One of my favorite radio programs is the Saturday morning Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show, broadcast from KFJC-FM in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although soundtracks are a big part of the show, host Robert Emmett treats listeners to an eclectic mix that goes well beyond film scores. When I heard Petula Clark belting out the words to "Downtown" in German one recent Saturday, I was just about floored, it was so hilarious. A week later, Emmett played another 60s Golden Oldie in German. This time, I caught the name of the CD and went to work on the Internet to find it.

1000 Nadelstiche: Amerikaner & Briten singen deutsch is the first of a multivolume set from Bear Family Records in Germany. I was surprised to find it at Amazon. If you like adding odd CDs to your collection, this one's for you. I can't help but wonder if this a sample of the music American servicemen would have heard while stationed in Germany thirty-five years ago.

Ever wonder what Johnny Cash sounded like in German? Me neither, but 1000 Nadelstiche has it. It's probably one of the strangest tracks. You can hear him struggling with most of those foreign words, and mispronouncing many of them, in "Wer kennt den weg" ("Who Knows the Way").

Ahm ahna schönsten wares doch zu haus
Und doch sons mich eins in die welt hinaus
Und in der ferne sunfte ich mein uch
Wer kennt den weg, den weg zurück?

What about that Teutonic rendition of "Downtown" by Pet Clark that I heard on the radio? Yep, it's here too. Her German diction is distinctly better than Johnny's. But when the background singers chime in with the chorus in English, it kind of jars you and creates just the kind of kitschy sound that makes this anthology amusing.

page 1 | 2