WATCH: Tarzan’s “Strangers Like Me” Sang in Different Languages to Celebrate the Movie’s 25th Anniversary
Phil Collins’ singing of Tarzan’s “Strangers Like Me” shows how music truly brings families together.
Many of us remember the movie, Tarzan, for one of Phil Collins’ most parent-centric songs “You’ll Be In My Heart.” But last week, Disney just dropped a short clip of the beloved artist singing “Strangers Like Me” in multiple languages. From German, Italian, Spanish — in both Latin American and Castillan, and French, Phil Collins’ emphasizes the essence that there are many strangers out there who can be just like us.
The other languages for Strangers Like Me such as Czech, Greek, Romanian, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Hungarian, Finnish, Swedish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Hebrew, Dutch, and Cantonese had other singers like Petr Muk for the Czech version.
“Strangers Like Me:” A song of discovery
Every family who’s watched Disney’s version of Tarzan knows the story: a baby adopted by gorillas before meeting humans just like him, leading him to navigate his life as both gorilla and human. Eventually, he finds a way to embrace both sides: his human side has Jane and her father opting to stay with him while he becomes the new head of the gorillas.
The same goes for many of us who have grown up in biracial families and are the first generation. Not only do we navigate the cultures our ancestors brought with them, but we also learn the ways of the land we were born in. Although it’s a tricky affair, we realize that there’s a way to embrace both. We learn to love the land we were born in and appreciate the efforts that brought us there. After all, our ancestors had their reasons for migrating.
And at some point, we will say, just like how Phil Collins sings, “Something’s familiar about these strangers like me.”
An open mind to something strangely familiar
At first sight, things can look strange and scary. But nobody is completely different; as humans, we may speak different languages yet we all have a pair of eyes, ears, hands, and feet. Our skin may have different shades but we don’t have tentacles, fangs, or teeth in places we shouldn’t have. At the end of the day, many families who are just like us live out there. They may look a little different but it’s negligible.
Sometimes, it takes a little bit of childlike courage and curiosity from us to learn and say, “I wanna know. Can you please show me?”
More about biracial living?
The Joys of Having a Melting Pot: Family-Friendly Fusion Dishes
How to Encourage Kids to Speak, Read, and Write in Different Languages
Bridging the Gap: How Parents Can Empower Their Biracial Kids
