spark, you know?

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Yep, that's all it takes.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

Sorry, just to just to clarify though, does the Freedom Fry have the same BPM?

SPEAKER_00 23:57

I would say definitely not.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

No, it's a little bit slower, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:00

I think so. Yeah. But that's that's a good question. Uh see, my my curiosity failed me there. Anyway, just so everyone knows, it's not likely the same BPMs. But yeah. Okay. So anyway, I purposely curbed my curiosity about your song because I knew you'd be regaling me today. So please regal away, Christina.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Of course, I'd love to. And what a great theme. You know, speaking of our problematic songs, I figured why not talk about another version of a problematic artist since we already know I love the Smiths and Morrissey is problematic. And if you do want to learn more about that, listen to season one, episode 20, Problematic Artists, where we do a deep dive. But what do you do when you like a band's music, even though you can't agree with their worldview, politics, general crappiness? Perhaps find a cover in a foreign language, loophole. Big time. So that's why I chose my song, which is Esta Luz, or should I say Luz, nunca se apagará by Mikhael Erenchun from his 1992 album Naufragios. Now, Christina, I know you recognize the song right away. Do you recall what else you said?

SPEAKER_00 25:26

I do. And and I have to say, right away, I recognized it as soon as the chorus came on, but up until then, because I'm not a big Smiths fan. So I like I wasn't immediately feeling it. And then I'm like, oh, the chorus came on. And it was I enjoyed the song though from the beginning because it wasn't as how shall I say languid as the Smiths version. I don't think it is at least. Interesting. Yeah, but none of the, I don't know. Morris's vocals are just like, oh, come on, give me a break, dude.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

And I will say though, what I do like about this version is Mikhail's very noticeable Spanish accent, which I tried to emulate earlier. Oh, yeah. Nice. Which I'm not very good at copying, even when I'm visiting Spain. But that should give you a little hint about his country of origin, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah. Is that sarcasm that you're not like prone to emulating? Because I feel like you would be absolutely prone to emulating.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Oh, because I'm such a troll?

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

I mean, I just embarrassed that I would do it wrong somehow. Okay. Like, you know, it's not natural to me.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Also, I did troll shit out of my classmate when we were studying abroad in Spain, and he immediately starts speaking with a lisp, like when we're in Spain, but never did it when we were in Texas. I was like, I clocked that, bro. Anyway, Mikel, although he was born in Caracas, Venezuela, he and his parents relocated to San Sebastian, Spain, where he still lives today. Um, and San Sebastian is in the Basque country, and I had a little guess that he might be Basque based on his last name, which has an X in it. And I saw that a lot in El País Vasco. And I know you're Spanish, but are you very familiar with the Basque people, Christine?

SPEAKER_00 27:11

I'm not super familiar. Aside from there is a movie, the English translation was I think the Spanish affair. And it's the the Spanish title though was Otros Apeidos Vascos. The title is like kind of based off of a joke where Basque people are so like regionalistic that they have to like, you know, typically in Spain you go by your like mother and father's last names, but in Basque country, you like have to show like the eight pre like all the relatives, the grandparents, the great grandparents to prove you're actually Basque. And this is just a joke. Yeah, the little I know of it. But anyway, the movie is quite funny and makes fun of all the different Spanish stereotypes.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Yeah. And it's funny that you say that because like even I I've I visited very briefly a long time ago, and one thing that stood out to me, apart from the people there who seemed very like punk in a very fascinating way, you know, they had lots of tattoos, piercings, like really funky, cool haircuts, which felt like it was 2009, so to me it felt like ahead of its time or something, you know. Yeah, and I wasn't even hanging out in like bars and music anyway, so I was like going to restaurants, it was so intriguing. But I remember walking into a restaurant and speaking in Castellano and the person responding back in perfect English. They speak Spanish in Spain, and I was like, Oh, yeah, this is something they didn't teach us about in my class, but anyway, yeah. Back to Mikhail.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

No, but it's funny, I just we talk about the tattoos and the the piercings, like there's there's that character in the movie, too.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

I like it, I think it's cool.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Yeah, no, it's fun.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Our guy Mikhail, he started his musical career in San Sebastian playing rockabilly in a band called Hillbilly Cats, and he collaborated with other rockabilly groups playing rhythm, guitar, and bass, and eventually started a group called Dunkin' Do. Do you know them, Christine?

SPEAKER_00 29:10

No, I don't. That sounds like they might actually be fun. I don't know if you know this, but I really liked rockabilly as a like an eight-year-old. I love the stray cats.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Oh my god, that's really funny. It does seem very appropriate, like like not to dunk on anybody, but like it does seem like something a little kid would like because of like kind of the theater and the you know hairdos and outfits and whatever. But this Dunkin' Doo band seemed really popular in Spain. And they actually released like 12 albums and they're still touring. But Mikhail released his first solo album, Naufragios, in 1992, which my song Pick is featured on. And I actually struggled to find much written about either Dunkin' Doo or Mikel. But I did find an article on FMA about Naufragios, the album, which noted that Mikhail and Dunkin' Doo bandmate Diego Vasyo decided to pursue their own solo projects because their band's album sales weren't doing so great at the time. And this allowed Mikhail to get back to the musical style he really liked, which apparently was more British influenced, which makes sense as to why he had covered two Smith songs in his solo career. And the other is Todo es igual siempre, or Every Day is like Sunday. One of the funny things to me that I read in that FAMA article was that the author felt that many fans of Eren Shun learned of the Smith songs thanks to his covers, which now is validated based on what you said, saying that you're not a very, you know, you're not a big Smith fan. You you recognized it once you heard the chorus and whatnot. But I don't know. I guess I was just like, wow, that this Spanish singer was introducing Spanish listeners to the Smiths based on his cover, which is cool and like uh a neat way to bridge cultures and musical styles and influences. And I I don't I hope this is not offensive. I think it's funny and interesting, but there's like a population that some people refer to, like here in the US, of like Latinos who like dark wave and stuff, and they call them Altinos. Oh, so I haven't heard that. Shout out to Hipster Runoff, who I think coined that. I will actually find a link because I I think it's worth it to laugh and read about. What I think I'm not able to pick up on because of the lack of media coverage is that Anon Chun must have, like I said, been a pretty big name in Spanish Rock back in the 80s and 90s. But I did find a stereo gum article talking about the many covers of There is a Light That Never Goes Out, which led with Anon Chun's and it rehashed a little bit of the comments on the YouTube video for the song that complained about the lack of literal translation of the original. And that is something you brought up in terms of the you know, prism and how the interpretation is. And if I'm being honest, I think they do have a point. If a double decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side would be a heavenly way to die, Morrissey languidly croons. That's pretty classic. I mean, it's it's dark and it's that's what hooked me as an emote, you know. Mikhail's version is sweeter, it's a love song that's lacking some of those searing lyrics that make Maury's version so memorable. He just says, you know, I would die for you, whatever. Not so much anything about a 10-ton truck killing the both of us. Yeah. Not quite the same. It's different. It's it's a reworking of the original, but it's still a good version. And I do hope our listeners enjoy this new take on a classic. So I'll leave it at that. I certainly did. Nice. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Thank you. Um, so are you are you ready for my unsolicited advice?

SPEAKER_02 33:11

I am ready.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Okay. Indulge your curiosity and seek out what you don't know you might want because you never know what you might love.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

That sounds like a wooden plaque you can get at the checkout line at Ross.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Fine. Let me be more specific. I'm talking about music. And to be even more specific, I've got another free app for you. It's SEEP Radio, and that's F-I-P. It's part of Radio France, and you don't have to speak French to figure out how to use this. I learned about this gem in 2018 from a French chef turned Airbnb owner, and it's since been one of my favorite ways to discover new music.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

I myself aspire to be a French chef turned Airbnb owner one day. Minus the Airbnb part.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Best of all, they have human curated channels. And to quote the station's director, they promise to keep curiosity on a loop. They really have everything from new releases to world music, pop, hip hop, reggae, metal, jazz, and cult classics. If you're even a little bit curious about what makes me happy, listen to Thiep for fun. Advice over Christina. What do you have for us for next week? Anything special going on?

SPEAKER_02 34:24

We are having something special. We're having a pity party. Ah, you know, I love one of those. Thanks for listening to Stereotheumatica. If you like what you're hearing, please consider a review, a rating, or share with a friend.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

And follow us on Instagram where you can share your favorite covers in another language. We've also got our infinite Spotify playlist linked in our show notes.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

And visit stereothematica.com for more fun.