This week on On Second Listen, we do a fair amount of traveling. Sometimes the songs come with us willingly.
We start with pop songs making the trip from English into French—and discovering that crossing the Channel can involve considerably more than changing the words. We’ll follow a few familiar melodies through their French second lives before Dolly Parton arrives to make sure everyone gets to work on time.
The NFL played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium yesterday morning, but on Wednesday we’ll be considering the musical allegiances of a different kind of football. English supporters have spent decades adopting songs from some unlikely sources and making them their own. Tottenham found “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Manchester City claimed “Blue Moon.” Liverpool, West Ham, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest have their own musical traditions—and some of their source material traveled a very long way to get there.
Then it’s Broadway and the West End, with a few detours through continental Europe. We’ll use some very familiar theater music to consider a distinction we’ve been circling since the first episode: when a song moves between languages, what separates a translation from an adaptation? And how much can change before we’re dealing with a transformation instead?
Finally, we turn up the amplifiers.
Heavy metal turns out to be surprisingly good at crossing musical borders in both directions. With Britney Spears at one end and Metallica at the other, we’ll listen for what happens to melody, rhythm, mood and meaning when songs are translated into—or out of—the language of metal.
Four more 30-minute opportunities to hear familiar music differently!
On Second Listen
Wednesday, 10 a.m.–noon
91.7 FM Allentown WMUH— the only station that matters
And online at https://wmuh.org/listen-live/