The Spotify Playlist

Language School

When I was studying World Music and taking an interest, one of the more annoying elements which kept cropping up was that in order for many of these artists to gain an international following they had to record in English and reconfigure their sound into something rather more generic to appeal to a wider market.

Since then, I've discovered that the phenomena actually runs the other way, and that scores of artists have rerecorded ostensibly English songs in a range of other languages and that's what you'll find in this playlist. The tracks are split into roughly two categories -- Eurovision successes presented in a form which crosses borders and the Japanese market.

I actually probably prefer this version of Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend though I wish they'd had the conviction to carry it on through the verses. The gold star and a day trip to Calais goes to Nat King Cole and the Multilingual version of L-O-V-E,which he recorded in the range of languages. Like the man says: "And always drive carefully, try and take care of yourselves, think good, feel good ..."