My friend Sonia teaches French to some very lucky college students. When she told me that she brings in songs with French lyrics for the kids to translate, I instantly thought of "A Tout le Monde," by Megadeth. It turns out that she'd never heard it.
French Collection
Megadeth, "A Tout le Monde"
Talking Heads, "Psycho Killer"
Rufus Wainwright, "Complainte de la Butte"
Nina Simone, "Ne Me Quitte Pas"
Petula Clark, "Viens Arec Moi"
Béatrice Bonifassi, "Belleville Rendez-vous"
Plastic Bertrand, "Ça Plane Pour Moi"
Edith Piaf, "Le Vie en Rose"
Screamin' Jay Hawkins, "I Love Paris"
TTC, "Téléphone"
Dave Mustaine's earnest eulogy to his mom is winning enough to make me overlook what a lunatic he really is, and a must for any headbanger's French-language mix. Elsewhere, most of this collection comes from friends. Ellen's mix CD of all English-speaking vocalists trying other languages provided me with Plastic Bertrand and Petula Clark, and Ian's extensive music library (generously donated after the great hard drive crash of 2010) landed me Rufus Wainwright and Edith Piaf. Finally, TTC is a band that Richard and I bonded over during a video store stint. I can't believe I'm still tempted to listen to "Téléphone" nearly six years later. You're going to have to look it up yourself, if you dare.
Nothing else is too shocking here--I'm not hip enough to pick an Edith Piaf song that isn't "Le Vie en Rose" or a Triplets of Belleville track that isn't the famous one. Along with Megadeth, my most-played are probably David Byrne's stab at being crazy on "Psycho Killer" and Screamin' Jay Hawkins testing out sanity on "I Love Paris." Maybe Bill O'Reilly is right to be afraid.
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