The World is a strange place

Not just stranger than you think, but stranger than you can imagine. 

A few years back, The Queen Of The World and I rev'ed up the Harley and road to Morgantown, WV for Mountainfest.  We had a blast - it was a great ride through spectacular scenery, the HOG folks were (as always) a hoot in a holler at the 'fest, and the concert was headlined by Alabama, playing "Mountain Music" and "Country Roads".

As you can imagine, it wasn't a concert, it was a sing-along.  

Well knock me over with a feather - it seems that "Country Roads" is a mandatory song at Oktoberfest in Germany, and everybody sings along.  Don't believe me?

Reminds me a bit of the bikers in Morgantown.  Found through a link from here, which includes this suggested rewrite of the lyrics for a German audience:

Almost Heaven
Schleswig-Holstein
Kaiser Wilhelm
Lederhosen fashions!

Life is Old there,
Older than the Zee!
Younger than the mountains
in Southern Germany.

Autobahn
Take me on
To the Place
to Goosestep On.
Western Poland
into Russia
Take me On
Autobahn
I hear his voice, in the morning hour he heils me.
Der radio reminds me of my oath of loy-al-ty
And drivin’ on to Moscow, I get feelin’
Shoulda been retreatin’
yes-ter DAY!
Yes-ter DAY!

Autobahn…

Whatever you do, don't mention the War.  I did once, but I think I got away with it.

Even weirder, it seems that the old Tennessee Ernie Ford "Sixteen Tons" is hugely popular in Russia.  Here is the Red Army Chorus (or whatever they're called now) doing a credible version of this from a couple decades back:

I like this version.  His voice is in a lower register than Ford's was, and that's saying a lot.  But Russian music has always had a bigger dynamic range than western music.  This just keeps that tradition alive.