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A Love Song in 88 languages

Bodo Wartke, a German cabaret artist, managed to write a love song in 88 languages.
Almost all of his songs are written by himself and usually he performs alone, sitting behind his grand piano. The lyrics are mostly in German although there are a couple of English translations to his German songs to be found and he once performed a song in German together with a French singer. They are full of rhymes and funny punchlines.
A frequent topic of his songs is love, both in humorful and sincere ways, but also satire, singing about political and social issues. In one of his songs, "Monica", he criticizes George W. Bush's presidency and "Die Amerikaner" deals with anti-American clichés. Other topics are everyday situations and the process of musical composing and performing.
Besides being a cabaret artist, he also presents the annually music festival "Songs an einem Sommerabend" (Songs on a Summer's Night). In addition to that, he worked as a composer and musical leader for the play "Unter dem Milchwald", created a German libretto for the operetta "Orpheus in der Unterwelt" and wrote a chant for the 33rd German Evangelical Church Congress.
A song I find to be pretty impressive is the so-called "Liebeslied" (love song). He starts off with a German verse, repeating it over and over again in many languages, ranging from various German dialects, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish and Finnish to languages like Hebrew, Mandarin, Arabic, Quechua, Tok Pisin and Esperanto. All in all, 88 languages. Every now and then, he integrates the German chorus.
In the following video of "Liebeslied", he starts off in German, then sings in English and French, after that comes the German chorus, then Italian, Spanish, and Dutch verses (followed by jokes about the Dutch language), German chorus again, then Russian, Serbian, Latin (joke about Latin grammar) and Turkish verses (and a joke about saying I love you in Turkish when getting a "Döner" and receiving a discount for that), followed by German with a Turkish accent and a German ending (lyrics can be found below the video).
Lyrics:
Verse (in all kinds of languages), starting off in German:
Ich will's in allen Sprachen für dich singen, auf allen Instrumenten zum Erklingen bringen: Ich liebe dich.
English:
I want to sing in every language for you, baby, and play on every instrument to say these words to you. Believe me, it is true: I love you.
German chorus:
Wo immer du auch wohnst, ich weiß genau, dass es dich gibt: die Frau in die ich mich und die sich in mich verliebt. Wo immer du auch wohnst, welche Sprache du auch sprichst; wenn wir uns begegnen, dann lern' ich sie für dich.
(Bodo's English version: Whereever you are, somewhere you've got to be: the girl I fall in love with and who'll fall in love with me. And no matter where you are, from the moment that we meet, I'm gonna learn for you, love, the language that you speak.)
German lyrics at the end:
Wo immer du auch wohnst... dankeschön... Wo immer du auch wohnst, Baby, für dich würd' ich sofort bis ans Ende dieser Welt fahren und bliebe mit dir dort - ich gebe dir mein Wort.
(Bodo's English version: )
Whereever you are.... thank you. No matter where you are, baby, believe me it is true: I travel any distance around the world for you, around the world for you.
Here is another one of his songs, "Was ich gerade denke" (What I'm thinking), first a video of the original German version and then a mp3file in its English translation - enjoy.
If you're interested, you can check out the "Liebesliedgenerator" on Bodo Wartke's website (http://www.bodowartke.de/seiten/index.php?nav=17). Click on the yellow-highlighted "dann klick hier" if the pop-up window doesn't pop up. Now you can make your own love song and choose whatever languages you like.


