Ach-Tunes - Artists who performed their hits in multiple languages (Episode 44)

As the relevance of rock and roll began to explode, labels and managers wanted to exploit and milk those hits for all they were worth, for fear of it being a fad and dying out quickly. To maximize popularity and exposure, labels in the UK would often prep bands for European tours by having their stars record their own hits in other languages. Most famously, the Beatles were strong-armed into recording German versions of both “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and She Loves You”. These were recorded in Paris and for I Want to Hold Your Hand, they simply recorded the new vocals over the existing instruments like a Liverpudlian karaoke night. With “She Loves You” however, the masters had been erased by EMI which had been standard practice at the time. They re-recorded the whole song, which made this the only song they recorded outside of London. Today, we go over a marketing gimmick designed to expand popularity and ingratiate bands to potential fans across the globe. Some bands were far more prolific and successful with their foreign language recordings. Some were abysmal. Enough of them were fascinating. These are some of the stories of bands and artists performing their own tunes in foreign languages.   Subscribe to Highway Hi-Fi: iTunes | Stitcher | TuneIn | PocketCasts | Overcast | Google Play  Twitter | Facebook | Spotify

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