Post by Agent SmithPost by Gijs RietveldPost by Eddie WilsonPost by Gijs RietveldPost by Eddie WilsonPost by Agent SmithTop three most exotic pop songs from the 60's to the present
3) One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head)
2) Fernando (Abba)
1) Year of the Cat (Al Stewart)
The Friends of Mr. Cairo-Jon Anderson & Vangelis
Bobby Brown-Frank Zappa
Baker Street-Gerry Rafferty
What's so 'exotic' about these songs?
Gijs
Lyrical imagery and melodic variation.
Then you can add almost all of the songs by 10cc and Flash and The Pan
"Rock The Casbah" and "The Comissar" by the Clash.
"Conquistador" and "Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum.
"Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," by Cher.
"Brandy" by Looking Glass.
"The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot.
Anything by Bob Dylan.
"People Are Strange," "Riders on the Storm" and "The Soft Parade" by The
Doors.
"At Seventeen" by Janice Ian.
"Taxi" and "Cats In the Cradle," by Harry Chapin.
I'm losing the international flavor I originally intended.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Here's international flavor for you - one of the songs I mentioned,
"Sukiyaki" by the late Kyu Sakamoto, which went to # 1 in the United
States in 1963 - the only Far Eastern language # 1 here in this
country I'm aware of - not a word of English; it even penetrated to
the upper tier of WABC (of course, just before Rick Sklar got there I
think, who might have put the kabosh on the song). The real title of
the song is
"I Look Up When I Walk", but they needed something simple and
recognizable as a title in the United States:
Just the song, with unrelated scenery:
but here's a performance later on Japanese tv, from back in the day:
The poster of above, Kokoronokori, I quote here:
"...He made his show business debut in 1960. His biggest hit, Ue o
Muite Aruko (I Look Up When I Walk; "Sukiyaki" in the West), was
released in Japan in 1961. After its release in the U.S. in 1963, the
song's earnestness and melodic beauty proved irresistible despite its
incomprehensible lyrics. Against all odds, on June 15, 1963, the song
ousted Leslie Gore's "It's My Party" to become the No. 1 popular song
in the U.S. "Sukiyaki" remains the biggest international hit by a
Japanese popular singer. Credit for the song's popularity also is due
to the music by Hachidai Nakamura and the lyrics by Rokusuke Ei, who
is said to have written this touching evocation of loneliness after
his heart was broken by the actress Mieko Nakamura. On august 12, 1985
Sakamoto Kyu was tragically killed in JAL Flight 123, a 747 bound from
Haneda Airport in Tokyo to Osaka...." [end quote]
Some people who came of age in the 70's may not be able to relate to
songs and productions where melody dominates so much with hardly a
whisper from a rhythm section, but such is the culture of many lands,
Japan and Italy in particular, in their pop music, at least before
U.S. rock and roll made a deeper penetration. They are still lands
where melody predominates.
And here is this vid-link is the song with translation flashing:
You tell it doesn't get more exotic or international than this
somewhere?