jeff1@garfield.UUCP (Jeff Sparkes) (11/27/83)
Were those words french? What were they and did they supposedly mean? I always thought that it was either: She's so popular or: She's so fun to know
burris@ihopa.UUCP (David Burris) (11/29/83)
The words were German in Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers. The entire album was released is German as well and is available as an import. I have heard the German 45 and I seem to remember it having "Biko" on the flip side. -- Dave Burris ..!ihnp4!ihopa!burris AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, Il.
mjs@rabbit.UUCP (11/29/83)
The French is `Jeux Sans Frontiers', literally `Games Without
Frontiers.'
--
Marty Shannon
UUCP: {alice,rabbit,research}!mjs
Phone: 201-582-3199avsdT:deborah@avsdS.UUCP (11/30/83)
The french lyrics in 'Games without Frontiers' that sounded like She's so popular or She's so fun to know were actually Jeux sans frontieres (translation of the title into french)
gs@mit-eddie.UUCP (Gordon Strong) (11/30/83)
The words were indeed the French translation of 'Games without Frontiers'. Another interesting note is that the female voice in that song (the rather high voice singing the French lyrics) is Kate Bush. I'd like to see some further collaboration. BTW, I had the pleasure of seeing Peter Gabriel in concert this summer. It was, in a word, fabulous. Very theatrical. He tours with a killer band, too. See him if you get the chance. -- Gordon Strong decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!gs GS@MIT-XX
mtc@datagen.UUCP (12/01/83)
(I did not get the original article - I'm responding to the Re: article)
The English version of "Games Without Frontiers" contains NO German.
The opening of the song is in French: "xxxxx sans frontiers" where
"xxxxx" is the French word for games (sorry about my inability to
spell French words). When the song first came out, many non-French
speaking folks (like myself) mistook the opening for the English
"She's So Funky, Yeah" which was corrected when the album was released
and we saw the lyric sheet (cheating, right?).
The German version of Gabriel's third album ALSO contains the French
opening - but then the main part of the song is in German.
By the way, Gabriel's fourth album (marginally titled "Security" - anyone
know about whether Gabriel intended it to be untitled?) ALSO has a
German counterpart - ever heard "Shock the Monkey" sung in German?
I've always wanted to make a dance tape with that version, to mess with
people's minds!
============================================================================
Mark "mtc" Colan {allegra, decvax!ittvax, rocky2}!datagen!mtcjeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (12/02/83)
The French words sung by Kate Bush in Peter Gabriel's "Games Without
Frontiers" are "Jeux sans frontieres", which is French for "Games
Without Frontiers". I, along with everybody else I talked to about it,
was convinced that the first two words were "she's so" and was trying
to figure out what the third word was. I hadn't heard about the song
being banned because it sounded offensive. The German version is a
different story altogether. I haven't heard it, so I don't know
whether she sings the same thing in the German version or not. If
anybody wants to know, I can check it with a friend who has the
German album. Kate Bush has a strange voice, but some of her songs
are really excellent. I am particularly fond of her latest song,
"Ne T'Enfuis Pas", which is completely different from any of her
other stuff.
Jeff Richardson, DCIEM Torontopeterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (12/02/83)
Seeing as how people seem interested in Peter Gabriel's song "Games Without Frontiers", I thought I'd post the origin of it, hinted at by the accompanying video. In that video, you may remember seeing people engaged in athletic competition. It turns out that there is a television program on European TV called "Jeux Sans Frontieres" which pits teams from various countries against each other in silly contests, reminiscent of the American show "Almost Anything Goes", thankfully cancelled quite a few years ago. Gabriel appears to view the games as a metaphor for international relations, hence the various references to historic figures in the lyrics. See how *interesting* PG can be? Now, who knows which famous psychology experiment inspired "Shock The Monkey"? p. rowley, U. Toronto
timw@umcp-cs.UUCP (12/02/83)
That voice who sings that is Kate Bush. Tony Levin also plays on
that album....point of trivia...........
can you name all of the people who sings on or
who took part of Robert Fripp's album 'exposure'
(beside the obvious ones)
everything you know is wrong,
Peace,
Freedom,
Anarchy.
Tim Wicinski
timw@umcp-cs
timw.umcp-cs@CSnet-Relay
--
signed,
Tim Wicinski
timw@umcp-cs
timw.umcp-cs@CSnet-Relaytugs@utcsrgv.UUCP (Stephen Hull) (12/02/83)
Two more obscure items pertaining to this song:
1) I believe another idea which Gabriel was attempting to convey was that
of replacing war with "playing silly games" -- countries competing at
something a little less destructive than genocide.
2) The television show "Jeux Sans Frontieres" is shown in a number of different
European countries. Guess what the show's name is in England?
"It's A Knockout"
steve hull
--
UUCP { linus ihnp4 allegra utzoo decwrl cornell
floyd watmath uw-beaver ubc-vision }!utcsrgv!tugs
{ decvax cwruecmp duke research floyd }!utzoo!utcsrgv!tugsbristol@houxo.UUCP (N.BRISTOL) (12/03/83)
An English acquaintance shed some light on "Games Without
Frontiers." In Europe there is a game show
on television where the contestants are average everyday
citizens (not unlike game shows in the US). The contestants
dress up in elaborate, usually encumbering costumes
and run strange obstacle courses and the like. The show
is centered around "dressing up in costumes" and "playing silly games."
The contestants represent their countries in competition.
In England, the show is called "It's a Knockout" and
in France, it's called "Jeux Sans Frontiers."
Gil Bristol
houxo!bristoldya@unc-c.UUCP (12/05/83)
References: utcsrgv.2869
...or why isn't all of this related to
a Eric Berne-esque theme, for that
matter ?
--david { (decvax) | duke!mcnc!unc-c!dya}kissell@flairvax.UUCP (Kevin Kissell) (12/06/83)
Rising to Tim W's challenge, off the top of my head the players on
Robert Fripp's Exposure were
Vocals: Daryl Hall (of Hall and Oates, apparently did *all* of the
vocals (except NY3) originally, but his label
and management objected to their golden boy
doing wierd stuff)
Peter Hammill (of Van der Graff Generator and solo fame.
one of my favorite unknown songwriters)
Terre Roche (of the Roches)
Peter Gabriel (of course)
The Neighbors ("found" and processed vocals on NY3)
J. Bennett(?) (pompous quotes and compressed lecture)
Bass:
Tony Levin (King Crimson, Gabriel)
Drums:
Narada Michael Walden (Mahavishnu, etc.)
Keyboards:
Peter Gabriel (here comes the flood)
Who played piano on "Chicago"?dbb@fluke.UUCP (Dave Bartley) (12/07/83)
I heard, without confirmation, that Geffen Records insisted that the album have a title (tacky). The compromise was to leave it off the front cover but put it on the label. The same thing seems to have happened to Peter G's live album. I guess it's better than not having a recording contract at all... While in Munich last winter, I was surprised to hear on the local radio, both the English and the German versions of "I Have the Touch" and "Shock the Monkey." They apparently randomly select which version to play. The mix of the two differs slightly in addition to the change in lead vocal tracks, but not sufficiently to merit playing both. But then again, a Seattle-area new-wave station has played regularly both the English and German versions of Pete Schilling's "Major Tom" and Nena's "99 Luftballons," so I supposed they do it to add a foreign touch. -- Dave Bartley John Fluke Mfg Co, Inc, Everett, WA 98206 __________________________________ uw-beaver , ssc-vax , allegra , \ ucbvax!lbl-csam , decvax!microsoft >!fluke!dbb
nxs@fluke.UUCP (Bruce Golub) (12/09/83)
I'm not sure of the french words that are repeated in the back-ground but I'm fairly sure that the translation says, geuss what? Games without frontiers Sorry to spoil your fun; by the way that was the translation my roomate gave me (shes a forth year french student). --pissing in the dunes, Bruce Golub alias -nxs- John Fluke Mfg.
nxs@fluke.UUCP (Bruce Golub) (12/09/83)
Peter Gabrial once illuminated on his theory of albumn titling during an article in Rolling Stone; he doesn't. The Title of his Forth album (if you noticed it was only labeled on the shrink-wrap) was added on by the record distributor, apparently without the consent of Peter or the record company. At least thats what his manager says.
szs@inmet.UUCP (12/10/83)
#R:garfield:-70900:inmet:6600050:000:232 inmet!szs Dec 2 09:24:00 1983 If I remember the album cover wordsheet correctly, yes, the words are French. Something like "jeaux sans frontieres", which I guess means something like "games without frontiers". -Steve Stein (Intermetrics) decvax!harpo!inmet.szs