Bon Jovi: "Stand By Me" with Farsi Intro

Nick Gillespie | June 30, 2009

On June 24, Iranian Superstar Andy Madadian went into an LA recording studio with Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and American record producers Don Was and John Shanks to record a musical message of worldwide solidarity with the people of Iran.

This version of the old Ben E. King classic is not for sale - it was not meant to be on the Billboard charts or even manufactured as a CD.....it's intended to be downloaded and shared by the Iranian people...to give voice to the sentiment that all people of the world stand together....the handwritten Farsi sign in the video translates to "we are one".

If you know someone in Iran - or someone who knows someone in Iran - please share this link:

http://www.MyDamnChannel.com/DonWas

Hat tip: NRO

It's not surprising in the least, but something about Islamic fundamentalism has always pressed the rock 'n' roll buttons. Deceased Dead Boys front man Stiv Bators, for instance, was known for telling the Ayatollah Khomeini to go fuck himself during concerts in the late '70s and early '80s. That Bators ended up sharing a death date (June 3) with the supreme oppressor somehow makes sense.

In a 2002 feature that's as or more relevant than ever, Reason's Charles Paul Freund explained how commercial culture liberates Islam—and the West. Read "In Praise of Vulgarity."  

Comments

Fascitis Necrotizante|6.30.09 @ 3:04PM|#

Sharif don't like it...

|6.30.09 @ 3:05PM|#

We're halfway there...oh, oh, livin' on a prayer...

|6.30.09 @ 3:05PM|#

Bon Jovi: "Stand By Me" with Farsi Intro

Someone commented last week that the word "Farsi" was the equivalent of "español", meaning the correct Engrish word would be "Persian". Pro Lib registered skepticism. Did we ever get a ruling?

|6.30.09 @ 3:08PM|#

I have sent the following email to deesnyder.com:

Call up Neidermeyer. Say "We want you to dress up like a Mullah".

Film him walking around a Madrassa and have him see a Twisted Sister pin on the soles of the shoes or whatever of one of the students. Have him give a rant about the importance of proper praying, bowing, respect for Mullahs, and have it get more and more spittle-flecked and have him end with WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE???

Have the student stand up and yell "I WANNA ROCK!"

Then have the student turn into Dee Snyder and the students around him turn into the other guys in the band.

Redo, pretty much shot for shot, the "I wanna rock" video with Twisted Sister beating up the Mullah.

Put it on youtube.

I think that this could bring peace to the Middle East.

Russ 2000|6.30.09 @ 3:10PM|#

I wouldn't wish Bon Jovi on my worst enemy.

|6.30.09 @ 3:11PM|#

Put it on youtube.

I think that this could bring peace to the Middle East.

Finally somebody comes up with a plan to use YouTube to change the world. We just have to come up with the RightVideos...

|6.30.09 @ 3:12PM|#

Oh, lord. I didn't even make the Lonewacko connection.

wingnutx|6.30.09 @ 3:17PM|#

How could you gloss over Fearless Iranians from Hell

and

Young Fast Iranians by the Straw Dogs

not the real jb|6.30.09 @ 3:22PM|#

Someone commented last week that the word "Farsi" was the equivalent of "español", meaning the correct Engrish word would be "Persian". Pro Lib registered skepticism. Did we ever get a ruling?

That was me, I didn't follow up on the discussion, but I feel big if PL got in on it.

I'll tell you, I've heard it both ways, with a number of universities still listing courses for Farsi, and the military in particular making the distinction between Persian-Farsi and Dari-Farsi (or something like that).

It was a prominent professor who made the distinction to me. Many natives I talk with will say Farsi when speaking English, but when I ask, they acknowledge that it's not correct.

BTW, Wikipedia agrees, redirecting "Farsi" to "Persian."

|6.30.09 @ 3:36PM|#

I agree with Russ. Haven't the Iranians suffered enough?

Zeb|6.30.09 @ 3:46PM|#

I'm pretty sure "Farsi" is just Persian for "Persian". As far as I have been able to determine Persian is an uncontroversial and perfectly correct and acceptable word to use to refer people from Iran and their language.

|6.30.09 @ 4:10PM|#

Deceased Dead Boys front man Stiv Bators

I remember Master Bators quite fondly.

Bazil|6.30.09 @ 6:27PM|#

Farsi Versus Persian

You guys have it right, Farsi or Parsi (Arabs can't pronounce P so they changed Parsi to Farsi) simply means the Language spoken.

Since in English we don't say "I want to go and learn Espanol" we say "I want to go and learn Spanish", if we were to follow the same linguistic convention we should be saying Persian not Farsi.

P.S. The Original term was the derivative of the word Iranian or Aryan, the Greeks dealing with them called them Persians which wasn't completely accurate (Like calling Americans Illionians or Texas because a current ruling coalition is from there)but I suppose this was rather common since The English called the "HELENES" Greek and it stuck. As Iranians called "Helenes" Yoonan (Ionian) inaccurately and it's stuck.

A little linguistic Oddity: the words Iran, Ireland, Irene, Irina, Aryana, and Eire all have the same root with Iran and Ireland both meaning literally "land of the aryana"
Not to say Iranians and the Irish are blood related, but linguistically Persian and all the European languages share a common ancestral language we now call Proto-Indo-Euopean.

jtuf|6.30.09 @ 6:29PM|#

National Iranian American Council web update for June 30th linked to this San Francisco Chronical op-ed calling for tech companies to help Iranians overcome government censorship.

Paul|6.30.09 @ 7:21PM|#

Oh my god *head in hands* With Michael Jackson's death, I've seen (but quickly turned away) that "We Are the World" video, twice. When "rock stars" think they can fix geopolitics by writing a saccharine song about 'togetherness', you know we're fucked.

Paul|6.30.09 @ 7:25PM|#

Since in English we don't say "I want to go and learn Espanol" we say "I want to go and learn Spanish", if we were to follow the same linguistic convention we should be saying Persian not Farsi.

Uhm, so you're saying that the U.S. Military language schools have it wrong?

|6.30.09 @ 7:47PM|#

Uhm, so you're saying that the U.S. Military language schools have it wrong?

This is my shocked face:

:-|

not the real jb|6.30.09 @ 9:44PM|#

Uhm, so you're saying that the U.S. Military language schools have it wrong?

This is my shocked face:

:-|

I'm going to hope that this was all TIC, but, as far as languages go, the U.S. military is more often wrong than right.

For example, they insist that Arabic is a single language and will only pay for one proficiency exam despite the half-dozen or so major dialects. This comes back to influence the training the cadets, midshipmen, and soldiers get. And then the brass wonders why none of their trained Modern-Standard-Arabic linguists can converse with some desert goat herder.

Then there's the fact that peacetime assignments are made by commanders with no regard for language capacity of the troops. You could spend a year of studying Korean at the Defense Language Institute and then be stationed at Prince Sultan Airbase.

My personal favorites are the comments from higher-ups that demonstrate that they have no comprehension of language acquisition. One commander (or something) told me they wanted just-in-time language training: "We want to teach them enough Poshto on the C17 ride out there to know whether or not to throw the grenade."

And the Air Force General who said, "We can train any cadet to fly a bomber in 18 months. Then we can migrate them to most any plane in our fleet in six weeks. Why can't we do that with language?"

matt|6.30.09 @ 9:57PM|#

I wonder whether this is an acceptable time for me to post that video of the Iranian man in Korea singing Edelweiss (from the Sound of Music) in Persian and English?

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/490914/edelweiss_in_farsi_persian_and_english_the_sound_of_music/

His face is not included in the shot, perhaps because he fears recrimination, since he seems to be a Christian, and possibly even a convert.

Mad Max|6.30.09 @ 10:50PM|#

'Film him walking around a Madrassa and have him see a Twisted Sister pin on the soles of the shoes or whatever of one of the students.'

I'm no expert, but I understand that, in some cultures from that region, if you have someone's picture on the soles of your shoes, you're expressing major disrespect for that person. Basically, you're trampling him underfoot.

Mad Max|6.30.09 @ 10:51PM|#

Come to think of it, that would probably be the meaning in American culture, too.

Richard|7.1.09 @ 1:25PM|#

Slate recently dealt with Persian vs. Farsi:

Is Farsi the same as Persian? Yes. Both refer to the language spoken in Iran. The country was actually called Persia until the 1930s, when Shah Reza Pahlavi asked foreigners to start referring to the country by its native name, Iran. Likewise, Farsi is the word native Persian speakers use for Iran's language. (An English speaker calling the language Farsi is a lot like referring to French as Français.) Scholars have since battled over which term-Persian or Farsi-is more authentic or empowering. Some say Farsi sheds the colonial overtones of Persian. Others suggest that calling it Persian is proper, since like French and German, that's the English word for it. The Persian Academy prefers Persian.