Timmybear's favourite
English(Bloodhandian?) songs with French (Freedomian?) backing
vocals
1. "Games Without Frontiers" by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush - in which, despite endless (and deeply revealing, from a Freudian point of view) speculation at www.kissthisguy.com and probably www.amiright.com , our guest heroine is in fact singing "Jeux sans frontieres", the title line, in French. (Note: I used to think she was singing "She's so peculiar", I might add - I can't say I ever thought it was "She's so fuc* me now", as a startlingly large number of individuals hoped...but, come on! A woman who has sung about
Houdini, babooshkas, the Draft, bank robbery and Wuthering Heights, all in that uncanny voice...it would be post-modern justice to have her vocalize what I thought she was...).
2. "Eyes Without A Face" by Billy Idol - I had always wondered what the female singer on this number was saying (I feel (almost) no guilt about this being one of my favourite songs in Grade 11 or so, despite the funny/nauseating video...). Evidently, much as the above (though with less style and with a weaker voice), she is delivering the title line ("Les Yeux Sans Visage"). Thank you, Pop Up Video - is there anything you DON'T know?
3. "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles - If one listens closely, possibly under the influence of the cheap drugs that caused the band to think it was a good idea to do this to one of Paul's wittier songs, one will notice that the backing vocals throughout are performing "Frere Jacques".
4. "Smoke and Mirrors" by Magnetic Fields - Perhaps in a tribute to Peter, Billy and Paul, Mr. Stephin Merritt has a female vocalist reciting the chorus lyrics in French simultaneously with him singing them. As they are just being spoken, though, they do not undercut the essential depression and cynicism of the number. I would consider this a good thing, however. :)
