Lost in Translation Vol. 12 REVEALED

Lost in Translation is back with the answer to this week's song! What I thought might be a tough song turned out to be a breeze for just about everyone!

As I look out onto another beautiful Sunday morning in the Yorkshire Dales, I find myself thinking about my mom. As today is Mother’s Day in North America (in the UK they celebrate “Mothering Sunday” on March 15), my thoughts naturally drift to my mother who—until I met my wife—had always been my biggest fan and most steadfast supporter. During the darkest period of my youth, as I was drowning in the storms of active addiction and alcoholism, mom was a safe harbor, a place I could shelter from the storm in the embrace of someone free from judgment or anger. Of course she was angry. And worried. And probably judgmental. But I never felt any of those things from her; what shone through was her love and support and the hope that I could turn things around.

At a time when my father was ready to throw me out on the street, mom held out hope for me—even to the temporary detriment of their rock-solid marriage—and in due course I did manage to get sober and reward her faith in me. Almost 31 years later, still clean and sober and living a life beyond my wildest dreams, it saddens me that she’s not here (in person) to witness the fulfillment of my dreams after more than a decade of planning. Mom passed away on October 29, 2018 after a brief but fierce battle with lung cancer and while she wasn’t there physically to see my career flourish or to see Tina and I undertake our 640-mile walk of the UK’s South West Coast Path before completing our move to the Yorkshire Dales, I’ve felt her presence with me often over the years.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom; miss you, love you. Always.

To any moms, mamas, mothers, grannies, nanas—be it by blood or by choice—who might be reading this, happy Mother’s Day to you! I hope you’re able to enjoy some down time with your family today.

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And now what you’ve been waiting for! It’s time to provide the answer to Monday’s Lost in Translation.

The Translated Lyric

Here’s the lyric I provided:

Some men love sex. Some dance slowly

I'm fine

If they don't care

I have to leave them.

Some will play hard, some will lie.

But I won't let you play (under any circumstances)

Only men can make money.

Must have fun on a rainy day.

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The Original Lyric

And here’s the original lyric as it was before being passed through half a dozen languages:

Some boys romance, some boys slow dance

That's all right with me

If they can't raise my interest

Then I have to let them be

Some boys try and some boys lie

But I don't let them play (No way)

Only boys that save their pennies

Make my rainy day

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The Song

I honestly thought this had a possibility to be a tough one. I did recognize that the similarity in the first line—which can even be vocalized in the same cadence as the original despite the translation—might be a tip off. It also didn’t help that my clue (mid 80s, female singer, success in Europe, the US and Canada with more than a million units sold) significantly limited the universe to a handful of artists. Kevin Alexander, of the always marvelous On Repeat Records, was the first to jump into the comments with the correct answer. But it soon became apparent that just about everyone else had no problem discerning the correct track. This seems to have been the easiest song of the series so far—by quite a large margin—so I’ll be ramping up the difficulty (I hope?) for next week’s song.

For those that didn’t see the responses in the comments or weren’t able to figure out the correct song, the lyrics come from the third and fourth verses of Madonna’s “Material Girl”, from her 1984 album Like A Virgin. The single peaked at number 2 and 4 in the US and Canada respectively and hit the top ten in a dozen countries around the world.

Here’s the music video, cued up at the start of the lyric:

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Feel free to jump into the comments with your thoughts:

• How did you do? Were you close? Or completely stumped?

• Did you know this song already?

• Would you have been able to name the song from the original lyrics?

We’ll see you again on Monday with a new installment of Lost in Translation. Until then, happy listening!!