it is who?
in 1973, the magical kingdom of spain hit second place in the annual crappiest song in the world contest eurovision contest with basque group mocedades and the song eres tu. (apologies; i haven’t yet figured out how to type accents. somewhere, my spanish-speaking college roommate is wagging her finger at me. somewhere, my old AOL localization folks are throwing dung my way.)
what the hell is the song about? some brilliant english scholars translated this as touch the wind, which mystifies little old, literal me. i may have muddled my way through the Zayres near Little Havana circa 1984 looking for a flea bomb (thanks to a girl in my dorm who brought in a stray cat), only to be greeted by employees who only spoke spanish (and to whom i only became understood once i said, and i quote: por matar los insectos — insectos, which may not even be a spanish word, i suspect) and who didn’t understand my initial query: como se dice Raid?;my daughter, a product of three years at a spanish immersion elementary school, may still be wildly embarrased by my american accent when i attempt to pronounce terms. but !caramba! i know eres tu is not about wind, unless someone is pointing a finger and implicating someone who recently tooted.
i especially loved learning about other translations of the song:
The song was re-released in English as “Touch The Wind” in later years. It was subsequently released in German: Das bist Du (“You are that…”), French: C’est pour toi (“It is for you…”), Italian: Viva noi (“Long live us”), and Basque: Zu zara (“You are…”).
it’s like an odd game of telephone.
any song entered into the annual eurovision contest is usually not something i want forcefed into my ears. i don’t know what the hell happens in the world each year when the worst in music somehow rises to the top of the eurovision experience. surely, all the best in music cannot be centered here in the US of A, right? luckily, we in america are often shielded from that. sadly, eres tu broke through that happy little iron curtain — i blame francisco franco, who was not yet still dead at that juncture, not sure — and became a hit in america.
and it has been haunting elevators ever since.
Charo did a version of this song as well. Cuchi-Cuchi
I remember this version of the song, but I also think the words “Touch the Wind” when I hear the tune, so I’m guessing I’ve heard the American version a few times. Ah memories. Kind of neutral on this – on the one hand, it’s definitely 70s fluff (which is a double insult); on the other, it’s kind of pleasant.
When you’re talking blatently bad 70’s songs; foreign language division, there are two others that come to my mind which have foreign language elements.
Bobby Vinton – My Melody Of Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHqXHTwDy40
and
George Baker Selection Una Paloma Blanca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R36CixkIaIc&feature=related
Ah, the white dove! I can still sing that one (in English, thank you) from memory. I think I still have that, along with several other songs mentioned here lately, on vinyl in the basement.
omg. paloma blanca is waaaay worse than eres tu. waaaaay worse. and now it’s stuck in my head. thanks, lar. you’re just getting me back for all those times i got you in trouble. song by song. gah.
ooh, la paloma blanca, i’m just a bird in the sky. i’ll remember not to look up in case you decide to dump one in my eye.
I am sorry, but I must take exception to “Eres Tú” (with the accent, thankyouverymuch). I love that song; it is permanently stuck in my head. That Bobby Vinton song is way worse. Hmph.
I have worse versions of this song stuck in my head.
In 1983, my fellow choir members talked me into joining the Italian Club in singing “Fa Una Canzone” at the Long Island Foreign Language Festival.
When we got there, we endured about 20 Spanish clubs singing “Eres Tu”. The bad part? They weren’t like our group, which recruited non Italians who could *sing* decently in Italian. Most of these performances had impeccable pronunciation, and horrible singing. That high note? Heard it mangled in all but one of those performances.
If I liked the song before that day, I couldn’t tell you. All I know is I hear tone deaf Spaniards singing it over Mocedades each time Muzak decides to broadcast the song!
Maybe the ’70s weren’t so bad, or at least the worst was yet to come.I just can’t get worked up over this one. Though I wouldn’t go out of my way to hear it, if it were playing in an elevator, I wouldn’t get out to use the stairs. It doesn’t hold a candle to “Heartbeat, It’s a Lovebeat” or “You light up my life.”, which are the only two ’70s songs I can name that are as bad as a typical song by Michael Bolton, Michael McDonald, or Whitney Houston.
‘Touch the Wind’ didn’t do justice at all to the real song because it wasn’t a direct translation. Some people say that it’s a religious song but some just explain it’s a plain love song…from lines like ‘como una promesa [like a promise] eres tu [you are] to ‘como lluvia fresca in mis manos’ [like fresh rain in my hands’… you can google the direct translation and it will open your eyes to what the song is about and the words are very ‘soulful’ I must say. Like another person who commented on this, I think the song doesn’t deserve to be in your ‘bad’ list.
Blatantly bland? Bullshit!! If it was a “bland” song, it would have been easily forgotten…Bland implies forgettable, not memorable….. Obviously, if someone went to the trouble to make a blog entry about the song that is now 36 years old, it was not forgettable…If you don’t like this song that is one thing, but if it makes your skin crawl, then obviously it HAS gotten under your skin and probably because you secretly like it!