History Main / FamiliarSoundtrackForeignLyrics

* ''Series/OrphanBlack'': Sarah's impersonation of Katja is set to a German-language cover of "These Boots Were Made For Walkin'".

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' has a plot point where Buzz develops a LatinLover personality after being accidentally rebooted in Spanish-language mode. This leads to a scene where he dances a pasodoble with Jessie to the sound of a Spanish-language cover of "You've Got a Friend in Me" (performed by the Gipsy Kings).

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''Castle Rock'' in ''VideoGame/RaymanLegends'' uses a gibberish cover of ''Music/RamJam'''s Black Betty.
* From [[VideoGame/TheSims2 the second game]] onward, ''VideoGame/TheSims'' regularly featured [[SpeakingSimlish Simlish]] versions of real songs, from artists ranging from Music/LilyAllen to Music/GaelicStorm to Music/BarenakedLadies. The full list of songs redone like this is [[https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Songs_in_Simlish very long.]] The spinoff ''VideoGame/TheUrbz'' did one better and actually got the Music/BlackEyedPeas themselves to do the Simlish covers of "Let's Get Retarded" and "Shut Up", plus a number of original songs that they recorded for the game. ''VideoGame/TheSims3'' also had Music/KatyPerry endorse its ''Showtime'' expansion pack and record [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxyW6AJ-yIk the Simlish cover]] of "Last Friday Night".
[[/folder]]

* A Comcast Wi-fi ad featuring an American boy making friends with a Japanese exchange student used a bilingual English-Japanese version of Music/TheWhiteStripes' "We're Going to Be Friends".

* A Comcast Wi-fi ad featuring an American boy making friends with a Japanese exchange student used a bilingual English-Japanese version of Music/TheWhiteStripes' "We're Gonna Be Friends".

* ''Film/JojoRabbit'' uses German-language versions of English-language songs. The movie's opening credits use Music/TheBeatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" ("Komm, gib mir deine Hand") and a trailer used Music/JackWhite's "I'm a Believer" ("Mit all deiner Liebe").

* One of the ''VideoGame/TheSims'' expansion packs featured Simlish versions of songs by Music/BlackEyedPeas. The "World" channel in The Sims 2 also featured a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGygF_uOL0o Simlish version]] of Music/GaelicStorm's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbD5tJ_H9w Scalliwag]]".

* ''Castle Rock'' in ''VideoGames/RaymanLegends'' uses a gibberish cover of ''Music/RamJam'''s Black Betty.
* One of the ''VideoGames/TheSims'' expansion packs featured Simlish versions of songs by Music/BlackEyedPeas. The "World" channel in The Sims 2 also featured a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGygF_uOL0o Simlish version]] of Music/GaelicStorm's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbD5tJ_H9w Scalliwag]]".

* ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'' plays a Canto-pop of Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Material Girl", 200 Degrees by Sally Yeh, during its CostumeTestMontage.

* ''Theatre/JerseyBoys'' open with "December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)" being played in French, establishing focus on Music/FrankieValliAndTheFourSeasons and the popularity they would reach later in life.

* ''Film/FinalDestination'': The song "Rocky Mountain High" is the signal that Death is near, so when it is suddenly recognized that the busker at the end of the movie is singing a version of that song in his own language....

* The scene in ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby'' that establishes Jean Girard as a badass driver, and a real threat to Ricky, is scored with Marie Laforet's French-language cover of "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones. The joke is that Jean Girard is a cartoony French stereotype.

* ''Series/OrphanBlack'': Sarah's impersonation of Katja is set to a German-language cover of "These Boots Were Made For Walkin'".

* The ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'' episode "The End of the World" features singer in a nightclub in Japanese-occupied San Francisco singing Skeeter Davis's "The End of the World" (mostly) in Japanese.

* ''Theatre/JerseyBoys'' open with "December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)" being played in French, establishing focus on Music/FrankieValliAndTheFourSeasons and the popularity they would reach later in life.

* ''Film/TheRussiansAreComingTheRussiansAreComing'' is a ColdWar satire about the comic hijinx that ensue after a Soviet submarine runs aground off the shore of a small New England island. One scene has the sailors hiking down the road as "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" plays, with the lyrics in Russian.

* One of the ''VideoGames/TheSims'' expansion packs featured Simlish versions of songs by Music/BlackEyedPeas.

* In the ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' episode where they go to Mexico to bring back Catalina, Earl agrees to marry her to grant her citizenship. Earl tries to sort this out with Randy while the latter is being followed around by a mariachi singing a Spanish version of "TimeAfterTime".

A show wants to both hit a familiar emotional note and reinforce the foreign nature of the setting or character. The solution? A cover of a song most people in the audience have heard, in a language that the characters know but the audience doesn't. The cover usually keeps the tempo and instrumentation of the original for maximum recognizability, and the singer mimics the intonation of the original as closely as possible as well.

* The ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'' episode "The End of the World" features a (mostly) Japanese cover of Skeeter Davis's song of the same name.

( I've changed the title to be a bit more descriptive and hopefully make the difference from TranslatedCoverVersion more clear. Open to further suggestions about the title.).