Weekend Listomania: Special "If Music is the Universal Language, How Come There Aren't Any Hit Songs in Esperanto?" Edition

Okay, so here's the deal. As you guys know, my alternate watering hole here in Forest Hills, Queens is a wonderful Mexican joint called Mas Tortilla. And from time to time the proprietors there play el rock en español, rather than more traditional normal contemporary Latin pop, on their sound system.

As a result, I've discovered some pretty amazing non-anglo bands and songs of late, and my favorite is a group called Maná, a/k/a The Police of Mexico. Turns out they've been around since the early 80s, and they're hugely popular -- 45 million records sold, mostly in Spanish-speaking countries. Coincidentally, they got nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, the first band of their ilk to be so honored, although alas they didn't make the final cut.

Oh well, Quizás el año que viene. 😎

Anyway, I bring the whole thing up for a couple of reasons.

One -- as an excuse to post this Maná song from 1991, which I just heard for the first time at Mas Tortilla last week, and which I think is really cool.

I mean, dig that Rickenbacker guitar.

And two -- as an excuse to set up the weekend's business.

To wit:

Best Post-Elvis Pop/Rock/Folk/Country/Soul Song in English But With a Throwaway Quote, a Couple of Lines or a Verse or the Title, in a Foreign (European or Other) Language!!!

No arbitrary rules here, but I'm gonna enforce the Post-Elvis thing. And yeah, I did a shall we say less fully developed version of this Listomania back in 2007 (yipes!), but I figure the Statute of Limitations has run out on recycling it.

And my totally Top of My Head Top Six are:

6. The Beatles -- Michelle

"Michelle -- ma belle."

Optional Blindingly Obvious Award cheerfully accepted.

5. Warren Zevon -- Veracruz

Aquel día yo jure
Hacia el puerto volveré
Aunque el destino cambio mi vida
En Veracruz moriré
Aquel día yo jure

A drop dead gorgeous (ah, those mandolins and harp!) song from his Excitable Boy breakthrough. I meant to include this in that list of my favorite Zevons earlier in the week, but my senility precluded it.

4. Jay and the Americans -- Cara Mia

True story: Back when this was a contemporary hit (1965) some wiseguy at my local Top 40 station (WABC-AM) did a tape edit of the song so that the long-held high note Jay Black sings before the finale was extended for like half a minute (which sounded like an eternity). You never knew when that version was gonna be the one that they aired, but it was fucking hilarious, especially the first time you heard it and you briefly thought it might be real. I should add that I have never been able to find an audio clip of it or even any press mention that the prank had ever been pulled.

3. Tonio K. -- Funky Western Civilization

Still the only rock record ever made with a cameo spoken word section -- en français -- by Joan of Arc.

2. Talking Heads -- Psycho Killer

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Hey, we all know the feeling, David.

And the number one use of an outré patois in an international hit recording clearly is...

1. Labelle -- Lady Marmalade

Inspirational verse: "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir."

Second optional Blindingly Obvious Award cheerfully accepted.

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend everybody!!!