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Saint Etienne's "Like a Motorway" in Japanese [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2024-06-08  

British pop band Saint Etienne recorded a version of Like a Motorway, their mysterious electronic cover of classic folk song Silver Dagger, in Japanese. But they decided not to present it on tour there out of concerns their hosts might feel mocked.

"It seemed like a good idea, for our Japanese tour of December '94, to press a one track CD to give away at the shows. What better than to sing in Japanese? France Gall did it, after all. It was pointed out to us, by the means of blanket silence, that our hosts might think we were poking fun. So it was shelved, sweet but entirely useless." Homemade hand-numbered CDr EP limited to 72 copies issued by Bob Stanley to thank those who responded to his MySpace post requesting assistance finding various "Now That's What I Call Music!" CD compilations that he was missing.

I chanced across it on YouTube and wondered if insult was a likely outcome (cf. Madonna's attempts at a British accent) or if some other dynamic may have been at work.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/08/saint-etiennes-like-a-motorway-in-japanese.html

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