Tunak Tunak Tun!
this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2026
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Dragostea Din Tei is also up there
Prisencolinensinainciusol
Shit, I didn't even think about made up languages in songs. This has to be my favorite.
Well that song is gorgeous.
Neither one of the songs I posted is a made up language technically. The first one was made by an Italian guy, and if you listen closely, they are singing in "English." At least those are English words. He made the song to simulate for English speakers what it is like to hear a song in English for Non-English speakers.
The second song is in Mongolian.
I knew the Hu was Mongolian.
The other song is complete gibberish though. As you said he is Italian singing what english sounds like to Italians. Not really english but has the cadence of english. There might be some common english words strewn in. I do the same thing to anime theme songs that are catchy. I only know about 150, 200 Japanese words max. That doesn't stop me from wanting to sing along with Death Note opening credits, poorly.
Both are great songs.
Yeah, it is complete gibberish. He used English words, but put them into nonsense sequences. That's why if you listen to the song carefully, you can almost understand it.
Your song is full of hooks. Not quite as many as Baby Shark, but easily as many as Rockin Robin
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Nena, yup. First one I thought of. She did it in english as "99 Red Balloons" but I like the original better.
It's hard to pick just one, so here's some of my top:
- Задушу - Вера Брежнева
- Dødsrå - CC Cowboys
- Iubire - 3rei Sud Est
- Die Schlinge - OOMPH!
- Беги - Роёт
- Meine Gang - Cro
- Papaoutai - Stromae
I could keep going this is just what I thought of immediately.
Baba Yetu - Theme for Civilization IV and also the Lord's Prayer in Swahili.
Krigsgaldr by Heilung. It's in proto-Germanic if I am not mistaken.
(edit: spelling - my proto-Germanic is a bit rusty)
Interesting, apparently the lyrics come from a runic inscription on an ancient grave stone found in Norway.
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99 luftbaloon
Way too much German industrial/goth/IDM/whatever to mention.
人間椅子 (Ningen Isu) - 無情のスキャット (Heartless Scat) -- one I listen to somewhat frequently.
Linda Linda by the Blue Hearts is another.
千本桜 by 和楽器バンド (senbonzakura by wagakibando) is another I like because of the mix of traditional Japanese instruments and style along with modern ones.
Bloodywood - Gaddaar because it absolutely slaps, or maybe Sardaar Ji because I can't hear it without thinking of this Bhangra group and they make me smile.
Lots of Central / Latin American modern stuff as well like Donde Nací by Orishas, which is also a feel good kind of sound.
Bloodywoods whole catalog slaps
Song 3 by Babymetal and Slaughter to Prevail
Hell yeah. Song 3 isn't my top favorite track, but the whole album is great.
Bésame Mucho
truly a special and wonderful song when sang with passion
Besame mucho, como si fuera esta noche la ultima vez
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Nena 99 Luftbaloons
Manu Chao, Clandestino. The entire album rocks.
I love 99 Luftballons. Even the kiddies know it by heart here in Germany.
A song not actually about balloons.
Probably several songs from the Katamari series. Hard to pick just one.
Freundeskreis - Esperanto
Japanese: Last regrets (imoutoid's First regrets remix) (2006)
Russian: Murat Nasyrov - Мальчик хочет в Тамбов (1997)
German: Kraftwerk - Computerwelt (1981)
Italian: Giuseppe Verdi, Mario del Monaco - Esultate! (1887, 1954)
French: Joe Dassin - Et si tu n'existais pas (1975)
Spanish: Celia Cruz - Mi Soncito (1956)
Chinese: Zhōu Xuán - Hua yang de nian hua (1947)
Tough question, but the first one that comes to mind is the Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.
De Musica Ligera or Mundo Paralelo.
80s rock vs Frente in Spanish. I can't decide
Huelga en General - Los Lobos
Also since we're on the topic, shameless plug for !leftymusic@lemmy.world
Lot of Seegar, oops. Guatanamara is beautiful, and Cielito Lindo. Makes me ashamed of being a filthy one-language-knower.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=41N8EHzZL78. (Cielito Lindo)
"Tequila" performed by The Champs.
Mercan Dede - 800
Turkish DJ, with Ceza, a Turkish rapper
https://tidal.com/track/10177936/u
I saw him perform between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
A little old
Der Kommissar by Falco
I have not a single one, so my apologies for the longish reply ;)
A few of my all time favorites non-English are from French (like me) singers. Older ones, like me: people like Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Serge Gainsbourg, Edith Piaf,... And so many more. I'm nearing my 60s and I've been listening to some of them since I was a very young boy, aged 7 or 8, on my parent's HiFi (who also introduced me to classical music, my absolute favorite type of music).
What follow is anything but a full list of my favorites. It's a very limited selection among those I consider my lifelong companions:
- A few from Jacques Brel: Rosa about kids and school and about learning Latin (back then kids used to learn Latin in schools, lyrics are absolutely filled with French word plays so if you're not fluent you probably won't get it but it's a real smart song). Another one Amsterdam of which David Bowie made an excellent English version. Ne me quitte pas, Quand on a que l'amour... but this is merely scratching the surface as he wrote countless amazing songs, funny ones, deep, sad and even absurd ones like, say, Vesoul. One I deeply disliked when I was a kid/young teen and now consider one of his greatest song: Les marquises.
- Brassens: La mauvaise réputation, his Chanson pour l'auvergnat ou encore Le temps ne fait rien à l'affaire (about being a moron, at any age ;) or (probably considered NSFW in our so modern days) Le gorille. To be honest, I don't know many of his songs I'm not a fan of.
- Gainsbourg: Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais, La chason de Prévert, or (NSFW) Je t'aime, moi non plus (a huge slap in the face the first time I listened to it, and still an amazing song all those years later imho).
- A few other French singers in no order: Barbara L'aigle noir, Yves Simon, whose best know song was probably the title song for the eponymous movie Diabolo menthe but he wrote quite a few popular songs like say, Au pays des merveilles, Juliette. William Sheller Un homme heureux or his Je cours tout seul (Sheller is an incredible song writer), Alain Souchon J'ai 10 ans, Sous les jupes des filles. Niagara La ville dort or Je dois m'en aller. As a teen barely younger than the singer, Muriel Moreno, back then I was secretly (from my girlfriend at least) in love with her and I could not imagine nay one moving or looking at me more... sensually.
- And a last one but certainly not the least important singer: Gérard Manset: Il voyage en solitaire "Mais il est seul, un jour l'amour l'a quitté/s'en est allé faire un tour de l'autre côté/d'une vie où y avait pas de place pour se garer".
- There are so many more!
If anyone has managed to reach that point, listening to all the songs, and is wondering: yes, I also listen to much more contemporary French (and non French) artists. In many various genres.
French language always was and still is about telling a story, about playing with words and with sounds, exactly like poetry. Which is most I care about as a reader/listener. Contemporary French singers do understand that as well as their predecessors did. They just don’t use the same rhythms anymore and don’t share the exact same stories (well, fundamentals remain unchanged: love, hate, sadness, fun,... but how they express it changes), and they’re certainly not less talented! But no matter how much I appreciate the work of some of them, and I do, they are not the singers I grew old with so I would not call them my favorites ;)
... I would even less dare call them favorites in our over-chastised sad times, populated with countless self-entitled white knights always looking for an opportunity to tell everyone else what they should and should not do, what they should like and not like. Because what would those people say of an almost 60 years old dude openly admitting he do enjoy listening to, say, the young (Belgian) singer Angèle? Bruxelles, je t'aime, J'entends or Tout oublier? A bit like, nearing my 60 I enjoy as much as I enjoyed it in my teens, if not more, listening to 16th century French music, or reading 15 and 16th century French poetry too.
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The international and Öde an die Freude
After listening to the Letterkenny playlist a few years ago I went of a bit of a French-Canadian folk music kick.
Lisa Leblanc - Aujourd'hui, Ma Vie C'est D'la Marde stands out.
Rien de Rien
Damn, I should have gone with this one. I can't think of many things I associate more with the 2000s than Basshunter. The lyrics of the original Swedish songs are so infinitely better than the English remakes too.
Can't forget this one either. OG DOTA and IRC chatrooms, what a time to be alive
I recently stumbled upon my latest music obsession:
As for my all time favorite, hard to say.
I think I have four that are top of my current most played songs that aren't English:
Kaval Sviri, a Bulgarian folk song. Specifically the version performed by KSS, a women's choir in Oslo. It's a cappella, and has some great resolving dissonance. Really a fantastic performance.
Next would be Ka Bohaleng performed by Abel Selaocoe. It has some cool string effects and I like the throat singing technique he uses in this song in particular.
Presidente by Goran Bregović (featuring Gipsy Kings) is a fun upbeat celebratory song.
Altay by Ummet Ozcan, featuring vocals from Otyken is a great song that feels like... Mongolian cyberpunk? If that's a thing. If you can't tell I'm really feeling throat singing multiphonics right now 😆
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Ca plane pour moi by Plastic Bertrand.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MGazZymhv2c - Welsh indie rock
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H2gmeNH_oZ0 - Desi Hip-hop
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5dS3C-_8UgA - Indian metal feat a j-rock band
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