Dave Mustaine's Attempts at Singing "A Tout Le Monde" in Japanese Were "Pretty Horrific"
In a recent interview with WRIF, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine revealed that French wasn't the only language he attempted to employ in the chorus of "A Tout Le Monde," Megadeth's classic 1995 single. It seems he also gave Spanish, German and Japanese a spin.
- "I was a kid that liked the Beatles, heard the song 'Michelle' and then at some point thought I would sing in a foreign language," Mustaine said, referring to the 1965 Paul McCartney-penned tune, the chorus of which is sung in French.
- "We tried ['A Tout Le Monde'] out in a bunch of different languages; some were good, some were pretty horrific. ... French and Spanish were easy, but we tried two other languages, German and Japanese. After trying both and having both of them fail just abysmally, we ended up sticking with French."
The phrase "À tout le monde" is French for "to all the world" or "to everyone"; the song's chorus—"à tout le monde, à tous mes amis, je vous aime, je dois partir"—translates as follows: "To everyone, to all my friends, I love you, I must leave."
In an earlier interview with Rolling Stone, Mustaine revealed that the song was dedicated to his mother.
"I wrote ['A Tout Le Monde'] for my mom when she died," he said. "It was kind of an epitaph for her. The premise of the song was that my mom was able to come back to visit me in a dream and she could say only one thing to me, then it was off. When I asked her what it was, it was, 'I love you.' And that's what the song was about."
Below, check out Mustaine singing Megadeth's "Trust" in Spanish:
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Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
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