“I don’t think it captured the spirit of the original.” I find this is a very interesting episode about Angela Merkel and her humour. On one hand, she knew the song for a very long time. On the other hand, she's been the chancellor for 16 years, so she had to sit through many, many, many occasions when brass bands played in honour of her or any international guests. So she's obviously aware of what kind of music these bands usually play and what they're capable of. I like to imagine Merkel sitting at home one night, discussing with her husband the choice of songs for her send off and sneakily contemplating: "Imagine the army's brass band playing >Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen
Those are well paid professional musicians. They should be able to play about EVERYthing , may they like it or not. The song was a very subtle choice though. BTW the band did fairly well, as expected.
Yes "Farbfilm" is a very interesting choice. But almost everyone forgets the second song in the lineup. Hildegard Knef's "Für mich soll’s rote Rosen regnen". Both songs are by very strong and independent women who made the German audience very uncomfortable during their carreers. That is a strong statement by Fr. Merkel.
@@xaverlustig3581 Maybe not for you or me. The conservative-feeling/-thinking majority in Germany wasn't too agreeable with them being so outspoken and frank with their opinions. Artistically though, nowadays, they are ranked highly.
@@steffenrosmus9177 Conservatism in society is more than a political party. It's an attitude of our society. A certain behaviour and a certain set of morals is expected. You can find a healthy dose of conservatism in every political movement. Germany in comparison (seen over time) is a more conservative-leaning country. Is it positive? Is it negative? It took us to where we are now. But back to topic. Despite all the friction of Knef and Hagen with society, they were hugely successful. People love a little bit of friction, at least in art.
She's not only opera trained, she is extremely talented. Watch this: th-cam.com/video/9xi4O4RvlnQ/w-d-xo.html Don't forget how ill she treated her voice, smoking and whantnot. Incredible how she stayed in shape. As far as I know, she never had any plastic surgery.
I’ve said “Du hast dich mit diesem Video selbst übertroffen” before but you’ve done it again. This was the most interesting piece of German cultural history I’ve seen from you yet. Please don’t stop! Give us more! We need this to get off of our heroin addiction for good.
How can you be so indifferent to the facts? Angela Merkel doesn't represent German cultural history, at least not one that we can be proud of. German cultural history is not at all about her, that's for sure.
At the time I finally moved to Berlin twenty years ago I worked with a girl who was around fifty years old at the time and originally came from France 35 years before that. However she still had a strong French accent when speaking German. One evening after work we sat together after work with some beers in the very center of Berlin and talked about music. At a certain time she told me she lived together with Nina Hagen in a flat for some time and that Nina is a very nice human being but „takes too much through her nose“.
Its also very important to remember, you can like a song even tho you dislike the author/performer. You can also like a song while completely disagreeing with its political message.
Cognitive dissonance is always a hot topic. I like to poke some fun around when I say "thank God I'm atheist" or "my star sign is Serpentarius/Ophiuchus." We only tolerate our own idiosyncrasies, not taking others' into account.
In this case I guess, a popular song only stands in for a popular time in someones life. People do not refer to the music itself, but to the situation they have heared it.
He didn't even get into her views on HIV/AIDs, or tried to smear her as a transphobe for supporting an organization that supports detransitioners, or the slew of other hateful and nasty things people have attacked Hagen for over the years. Also, not sure at all where he gets his information about Nina saying she views antivax views as "abhorrent" but she did post something on facebook that was supporting Robert F Kennedy Jr. And I've also seen posts of her supporting songs that are anti-lockdown. She's always had unorthodox views on a lot of things, and is unyielding in her opinions. Maybe some criticisms are justified, but the reason she called that woman an "ugly cow" was because she was personally attacking Hagen's family, making fun of her daughter's name. Nina Hagen is a wonderful talent with music that has been impactful to me, regardless if she's "an antivaxxer" or not. So stupid this is the world we're living in that I even have to say this.
I think the satire / subversive subtext of the song was apparent to almost everyone right from the start. It was a subtext, so the censors couldn't do anything about it until it was too late. The subtext is precisely why it was immediately so popular. I've spoken to a number of my German friends who recall from the 1970s that the song's popularity was precisely because of its between-the-lines resentment of everything. The repeated last line of the chorus is really quite clear "Alles blau und weiß und grün und später nicht mehr wahr" - this is a universal critique of the drab socialist state and culture, not just a complaint that the vacation photos were a bit drab. But kudos for highlighting this bit of German culture (and doing it very effectively). I have very much enjoyed your videos.
I got the same story about the song from my parents, who are arround the age of Merkel, but from the BRD. When I got introduced to the song as a child, my parents told me that it was a famouse critique song about the DDR. If the band intended it or not I don't know, but it seems that most ppl follow this narrativ. BTW awesome video, some storys about Mutti I didn't know
Merkel was and is not someone who is opposed to the former regime she grew up in and became part of by being a very active member of the FDJ and probably even a "spy" ( called "IM Erika")on her own people. She is now an active supporter of Klaus Schwab (WEF, author of "The Great Reset") and still pulling the strings. Pretty pathetic for someone who grew up in a pastor's family.
I believe Angela Merkel chose these two songs because they somehow symbolize the two parts of Germany before being reunited. Nina Hagen symbolized East Berlin, and Hildegard Knef symbolized West Berlin by singing her songs. So I believe this choice was a kind of goodbye present to the two parts of Germany, which will hopefully get together in the near future. But that is only how I felt it. I have known both singers for decades as part of the two "Germanies", and now they eventually got together.
@@FaridMC Have you been in Germany? Visit both parts and discover! For example with covid-toppic and vaccine there is a difference to see. Needs maybe one more generation till there is a real social and mentality unification.
When I was a teenager in Melbourne, Australia, I used to listen to 3RRR, a strange alternative music radio station which played a lot of German music such as DAF, Einstürzende Neubauten and Nina Hagen. This is the first time I have heard her mentioned in 30 years.
And it's still only part of remembering her old days. You have not missed anything of her in the last 30years. There was nothing (but this mentioned esoteric stuff)
@@samuelsamenstrang6069 Really ? OK, maybe it's only 20 years. When was her last concert or last album ? Wikipedia said something about a single from 2004 ?
@@holger_p Is your Wiki different to mine? Return of the Mother (2000) Big Band Explosion (2003) Irgendwo auf der Welt (2006) Personal Jesus (2010) Volksbeat (2011)
Sorry for the second comment, but I feel it's important to mention this. 6:23 Nina is getting so heated about helping addicts because one of her exes died of a heroin overdose. Forget whether or not the therapy she's going on and on about works or not - instead, consider _why_ Hagen is getting on a soapbox about the topic of addiction in the first place. It makes more sense why she's monopolizing the conversation and eventually flipping out about it. She actually wrote the song, "Smack Jack," about that particular ex-boyfriend. Don't know if it was before or after he died. I don't know if you knew about this Andrew and had to omit it, or if this is something you never knew about Nina.
@Han Boetes I don't understand the context of your comment. Who is the "she" and who is the "someone"? (Ich war nur ein Semester in 1989 in (West) Deutschland , und ohne Fernseher.)
@Marquis de Hoto Yeah. I think, -if I remember, correctly, that he died in the early-1980s. Which would've been only 10 years before that show.- _Edit:_ I looked it up; he died in 1988, so only _a few years before_ that show. [The details are in another reply in this chain, below.] There were *far better* ways Nina could've handled herself. At the very least, she could've pointed out that she had lost someone to drug addiction and wanted to make sure nobody else went through that. But … Nina is … Nina, so 🤷♂️
@@John_Weiss Sure it isn't great how she handled it but but I can understand why she got so emotional. And I guess it's a lot harder to not get at least a bit emotional in her situation..... and it's still Nina xD
@@marquisdehoto1638 Oh, don't get me wrong. I totally agree with everything you said! I just wanted to make it clear that I'm not condoning her behavior. 🙂
imagine it's 1974, you're in a bar and a 20 year old student, working part time, taking your order and seeing her become chancellor about 30 years later
Nice analysis. It avoids the line "und alles tat so weh, tu das noch einmal, Micha, und ich geh" though. It repeats twice. That's "everything hurts so much, do that again, Micha, and I will leave you". A german expression is (used to be, maybe?) "grün und blau schlagen", "beating someone up until he/she is green and blue". The line "alles blau und weiß und grün und später nicht mehr wahr" repeats 4 times. That could be translated as "everything is blue and white and green and later it is as if nothing had happened". So one dimension might be added to your analysis: what is the black and white film not revealing that a color film might have revealed? Grüße nach Aschaffenburg
Fist time I heard it (which was just after Merkel's leaving do) I thought the first part describes a rape. When she was screaming so much because of the pain that the rabbits came out of their holes to see what was going on. And then she's telling him not to do it again. Or was she in emotional pain and screaming just because of the colour film?
@@latronqui My thoughts went more in the direction of vehement, but consensual sex. Hagen's appearance on stage does not really represent a woman being beaten or raped. On the literal level there is a couple having overwhelming experiences on holidays, and later she is frustrated about not having a color documentation. On the metaphorical level, very little of the full colors of life was allowed by the state.
That's a great analysis. 2 thoughts to add: "Micha" or Michael lets us think of "Der deutsche Michel", the symbol of the inactive and sleepy Germans in general. The line "Micha, and I'll go" gets a totally different meaning then. In fact a lot of DDR citizens DID go.
Some other thoughts: Her text is of an at least middle aged woman, bitching around with her husband in an obviously unhappy, square marriage. Hagen is then a young, very attractive, lively woman who everyone would imagine to live a full life. The song portays how socialism throttles people's lifes, making them prematurely sedentiary, inflexible, dissatisfied and obsessed with material goods. This song is so deep, I don't think it was consciously made that deep. No wonder it became such a hit.
I like the choice. I'm sure she selected it not only because it was part of her youth but also out of a sense of humor. Imagining Nina Hagen in the middle of torch-carrying soldiers and hearing them playing her music removes a lot of the scariness of the much criticized event.
Yep. Wouldn't be surprised if Merkel knows how to be subtly subversive, after all, it's a necessity in a dictatorship (communist or otherwise, for that matter) not to lose your marbles.
In my mind, the fact that it's so much criticised, shows how people are STILL in the grip of Nazi propaganda. As if the Nazis were the only one who carried torches. It is/was a very normal thing to do, actually, but people only associate it with the Reichsparteitag and sh*t. Time to reclaim the symbolism. Same for runes imo. Apart from genuine Nazi inventions like the double Sig-runes or the "Black Sun". Swastika is probably too difficult, too.
@@BlackAdder665 Nobody associated here something with the Nazis. Indeed nobody talked about the Nazis. It´s about East Germany in the Cold War Times, it´s about that Angela Merkel and Nina Hagen both grew up in this communist dictatorship of the Cold War Era and that this song was written in 1974 under the circumstances of it - what might be explain why a CDU-politician like Angela Merkel choose such a song from a Punk like Nina Hagen - and made it the Bundeswehr play during such a ceremony. You would hardly have heard this song if e.g. Horst Seehofer would have had to choose the songs - and that has nothing to do with the Nazis, too.
@@NicolaW72 LOTS of people who criticised it compared it to the 3rd Reich. On Twitter, even in the Daily Show with Trevor Noah (he gave it a humorous twist, of course, but still). German lefties, Americans, Brits etc etc.
nina hagen and her daughter played in some german movies where nina plays the evil queen and her daughter plays snowhite that flees to the 7 dwarfs. both of them fit their roles very well!
ah now that you mention it... i forgot that british tend to give a hint on what they want to say. i didnt listen to the performance so i took this sentence word by word, so like "it was good but not as good as the original"
I find this is a very interesting episode about Angela Merkel and her humour. On one hand, she knew the song for a very long time. On the other hand, she's been the chancellor for 16 years, so she had to sit through many, many, many occasions when brass bands played in honour of her or any international guests. So she's obviously aware of what kind of music these bands usually play and what they're capable of. I like to imagine Merkel sitting at home one night, discussing with her husband the choice of songs for her send off and sneakily contemplating: "Imagine the army's brass band playing >Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen
Agree, I think the Albums from Nina Hagen Band (Unbehagen & Nina Hagen Band) are the best she made. Her Zarah Leander cover: "Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt" was also really good.
Other notable film/voice roles of Cosma Shiva Hagen: Viper in “Kung Fu Panda” Lin in “Spirited Away” Miss Cassandra in “Maya, the Bee: The Movie” Suki in “Lilly the Witch: The Journey to Mandolan” Snow White in “7 Dwarves: Men Alone in the Wood”
Worth mentioning: Her mother appeared in “7 Dwarves: Men Alone in the Wood” as well. Cosma Shiva played Snow White and Nina the Evil Queen. Nina performed better than her daughter, I tought. The Evil Queen really was an absolutely perfect role for her.
@@arthur_p_dent i don't know If there is a english dubbed Version of it, but i would say this movie can only understood by germans or someone living here for at least 20 years.
@@kruesae22 yes, the movie is all in German, so you've got to he proficient in German to understand it. Although I think 20 years of living here is an overstatement. As an advances learner of German, you should still be able to follow the plot, even though you will probably not understand all of the jokes, especially the puns.
@@arthur_p_dent it is a comedy isn't it? Understanding the jokes is necessary and many of them are rooted in Pop culture from the 90s an before. You are not only have to speak german quite good knowing the referances are essential.
As a German I'd say, this is a balanced introduction to the mighty Nina Hagen. The thing with her is... artistically, often enough she did something so good, so great, that it blew the competition out of the hall. Eccentic, sure. But what a creative power. Inspiring!
I _love_ Nina Hagen … she's nutz! 😆 Been a fan of hers since I was a German major in back in university … in 1988! [Did you know lyrics from some of her songs make great grammar lessons?]
A man who was born and grew up in England tells me details about a famous German singer and our former chancellor that I as a native German have never heard before. My brain: 🤯
Thank you for the interesting facts and stories about the song. I never thought of it as a parody of Schlager. The song is still very popular in East Germany and is part of the East German identity (just like 'Am Fenster' by City and 'Alt wie ein Baum' by the Phudys). I think that's also one reason why Merkel chose it. I like her choices of music for the ceremony ❤️
Such a shame that you didn't recall this: Nina Hagen first punk-album (Nina Hagen Band, 1978) in german language is a classic. Great lyrics, with the best of rock music. Look e.g. for 'TV Glotzer' (about addiction of wachting television, a great cover of 'White Punks on dope' of the Tubes) or 'Unbeschreiblich Weiblich'... etc. And most for all the way she sings it: her voice was marvellous: she could do everything with it, her theatrical opera style was extroardinary. This album had a touch of genius she never reached it again. Ironic: her first performance on Dutch television was a sensation. I'm Dutch it was my first record I bought.
My brother bought the album when it came out, and I got to listen to it, too. About 35 years .later I finally bought my own copy on CD, and it was mind boggling how much of the lyrics I remembered. It definitely left a mark
I heard a quite intresting commentary last Friday on deutschlandfunk about the song choices. Not only was it a Huge GDR hit in the mid 70s, but also its lyrics tell of memories kept on film, that fade and wash out overtime. Just like the memories a person might have remembering Merkel 10, 20, 30 years down the line after her step down. I think that's quite intresting.
The GDR was also known for being grey. Compared to the BRD especially. To me the song was a criticism on the GDR beneath other things and i was surprized they let her go with it. She might have been too popular already.
Nina Hagen later pointed out that she felt rage and despair when she got a sight-seeing tour at a plant where they were producing these "Farbfilm" and others. People there were looking pale and not healthy as she noted and at last she got a glimpse into the part where workers had to work in total darkness for at least 8 hours in order to avoid getting light onto the raw films that they had to coat with some chemical stuff. When she asked the person in charge, how much these people were making a month, she was informed that each and everyone made 500 Mark a month; just like the others. She then started thinking about having to leave the system.
7:35 I doubt they were confused. Someone who goes to see a concert by her knows the song almost definitely. I mean, many people who don't do it know it
Ich kannte von dem Lied vorher nur den Refrain. Über verschiedene Videos bin ich irgendwann zum eigentlichen Lied gekommen. Dann fand ich den Text so schlecht, dass ich wieder weggeklickt habe. Als Parodie ist der Text viel besser verständlich. Aber so ist das eben mit dem deutschen Sinn für Humor. Später bin ich dann auf die Diskussionsseite vom Wikipedia-Artikel gekommen. Die Gewalt-Interpretation des Liedes hat mich erschrocken. Ich kam mir plötzlich vor wie in einem Horrorfilm.
Such a great video! Love the whole background information and the fact that you pronounced the German names amazingly well! 😯👏 Warm greetings from Germany 🇩🇪🇬🇧
An amazing story and an amazing video regarding a part of German music history I was not aware of. I always associated Nina Hagen with the English version of her song New York. I had heard of her when I was a young teen during the 3 years I lived in Germany, but had no knowledge of her origin as an artist.
I really love how you carefully circumscribe Nina Hagen's character. She was - and still is one of the weirdest, most colorful and entertainingly crazy unique personalities in the German music scene.
@@111BAUER111 In was denn? Also versteh mich nicht falsch, Ditfurth hat damals schon recht gehabt, Nina Hagen als esoterisch ein bisschen durchgeknallt zu betiteln. Aber Nena ist in absolut allem schlimmer.
You forgot the colour film, do you remember back then? That was the message. Nina Hagen has always been weird. In east as in west. Someone you bump into or love because she is different. A colourful bird. Someone for whom protest has become a goal in life.
A friend of mine lived in the same squat as Nina Hagen in the early 90s in East Berlin. I've never asked them, but I'm sure they could tell me some stories about her from back in the day.
I didn't know of the original intention as a parody. But with this information I like the idea that Merkel choose the song to clear up her opinion about the carneval sessions she was obligated to take part.
Two characteristics of Merkel, among others of course, are her pragmatism and her subtle humour. I can imagine both being a reason for her choosing this song. Either she just really didn't care about what they play for her and that was the first thing that came to her mind. Or she thought it would be a little funny to hear the military orchestra play it.
@@ggjkarlful Nur wenn man irgendwie notorischer Merkel Hasser wäre. Objektiv ist das Land nicht zerstört und pragmatisch hat somit auch nicht im geringsten eine derartige implikation.
She doesn't reason other than what might serve her in her power play. Some of her aids most likely chose these two songs to make her look unsuspicious and trustworthy. But she is far from it, I can assure you.
@@lilijastoppler377 i have personally met angela merkel (a friend of mine was responsible for security measures when she visited the univesity of bern and i was part of the team around her) and alice weidel (which all the merkel haters love so much and i lived in the same city with) i can assure you that merkel is very friendly and trustworthy while weidel is simply a nazi bitch.
@@TheAlja Doch, irgendwie schon. Wenn man voraussetzt dass sie ihren politischen Kurs in pragmatischer weise am erwartbaren Nutzen dessen orientiert hatt, dann kann man ihr unterstellen das Sicherheitsgefuehl in Deutschen Staedten, den Arbeitsmarkt fur Geringverdiener, jegliche reale Chancen auf eine weitreichende Integration der bei uns lebenden Auslaender und somit die Zukunftssicherheit Deutschlands absichtlich zerstoert zu haben.
The song was a protest hit against the DDR. Yes it was mentioned in the vlog, but could have more attention. For Merkel as a 'Ossi' it was always searching for freedom. And this song is a statement in searching for freedom.
Merkel got to go to university, which you didn´t get to do unless you were faithful to the party; Was doing Propaganda work for the party and was rumored to have been directly involved with the STASI; has used the EU to push for power centralisation; just last year she put pressure on a democratically elected official to step down, because he had won with votes from "the wrong people". Where on God's green earth is this wench "always searching for freedom"? Perhaps she's searching for it in the same way that a homing missile is searching for its target.
Farbfilm has been one of my favorite songs for ages, and I've never even been to East Germany. Though I did spend a few years of my childhood in West Germany, where I picked up a taste for Dusseldorf mustard... Susser and Extra Scharf in particular. I didn't ever hear of Nina Hagen song till I was in adulthood, and by even then, it was just the songs on the album Nunsexmonkrock, which I found the majority of the songs on the album to be quite grating on my ears. Eventually I discovered her more operatic songs, and then later Farbfilm... and ever since Farbfilm has been one of my favorite songs.
That thing about the "color film" (or any other subtle criticism) is very common in countries where any sort of dictatorship is installed. Most of the best Brazilian lyrics were written between 1964-1985 because they were good enough to convey the message without raising any red flags through the censorship process. Another famous case from Soviet times was Edward Khill* (a. k. a. the trololo man) who had a song censored because it has some elements from the American culture (something like a cowboy going to visit his girlfriend - I'm too lazy to look up at Google.) In protest he just ditched the lyrics in favor of vocalizations. *As far as I remember his surname has a Spanish origin, from "Gil."
She wasn’t forced out of east Germany she officially petitioned for the permission to follow her step father but wrote a letter where she threatened that she wouldn’t stop making noise .. so they granted it to get rid of her
Thanks a lot for this video! I didn't know Nina Hagen isn't just a colourful person on TV, but lead a very colourful life, too. I'm a bit too young to have witnessed all of that. And, indeed, I didn't know - and certainly can't imagine - Angela Merkel used to work in a disco.
Sure she was a barmaid and has a phd as a Physisit. As east Germany worked different barmaid was nothing bad. Joschka Fischer was Taxivdriver in Frankfurt.
Guten Morgen, das Lied hat eine Subtext nicht nur in Bezug auf die Situation in der DDR, sondern ist auch ein Bekenntnis zu Gesamtdeutschland - schau mal auf die Farben, die sie trägt - und Michael nicht nicht nur ein Bandmitglied, sondern auch ein Name für eine Personifikation eines Deutschen allgemein, "der deutsche Michel" wird hier auch besungen... . Auch das macht das Lied "Angela-tauglich"
As someone who grew up in West Germany (thanks to the dangerous escape of my still very young mother), but who had half of his family trapped in East Germany, - even as a child - I found this song to be a juxtaposition of the "colourful" West versus the "greyscale" East. Whether the band originally intended it that way, I don't know, but I'm sure that almost every german listener (especially those with East German relatives) understood it exactly that way. That thing you said, that some people wouldn't have understood that the song was "ironic" is something I can't really figure. The graphic exaggeration of those trivial statements coupled with Nina's ratty voice - I can hardly imagine that anyone took the song "literally". Delicacy for the interested: the song TV-Glotzer, recorded in West-Berlin has the line: "Ich glotz von Ost nach West - Ich kann mich gar nicht entscheiden, es ist alles so schön bunt hier." It refers to watching (east and west) TV and means: "I goggle from east to west - I'm in deep trouble choosing, it's all so lovely colourful here."
Of course the song is not made for brass band, but that is the protocol. You just can not bring in any other performer in this ceremony because it is by a military band and it its a military ceremony. Others wanted a piece of Bach and a brass band also is not the the thing you´d normally use for that. And the Song of Nina Hagen also was very popular in West Germany. And whatever you might think about Nina and her music, she is an extraordinary singer and performer with a broad range of expressions.
Thanks for reminding me that even barmaids get to be Chancellor. Also, thank you for the walk down memory lane with Nina Hagen: some bloody weird but amazingly strange new wave music. Nice to know Germany can be just as bizarre as Britain (and elsewhere).
I´d like to too, but I can´t. Better call her a bar-employe than a barma... barma.... barmmm... barrrRRrrm... see even my keyboard balks against matching Merkill with a barmaid.
Merkel choose a east german song and a west german song. Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen is also still quit popular in west Germany and so both parts of Germany can identify with.
Thank you for your very interesting coverage of the background of that song. I am German, but there were still some interesting facts that I did not know yet. And by the way your German pronunciation is very good.
Jutta Ditfurth is not a journalist, though. A publicist, yes, she wrote and writes quite a few books. Most importantly, though, is that she has a long career in left-of-center politics. She was a founding member of the Greens and left when the Realos took over. Nowadays she's a pretty vocal critic of the Greens. And a terrifying presence in German talk shows. Last time she was invited to one, she snubed Wolfgang Bosbach (right wing of the CDU, nowadays retired.
subscribed! I like people who do look a little bit behind and deeper! And:... I like to hear english mother tongues that do register, that other languishes have other pronunciations, and do even follow them!!!!!! Great respect and very well done either. I always get goose bumps when i hear english spoken people and even journalists for instance turning Hamburg to "Hembörg" or Wurst into "Wörst", what is the english pronounced worst. It is!! So, again very well registered , thought out and spoken. Keep on!!! I wonder what comes next!
It was practically impossible to buy colour film behind the iron curtain even into the 1980s . All my pictures of my travels there from that time are in black and white. Though I must say that it gives them a certain flavour of the time and place.
@@bonsai-zone Well, I can't speak about East Berlin, so you are probaly right, but in the USSR (outside of Moscow foreign exchange shops) it was, in my experience, hard to find. And so I used the more widely available 35mm black and white.
You should do French subs, as Nina is well known in France. Sorry I can't help you with it, my French is rusted, if not to say wrecked. (Yes, and the Brits sank the Bismarck and sang songs about it.) One other way to explain the Farbfilm lyrics could be, so a former girlfriend from Leipzig told me, was that it was politically aimed at Michael Schalck-Golodowsky, the then minster for foreign finance. tt just happened that Michael was, and still is, quite a common German name.
@@fruzsimih7214 You would be surprised how many of the bands who pioneered this genre had their roots in the punk movement. During the time when 'Neue Deutsche Welle' became popular Nina Hagen wasn't in Germany. Most Punks I knew didn't even see a relationship between Nina and therir music.
I thought it was giving graphic instructions, live on East German TV, of how girls can masturbate which got her kicked out of the workers paradise. At least that's the story here in Germany.
No, that was in Austria in 1979, on a late-night talk show called "Club 2", and resulted in the host of the show being forced to resign. You can watch the entire show (96 minutes) here: tvthek.orf.at/profile/Archiv/7648449/Skandal-Club-mit-Nina-Hagen/5312275/Was-ist-los-mit-der-Jugendkultur/5312277
Isn't there also a theory that the Farbfilm song is aboput domestic violence. Because of the green and blue she mentions and that he should never do it again. Just something a friend told me, i did not investigate further :D
Nina Hagen was definitly Punk, not Neue Deutsche Welle. That is like calling The Slits new wave. And what is special about a Student working as a barmaid?
yes, "Farbfilm" had a message which was well understooden. Musicians where at that time party planned constructs. Since the authorities were not able to create art themselfs, they put artists in charge but controlled all productions and censored or banned their work of being published. Productions had to meet guidlines of the political party. Demmel and Hagen turned those guidelines into their interest. The authorities approved a song of which they understood to mean "Its so wonderful to live in east germany, we have so much vacation and we can travel. We are are a modern society, proof: we even have colorfilm. Please guys, buy our modern products, or your girlfriends will break up with you if you care less" What the audience understood: Michel = thats a poetic synonym for "the German Citizen. The colorfilm was not only on short supply, it was actually impossible to buy, like all other new modern items . The colorfilm was just a smbol for all kind of modern products which were standards in all industrial nations but not available for common people of East Germany. And vacation: Most were only allowed to travel within East Germany, isnt that a laugh worth? The whole song was a joke about life in East Germany. They even put a laugh in plain sight : "...keiner wird jetzt wissen wie schön es WHA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" THis is laughing at the authorities who are constantly repeating a propaganda of how beautiful the land is - but it wasn't. Translation of the songs meaning: Hey Germans, we know we could have a prosper modern life, but they are keeping us poor, but still keep on telling us how nice it is. Yeah, and now we said that openly, by using their own guidlines! HA-Ha-ha+HAHA!
Moin, hast Du mal davon gehört, dass es in diesem Lied darum geht, dass sie von ihrem Freund verprügelt wird, was aber nur auf Farbfotos wirklich erkennbar wäre. Mit dem Hintergedanken, dass sie von ihrem Freund geschlagen wird, liest sich der ganze Liedtext plötzlich völlig anders....
Das habe ich gehört und es stimmt einfach nicht. Blaue Flecken und Schnittwunden erkennt man in schwarzweiß sehr, sehr gut. Und wer glaubt, dass ein Ofper häuslicher Gewalt seinem Peiniger sagen würde: "Okay, ich geb dir noch eine Chance, aber wenn du's nochmal machst, zieh ich aus," hat von der Sache überhaupt keine Ahnung.
Völliger Blödsinn, siehe Ninas Kommentar zum Lied, nachzulesen im Wikipedia-Artikel zum Lied: "Es ist Schlager durch Zerstörung von Schlager. Der Farbfilm atmet im Hintergrund das giftige Grau von Bitterfeld und die Tristesse von Leipzig; es spiegelt die Trostlosigkeit der Arbeitswelten zwischen Akkordschraube und Herumlungern an kaputten Maschinen; es spielt im Milieu einer irren Sehnsucht danach, dieser Schwarzweißwelt zu entfliehen, hin zu Orten voll Farbe und Licht. Da sind die kleinen Fluchten in die Natur, ans Meer, an die endlosen Sandstrände der Ostsee - Rügen, Usedom, Hiddensee -, Fluchten ins private Glück, in ein bisschen erotische Freiheit, die zum Guckloch des Paradieses werden. Aber das Paradies wird eingeholt von der banalen Alltagserfahrung in einem Staat, der knattrige, stinkende Plastikautos, beknackte Badeanzüge und Jahr für Jahr zu wenig Farbfilme hervorbringt." Nichts, aber auch gar nichts von Verprügeln. Und wenn in einer Beziehung Ninas irgendwer wen verprügelt, dann ist wohl klar, wer kloppt.
I like the choice of Mrs Merkel for this ridiculous ceremony that reminds on some times of the Third Reich. It was a choice with humour, because showing this takes away the bad character of this ceremony. It was the first time I was seeing this ceremony and enjoyed it! The second, she has chosen some strong women important in the woman movement. Also it’s self ironic, because Nina Hagen was attacking her in this talkshow and Mrs. Merkel is normally the opposite, conservative, getting attacked by this Punk movement. Some things of Nina Hagen you can criticise, but you have to see, she is an extraordinary artist and professional. She has (had) got a highly professional developed voice. (now destroyed by age and not taking care) She is a strong symbol figure and important person. I don’t like her, but I think it was important in Germany to have people like her. And I respect, that she was always honest and sincere in her judgment and a brave woman.
Nina Hagen knew at that time already that Merkel was biased and compromised and that she couldn't be trusted. Merkel had become one of Klaus Schwab's ("The Great Reset") first pupils and has been/is still acting out his absolutely destructive agenda.
I´ve asked others this as well, but explain to me how exactly Merkel, with everything she has done and stood for over the past 16 years, could be considered conservative, because I genuinely do not see it.
Considering the fact that frank zappas "bob brown" was on second place in the german charts or that scooter made millions with phrases like "how much is the fish"... either germans don't get it at all in terms of music or they have a very dry humor
“I don’t think it captured the spirit of the original.”
I find this is a very interesting episode about Angela Merkel and her humour. On one hand, she knew the song for a very long time. On the other hand, she's been the chancellor for 16 years, so she had to sit through many, many, many occasions when brass bands played in honour of her or any international guests. So she's obviously aware of what kind of music these bands usually play and what they're capable of.
I like to imagine Merkel sitting at home one night, discussing with her husband the choice of songs for her send off and sneakily contemplating: "Imagine the army's brass band playing >Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen
Indeed.
I imagined the same.
Witzig. :D
Those are well paid professional musicians. They should be able to play about EVERYthing , may they like it or not. The song was a very subtle choice though. BTW the band did fairly well, as expected.
@@ppd3bw Yes.
@@ppd3bw Of course they are, and they did a good job. That was never the point.
Yes "Farbfilm" is a very interesting choice. But almost everyone forgets the second song in the lineup. Hildegard Knef's "Für mich soll’s rote Rosen regnen". Both songs are by very strong and independent women who made the German audience very uncomfortable during their carreers. That is a strong statement by Fr. Merkel.
Nothing uncomfortable about either, why would it.
@@xaverlustig3581 Maybe not for you or me. The conservative-feeling/-thinking majority in Germany wasn't too agreeable with them being so outspoken and frank with their opinions. Artistically though, nowadays, they are ranked highly.
Indeed.
@@phsieben WTF is a conservative majority on Germany? The polling results have noting to do with it.
@@steffenrosmus9177 Conservatism in society is more than a political party. It's an attitude of our society. A certain behaviour and a certain set of morals is expected. You can find a healthy dose of conservatism in every political movement. Germany in comparison (seen over time) is a more conservative-leaning country. Is it positive? Is it negative? It took us to where we are now. But back to topic. Despite all the friction of Knef and Hagen with society, they were hugely successful. People love a little bit of friction, at least in art.
You left one thing out, Nina Hagen has an opera trained voice. She sang Brecht and more classical stuff.
She's not only opera trained, she is extremely talented. Watch this: th-cam.com/video/9xi4O4RvlnQ/w-d-xo.html
Don't forget how ill she treated her voice, smoking and whantnot. Incredible how she stayed in shape. As far as I know, she never had any plastic surgery.
I’ve said “Du hast dich mit diesem Video selbst übertroffen” before but you’ve done it again. This was the most interesting piece of German cultural history I’ve seen from you yet. Please don’t stop! Give us more! We need this to get off of our heroin addiction for good.
Indeed.
How can you be so indifferent to the facts? Angela Merkel doesn't represent German cultural history, at least not one that we can be proud of. German cultural history is not at all about her, that's for sure.
At the time I finally moved to Berlin twenty years ago I worked with a girl who was around fifty years old at the time and originally came from France 35 years before that. However she still had a strong French accent when speaking German. One evening after work we sat together after work with some beers in the very center of Berlin and talked about music. At a certain time she told me she lived together with Nina Hagen in a flat for some time and that Nina is a very nice human being but „takes too much through her nose“.
That explains her career.
Its also very important to remember, you can like a song even tho you dislike the author/performer. You can also like a song while completely disagreeing with its political message.
You can also like the political message of one song while disagreeing with the artist's other opinions.
And you can respect political opinions and still disagree with them.
Cognitive dissonance is always a hot topic. I like to poke some fun around when I say "thank God I'm atheist" or "my star sign is Serpentarius/Ophiuchus."
We only tolerate our own idiosyncrasies, not taking others' into account.
In this case I guess, a popular song only stands in for a popular time in someones life. People do not refer to the music itself, but to the situation they have heared it.
He didn't even get into her views on HIV/AIDs, or tried to smear her as a transphobe for supporting an organization that supports detransitioners, or the slew of other hateful and nasty things people have attacked Hagen for over the years. Also, not sure at all where he gets his information about Nina saying she views antivax views as "abhorrent" but she did post something on facebook that was supporting Robert F Kennedy Jr. And I've also seen posts of her supporting songs that are anti-lockdown. She's always had unorthodox views on a lot of things, and is unyielding in her opinions. Maybe some criticisms are justified, but the reason she called that woman an "ugly cow" was because she was personally attacking Hagen's family, making fun of her daughter's name. Nina Hagen is a wonderful talent with music that has been impactful to me, regardless if she's "an antivaxxer" or not. So stupid this is the world we're living in that I even have to say this.
I think the satire / subversive subtext of the song was apparent to almost everyone right from the start. It was a subtext, so the censors couldn't do anything about it until it was too late. The subtext is precisely why it was immediately so popular. I've spoken to a number of my German friends who recall from the 1970s that the song's popularity was precisely because of its between-the-lines resentment of everything. The repeated last line of the chorus is really quite clear "Alles blau und weiß und grün und später nicht mehr wahr" - this is a universal critique of the drab socialist state and culture, not just a complaint that the vacation photos were a bit drab.
But kudos for highlighting this bit of German culture (and doing it very effectively). I have very much enjoyed your videos.
I got the same story about the song from my parents, who are arround the age of Merkel, but from the BRD. When I got introduced to the song as a child, my parents told me that it was a famouse critique song about the DDR. If the band intended it or not I don't know, but it seems that most ppl follow this narrativ.
BTW awesome video, some storys about Mutti I didn't know
Merkel was and is not someone who is opposed to the former regime she grew up in and became part of by being a very active member of the FDJ and probably even a "spy" ( called "IM Erika")on her own people. She is now an active supporter of Klaus Schwab (WEF, author of "The Great Reset") and still pulling the strings. Pretty pathetic for someone who grew up in a pastor's family.
I believe Angela Merkel chose these two songs because they somehow symbolize the two parts of Germany before being reunited.
Nina Hagen symbolized East Berlin, and Hildegard Knef symbolized West Berlin by singing her songs. So I believe this choice was a kind of goodbye present to the two parts of Germany, which will hopefully get together in the near future.
But that is only how I felt it. I have known both singers for decades as part of the two "Germanies", and now they eventually got together.
I Think I have some news for you: Germany got reunified in 1989
@@FaridMC But there are still many diffrences
Knef would have been a better choice imho
Merkel has no clue of what is really going on in us people's mind.
@@FaridMC Have you been in Germany? Visit both parts and discover! For example with covid-toppic and vaccine there is a difference to see. Needs maybe one more generation till there is a real social and mentality unification.
When I was a teenager in Melbourne, Australia, I used to listen to 3RRR, a strange alternative music radio station which played a lot of German music such as DAF, Einstürzende Neubauten and Nina Hagen. This is the first time I have heard her mentioned in 30 years.
And it's still only part of remembering her old days. You have not missed anything of her in the last 30years. There was nothing (but this mentioned esoteric stuff)
@@holger_p that´s not true.
@@samuelsamenstrang6069 Really ? OK, maybe it's only 20 years. When was her last concert or last album ? Wikipedia said something about a single from 2004 ?
@@holger_p Is your Wiki different to mine?
Return of the Mother (2000)
Big Band Explosion (2003)
Irgendwo auf der Welt (2006)
Personal Jesus (2010)
Volksbeat (2011)
@@samuelsamenstrang6069 It exists, but has it sold ? Rock fans don't really want those christian messages.
Sorry for the second comment, but I feel it's important to mention this.
6:23 Nina is getting so heated about helping addicts because one of her exes died of a heroin overdose. Forget whether or not the therapy she's going on and on about works or not - instead, consider _why_ Hagen is getting on a soapbox about the topic of addiction in the first place. It makes more sense why she's monopolizing the conversation and eventually flipping out about it.
She actually wrote the song, "Smack Jack," about that particular ex-boyfriend. Don't know if it was before or after he died.
I don't know if you knew about this Andrew and had to omit it, or if this is something you never knew about Nina.
@Han Boetes I don't understand the context of your comment. Who is the "she" and who is the "someone"?
(Ich war nur ein Semester in 1989 in (West) Deutschland , und ohne Fernseher.)
I wondered why she got so upset
@Marquis de Hoto Yeah. I think, -if I remember, correctly, that he died in the early-1980s. Which would've been only 10 years before that show.- _Edit:_ I looked it up; he died in 1988, so only _a few years before_ that show. [The details are in another reply in this chain, below.]
There were *far better* ways Nina could've handled herself. At the very least, she could've pointed out that she had lost someone to drug addiction and wanted to make sure nobody else went through that. But … Nina is … Nina, so 🤷♂️
@@John_Weiss Sure it isn't great how she handled it but but I can understand why she got so emotional.
And I guess it's a lot harder to not get at least a bit emotional in her situation.....
and it's still Nina xD
@@marquisdehoto1638 Oh, don't get me wrong. I totally agree with everything you said!
I just wanted to make it clear that I'm not condoning her behavior. 🙂
Nina Hagen's collaboration with Apocalyptica is incredible.
Besser als die Rammstein-Version.
She has an impressive voice and know how to use it and sometimes she has sung impressive songs.
imagine it's 1974, you're in a bar and a 20 year old student, working part time, taking your order and seeing her become chancellor about 30 years later
Yes, indeed.
Americans call that a " dream" . In germany thats reality.
@@theraven5935 In 2024 AOC will be old enough to become President.
Merkel a barmaid? That's nothing but a joke.
@@eljanrimsa5843 And at this pointm, America would unironically deserve her as a president. If we´re lucky, you may yet get what you´re wishing for.
Nice analysis. It avoids the line "und alles tat so weh, tu das noch einmal, Micha, und ich geh" though. It repeats twice. That's "everything hurts so much, do that again, Micha, and I will leave you". A german expression is (used to be, maybe?) "grün und blau schlagen", "beating someone up until he/she is green and blue". The line "alles blau und weiß und grün und später nicht mehr wahr" repeats 4 times. That could be translated as "everything is blue and white and green and later it is as if nothing had happened". So one dimension might be added to your analysis: what is the black and white film not revealing that a color film might have revealed? Grüße nach Aschaffenburg
Fist time I heard it (which was just after Merkel's leaving do) I thought the first part describes a rape. When she was screaming so much because of the pain that the rabbits came out of their holes to see what was going on. And then she's telling him not to do it again. Or was she in emotional pain and screaming just because of the colour film?
@@latronqui My thoughts went more in the direction of vehement, but consensual sex. Hagen's appearance on stage does not really represent a woman being beaten or raped.
On the literal level there is a couple having overwhelming experiences on holidays, and later she is frustrated about not having a color documentation. On the metaphorical level, very little of the full colors of life was allowed by the state.
That's a great analysis. 2 thoughts to add: "Micha" or Michael lets us think of "Der deutsche Michel", the symbol of the inactive and sleepy Germans in general. The line "Micha, and I'll go" gets a totally different meaning then. In fact a lot of DDR citizens DID go.
Some other thoughts:
Her text is of an at least middle aged woman, bitching around with her husband in an obviously unhappy, square marriage. Hagen is then a young, very attractive, lively woman who everyone would imagine to live a full life. The song portays how socialism throttles people's lifes, making them prematurely sedentiary, inflexible, dissatisfied and obsessed with material goods.
This song is so deep, I don't think it was consciously made that deep. No wonder it became such a hit.
I like the choice. I'm sure she selected it not only because it was part of her youth but also out of a sense of humor. Imagining Nina Hagen in the middle of torch-carrying soldiers and hearing them playing her music removes a lot of the scariness of the much criticized event.
Yes, and maybe Angela Merkel trolled a little bit both sides: the soldiers - and Nina Hagen.
Yep. Wouldn't be surprised if Merkel knows how to be subtly subversive, after all, it's a necessity in a dictatorship (communist or otherwise, for that matter) not to lose your marbles.
In my mind, the fact that it's so much criticised, shows how people are STILL in the grip of Nazi propaganda. As if the Nazis were the only one who carried torches. It is/was a very normal thing to do, actually, but people only associate it with the Reichsparteitag and sh*t. Time to reclaim the symbolism. Same for runes imo. Apart from genuine Nazi inventions like the double Sig-runes or the "Black Sun". Swastika is probably too difficult, too.
@@BlackAdder665 Nobody associated here something with the Nazis. Indeed nobody talked about the Nazis. It´s about East Germany in the Cold War Times, it´s about that Angela Merkel and Nina Hagen both grew up in this communist dictatorship of the Cold War Era and that this song was written in 1974 under the circumstances of it - what might be explain why a CDU-politician like Angela Merkel choose such a song from a Punk like Nina Hagen - and made it the Bundeswehr play during such a ceremony.
You would hardly have heard this song if e.g. Horst Seehofer would have had to choose the songs - and that has nothing to do with the Nazis, too.
@@NicolaW72 LOTS of people who criticised it compared it to the 3rd Reich. On Twitter, even in the Daily Show with Trevor Noah (he gave it a humorous twist, of course, but still). German lefties, Americans, Brits etc etc.
nina hagen and her daughter played in some german movies where nina plays the evil queen and her daughter plays snowhite that flees to the 7 dwarfs. both of them fit their roles very well!
BRINGT MIR DEN JÄGER!
(...)
Nicht den N..!
Those movies were great overall. I mean they had matching actors to play the dwarfs to mirror Ninas craziness perfectly :D
@@robertnett9793 Not quite as funny as I found them ten years ago, though. 😅
She also voiced Yubaba in "Spirited Away", the Mother-Frog Cassandra in Don Bluth's "Thumbelina" and Sally in "Nightmare before Christmas".
“I don’t think it captured the spirit of the original”. Many utterances based on classic British understatement is your trademark ;-)
ah now that you mention it... i forgot that british tend to give a hint on what they want to say. i didnt listen to the performance so i took this sentence word by word, so like "it was good but not as good as the original"
I find this is a very interesting episode about Angela Merkel and her humour. On one hand, she knew the song for a very long time. On the other hand, she's been the chancellor for 16 years, so she had to sit through many, many, many occasions when brass bands played in honour of her or any international guests. So she's obviously aware of what kind of music these bands usually play and what they're capable of.
I like to imagine Merkel sitting at home one night, discussing with her husband the choice of songs for her send off and sneakily contemplating: "Imagine the army's brass band playing >Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen
@@necrionos Rewboss humour & wit ! Obviously a military band isn’t quite there with punk rock ;-)
I've been a big fan of Nina Hagen since the 80's. I don't think you can have a normal conversation with her, she's totally nuts but a great person :)
And the biggest brass band imaginable couldn't overpower her voice(or personality).
@@kevincarlson4562 Absolutely true. Her voice can span a lot of octaves and she has some serious power behind it too :)
@@EdEditz Always loved her,she's a force of nature.And Dread Love was catchy as hell.
Agree, I think the Albums from Nina Hagen Band (Unbehagen & Nina Hagen Band) are the best she made. Her Zarah Leander cover: "Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt" was also really good.
Since her daughter is a fine character she must be, too.
Other notable film/voice roles of Cosma Shiva Hagen:
Viper in “Kung Fu Panda”
Lin in “Spirited Away”
Miss Cassandra in “Maya, the Bee: The Movie”
Suki in “Lilly the Witch: The Journey to Mandolan”
Snow White in “7 Dwarves: Men Alone in the Wood”
Worth mentioning: Her mother appeared in “7 Dwarves: Men Alone in the Wood” as well. Cosma Shiva played Snow White and Nina the Evil Queen.
Nina performed better than her daughter, I tought. The Evil Queen really was an absolutely perfect role for her.
@@arthur_p_dent i don't know If there is a english dubbed Version of it, but i would say this movie can only understood by germans or someone living here for at least 20 years.
Also a few "Tatort" police series, one with the famous Ballauf and Schenk superintendants.
@@kruesae22 yes, the movie is all in German, so you've got to he proficient in German to understand it. Although I think 20 years of living here is an overstatement. As an advances learner of German, you should still be able to follow the plot, even though you will probably not understand all of the jokes, especially the puns.
@@arthur_p_dent it is a comedy isn't it? Understanding the jokes is necessary and many of them are rooted in Pop culture from the 90s an before. You are not only have to speak german quite good knowing the referances are essential.
As a German I'd say, this is a balanced introduction to the mighty Nina Hagen. The thing with her is... artistically, often enough she did something so good, so great, that it blew the competition out of the hall. Eccentic, sure. But what a creative power. Inspiring!
Eccentric people are the best people. The clip where she yelled at the others just made me like her more.
I _love_ Nina Hagen … she's nutz! 😆
Been a fan of hers since I was a German major in back in university … in 1988! [Did you know lyrics from some of her songs make great grammar lessons?]
Fan Fact: For the German Dub, Nina Hagen was the Voice of the Witch Yubaba in Hayao Miyazakis "Spirited Away".
Oh, that must have been perfect
A man who was born and grew up in England tells me details about a famous German singer and our former chancellor that I as a native German have never heard before.
My brain: 🤯
Thank you for the interesting facts and stories about the song. I never thought of it as a parody of Schlager.
The song is still very popular in East Germany and is part of the East German identity (just like 'Am Fenster' by City and 'Alt wie ein Baum' by the Phudys). I think that's also one reason why Merkel chose it. I like her choices of music for the ceremony ❤️
Such a shame that you didn't recall this: Nina Hagen first punk-album (Nina Hagen Band, 1978) in german language is a classic. Great lyrics, with the best of rock music. Look e.g. for 'TV Glotzer' (about addiction of wachting television, a great cover of 'White Punks on dope' of the Tubes) or 'Unbeschreiblich Weiblich'... etc.
And most for all the way she sings it: her voice was marvellous: she could do everything with it, her theatrical opera style was extroardinary.
This album had a touch of genius she never reached it again. Ironic: her first performance on Dutch television was a sensation.
I'm Dutch it was my first record I bought.
My brother bought the album when it came out, and I got to listen to it, too. About 35 years .later I finally bought my own copy on CD, and it was mind boggling how much of the lyrics I remembered. It definitely left a mark
Thanks for explaining who Nina Hagen is, the news didn't give much context. Just that she was a controversial punk singer.
I heard a quite intresting commentary last Friday on deutschlandfunk about the song choices. Not only was it a Huge GDR hit in the mid 70s, but also its lyrics tell of memories kept on film, that fade and wash out overtime. Just like the memories a person might have remembering Merkel 10, 20, 30 years down the line after her step down. I think that's quite intresting.
The GDR was also known for being grey. Compared to the BRD especially. To me the song was a criticism on the GDR beneath other things and i was surprized they let her go with it. She might have been too popular already.
Nina Hagen later pointed out that she felt rage and despair when she got a sight-seeing tour at a plant where they were producing these "Farbfilm" and others. People there were looking pale and not healthy as she noted and at last she got a glimpse into the part where workers had to work in total darkness for at least 8 hours in order to avoid getting light onto the raw films that they had to coat with some chemical stuff. When she asked the person in charge, how much these people were making a month, she was informed that each and everyone made 500 Mark a month; just like the others. She then started thinking about having to leave the system.
A video packed with information I didn't know about as a German in a funny way. Great job! 👏👏👏
7:35 I doubt they were confused. Someone who goes to see a concert by her knows the song almost definitely. I mean, many people who don't do it know it
Ich kannte von dem Lied vorher nur den Refrain. Über verschiedene Videos bin ich irgendwann zum eigentlichen Lied gekommen. Dann fand ich den Text so schlecht, dass ich wieder weggeklickt habe. Als Parodie ist der Text viel besser verständlich. Aber so ist das eben mit dem deutschen Sinn für Humor. Später bin ich dann auf die Diskussionsseite vom Wikipedia-Artikel gekommen. Die Gewalt-Interpretation des Liedes hat mich erschrocken. Ich kam mir plötzlich vor wie in einem Horrorfilm.
Such a great video! Love the whole background information and the fact that you pronounced the German names amazingly well! 😯👏 Warm greetings from Germany 🇩🇪🇬🇧
Ah, I just figured out that you actually live in Germany... That explains the perfect accent and the precision of the content. 😋
That thumbnail is gold. ahaha. That's dedication Andrew.
An amazing story and an amazing video regarding a part of German music history I was not aware of. I always associated Nina Hagen with the English version of her song New York. I had heard of her when I was a young teen during the 3 years I lived in Germany, but had no knowledge of her origin as an artist.
A real character that Nina Hagen. Played the witch in some movie, too. And her rather normal daughter was the beautiful princess.
Never listened to " African Reggae" or " Bahnhof Zoo" ?
You should .And make shure you get the proper translation.
Nina Hagens records "Unbehagen" and "Nina Hagen Band" are still the most creative pieces of german music. Great topic!
I really love how you carefully circumscribe Nina Hagen's character. She was - and still is one of the weirdest, most colorful and entertainingly crazy unique personalities in the German music scene.
What a story! Excellent video! Thanks and greetings from Sweden.
You can also read the lyrics clearly stating that the song is about domestic violence.
Oh, thanks! So I'm not crazy.
Hm, I never suspected she had beaten Michael, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Wenigstens ist Nina nicht in der gleichen weise abgedreht wie Nena.
Naja, viel fehlt da nicht. In anderen Sache ist sie dafür viel schlimmer.
Alles eine Sache der Perspektive. Nina kann zumindest singen. 🤣
@@111BAUER111 In was denn? Also versteh mich nicht falsch, Ditfurth hat damals schon recht gehabt, Nina Hagen als esoterisch ein bisschen durchgeknallt zu betiteln. Aber Nena ist in absolut allem schlimmer.
@@111BAUER111 Ich war nie ein fan ...
I always wanted to tell you - now I do: I simply love your videos. Greetings from Bremen!
Your thumbnail for this video is a work of art
You forgot the colour film, do you remember back then? That was the message.
Nina Hagen has always been weird. In east as in west. Someone you bump into or love because she is different.
A colourful bird. Someone for whom protest has become a goal in life.
A friend of mine lived in the same squat as Nina Hagen in the early 90s in East Berlin. I've never asked them, but I'm sure they could tell me some stories about her from back in the day.
This thumbnail is the best one I've seen show up on my recommended page for at least two months.
I didn't know of the original intention as a parody. But with this information I like the idea that Merkel choose the song to clear up her opinion about the carneval sessions she was obligated to take part.
Two characteristics of Merkel, among others of course, are her pragmatism and her subtle humour. I can imagine both being a reason for her choosing this song. Either she just really didn't care about what they play for her and that was the first thing that came to her mind. Or she thought it would be a little funny to hear the military orchestra play it.
Nennt man sie pragmatisch, wirft man ihr vor das Land bewusst zerstört zu haben.
@@ggjkarlful Nur wenn man irgendwie notorischer Merkel Hasser wäre. Objektiv ist das Land nicht zerstört und pragmatisch hat somit auch nicht im geringsten eine derartige implikation.
She doesn't reason other than what might serve her in her power play. Some of her aids most likely chose these two songs to make her look unsuspicious and trustworthy. But she is far from it, I can assure you.
@@lilijastoppler377 i have personally met angela merkel (a friend of mine was responsible for security measures when she visited the univesity of bern and i was part of the team around her) and alice weidel (which all the merkel haters love so much and i lived in the same city with) i can assure you that merkel is very friendly and trustworthy while weidel is simply a nazi bitch.
@@TheAlja Doch, irgendwie schon. Wenn man voraussetzt dass sie ihren politischen Kurs in pragmatischer weise am erwartbaren Nutzen dessen orientiert hatt, dann kann man ihr unterstellen das Sicherheitsgefuehl in Deutschen Staedten, den Arbeitsmarkt fur Geringverdiener, jegliche reale Chancen auf eine weitreichende Integration der bei uns lebenden Auslaender und somit die Zukunftssicherheit Deutschlands absichtlich zerstoert zu haben.
The song was a protest hit against the DDR. Yes it was mentioned in the vlog, but could have more attention. For Merkel as a 'Ossi' it was always searching for freedom. And this song is a statement in searching for freedom.
Merkel's politics weren't very liberal, so I doubt that is her motivation.
Merkel got to go to university, which you didn´t get to do unless you were faithful to the party; Was doing Propaganda work for the party and was rumored to have been directly involved with the STASI; has used the EU to push for power centralisation; just last year she put pressure on a democratically elected official to step down, because he had won with votes from "the wrong people".
Where on God's green earth is this wench "always searching for freedom"? Perhaps she's searching for it in the same way that a homing missile is searching for its target.
Farbfilm has been one of my favorite songs for ages, and I've never even been to East Germany. Though I did spend a few years of my childhood in West Germany, where I picked up a taste for Dusseldorf mustard... Susser and Extra Scharf in particular. I didn't ever hear of Nina Hagen song till I was in adulthood, and by even then, it was just the songs on the album Nunsexmonkrock, which I found the majority of the songs on the album to be quite grating on my ears.
Eventually I discovered her more operatic songs, and then later Farbfilm... and ever since Farbfilm has been one of my favorite songs.
I'm on my (German) knees for Angela's choice!!! PERFECT choise! Danke, Angela!
That thing about the "color film" (or any other subtle criticism) is very common in countries where any sort of dictatorship is installed. Most of the best Brazilian lyrics were written between 1964-1985 because they were good enough to convey the message without raising any red flags through the censorship process.
Another famous case from Soviet times was Edward Khill* (a. k. a. the trololo man) who had a song censored because it has some elements from the American culture (something like a cowboy going to visit his girlfriend - I'm too lazy to look up at Google.) In protest he just ditched the lyrics in favor of vocalizations.
*As far as I remember his surname has a Spanish origin, from "Gil."
Yes, exactly. It was the same during the time of the Nazi Dictatorship in Germany 1933/45.
African Reggae is one of my favorite tunes from Nina, still play it today.
Thank you for digging up that talk-show appearance! 😂
Indeed. Obviously it prepared Angela Merkel very well to deal with males like Trump.
Yup. Nina makes the most gorgeous faces when she's angry.
She wasn’t forced out of east Germany she officially petitioned for the permission to follow her step father but wrote a letter where she threatened that she wouldn’t stop making noise .. so they granted it to get rid of her
Thanks a lot for this video! I didn't know Nina Hagen isn't just a colourful person on TV, but lead a very colourful life, too. I'm a bit too young to have witnessed all of that.
And, indeed, I didn't know - and certainly can't imagine - Angela Merkel used to work in a disco.
Are you German? Your pronunciation is spot on!
Wow, you really digged deep and... you discovered alot :-) thx
Thank you for the video. What a coincidence that yesterday I was googling the translation of the song
Sure she was a barmaid and has a phd as a Physisit. As east Germany worked different barmaid was nothing bad. Joschka Fischer was Taxivdriver in Frankfurt.
Thanks for providing a good background knowledge
Nothing wrong with being a barmaid. There have been very smart politicians like Merkel. And some spectacularly one like AOC.. the Cortez goof.
Nina Hagen was married to Herman Brood (Rock and Roll Junkie), lets say Herman was just as colorfull person as Nina.
to me Nina Hagen is a national treasure! i love her voice/songs! my 2nd favourite is 'Erfurt & Gera'😄
Guten Morgen, das Lied hat eine Subtext nicht nur in Bezug auf die Situation in der DDR, sondern ist auch ein Bekenntnis zu Gesamtdeutschland - schau mal auf die Farben, die sie trägt - und Michael nicht nicht nur ein Bandmitglied, sondern auch ein Name für eine Personifikation eines Deutschen allgemein, "der deutsche Michel" wird hier auch besungen... . Auch das macht das Lied "Angela-tauglich"
I am here to applaud you for your perfect pronunciation of the name of my city Leipzig!
As someone who grew up in West Germany (thanks to the dangerous escape of my still very young mother), but who had half of his family trapped in East Germany, - even as a child - I found this song to be a juxtaposition of the "colourful" West versus the "greyscale" East.
Whether the band originally intended it that way, I don't know, but I'm sure that almost every german listener (especially those with East German relatives) understood it exactly that way.
That thing you said, that some people wouldn't have understood that the song was "ironic" is something I can't really figure. The graphic exaggeration of those trivial statements coupled with Nina's ratty voice - I can hardly imagine that anyone took the song "literally".
Delicacy for the interested: the song TV-Glotzer, recorded in West-Berlin has the line: "Ich glotz von Ost nach West - Ich kann mich gar nicht entscheiden, es ist alles so schön bunt hier." It refers to watching (east and west) TV and means: "I goggle from east to west - I'm in deep trouble choosing, it's all so lovely colourful here."
Of course the song is not made for brass band, but that is the protocol. You just can not bring in any other performer in this ceremony because it is by a military band and it its a military ceremony. Others wanted a piece of Bach and a brass band also is not the the thing you´d normally use for that. And the Song of Nina Hagen also was very popular in West Germany. And whatever you might think about Nina and her music, she is an extraordinary singer and performer with a broad range of expressions.
Thanks for reminding me that even barmaids get to be Chancellor. Also, thank you for the walk down memory lane with Nina Hagen: some bloody weird but amazingly strange new wave music. Nice to know Germany can be just as bizarre as Britain (and elsewhere).
Thanks for this. I've long been intrigued by Nina Hagen but I didn't know about the Merkel connection. However, nothing surprises me about Hagen.
Ich versuche mir Merkel als Barfrau in einer Disco vorzustellen, aber mein Kopf kriegt es nicht hin....
I´d like to too, but I can´t. Better call her a bar-employe than a barma... barma.... barmmm... barrrRRrrm... see even my keyboard balks against matching Merkill with a barmaid.
Could someone tell me what the song is at 4:38? Just really getting to know Nina's work, she's fantastic.
I don't care about Merkel, but I adore Nina. Thank you for adding some mosaic pieces into our understanding of this incredible woman.
Have you noticed that he does the Merkel-Raute all the time? 😄
Yes, that's why there is a movement to make him chancelor.
@@fraso7331 :-)
You are more informed about the Ossies than the Wessies. 👍👏
Merkel choose a east german song and a west german song. Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen is also still quit popular in west Germany and so both parts of Germany can identify with.
Thank you for your very interesting coverage of the background of that song. I am German, but there were still some interesting facts that I did not know yet. And by the way your German pronunciation is very good.
Jutta Ditfurth is not a journalist, though. A publicist, yes, she wrote and writes quite a few books. Most importantly, though, is that she has a long career in left-of-center politics. She was a founding member of the Greens and left when the Realos took over. Nowadays she's a pretty vocal critic of the Greens. And a terrifying presence in German talk shows. Last time she was invited to one, she snubed Wolfgang Bosbach (right wing of the CDU, nowadays retired.
subscribed! I like people who do look a little bit behind and deeper! And:... I like to hear english mother tongues
that do register, that other languishes have other pronunciations, and do even follow them!!!!!! Great respect and
very well done either. I always get goose bumps when i hear english spoken people and even journalists for instance turning Hamburg to "Hembörg" or Wurst into "Wörst", what is the english pronounced worst. It is!! So, again very well registered , thought out and spoken. Keep on!!! I wonder what comes next!
love your vids....keep it up
It was practically impossible to buy colour film behind the iron curtain even into the 1980s . All my pictures of my travels there from that time are in black and white. Though I must say that it gives them a certain flavour of the time and place.
@@bonsai-zone Well, I can't speak about East Berlin, so you are probaly right, but in the USSR (outside of Moscow foreign exchange shops) it was, in my experience, hard to find. And so I used the more widely available 35mm black and white.
The ending of your video was WONDERFUL & surely is true, , really really makes Angela very human
THX !
(and what a brilliant German you speak ! )
Well done. Greeting from Germany.
Omg, I'm german and genuinely stunned by how well he pronounces german words.
You should do French subs, as Nina is well known in France. Sorry I can't help you with it, my French is rusted, if not to say wrecked. (Yes, and the Brits sank the Bismarck and sang songs about it.)
One other way to explain the Farbfilm lyrics could be, so a former girlfriend from Leipzig told me, was that it was politically aimed at Michael Schalck-Golodowsky, the then minster for foreign finance. tt just happened that Michael was, and still is, quite a common German name.
Here a new version of "Farbfilm" by Talstrasse 3-5: th-cam.com/video/x7WAELSE_V0/w-d-xo.html
Kurt Demmler was not a band member of Automobil.
...and Neue Deutsche Welle has nothing to do with punk...
@@fruzsimih7214 You would be surprised how many of the bands who pioneered this genre had their roots in the punk movement. During the time when 'Neue Deutsche Welle' became popular Nina Hagen wasn't in Germany. Most Punks I knew didn't even see a relationship between Nina and therir music.
I thought it was giving graphic instructions, live on East German TV, of how girls can masturbate which got her kicked out of the workers paradise. At least that's the story here in Germany.
No, that was in Austria in 1979, on a late-night talk show called "Club 2", and resulted in the host of the show being forced to resign. You can watch the entire show (96 minutes) here: tvthek.orf.at/profile/Archiv/7648449/Skandal-Club-mit-Nina-Hagen/5312275/Was-ist-los-mit-der-Jugendkultur/5312277
Most importantly: the Nina Hagen Band then went on to become Spliff, one of the all time great German bands. 😉
Isn't there also a theory that the Farbfilm song is aboput domestic violence. Because of the green and blue she mentions and that he should never do it again. Just something a friend told me, i did not investigate further :D
It's an urban myth.
I had no idea she used to mix cocktails ...
Nina Hagen was definitly Punk, not Neue Deutsche Welle. That is like calling The Slits new wave. And what is special about a Student working as a barmaid?
yes, "Farbfilm" had a message which was well understooden. Musicians where at that time party planned constructs. Since the authorities were not able to create art themselfs, they put artists in charge but controlled all productions and censored or banned their work of being published. Productions had to meet guidlines of the political party. Demmel and Hagen turned those guidelines into their interest. The authorities approved a song of which they understood to mean "Its so wonderful to live in east germany, we have so much vacation and we can travel. We are are a modern society, proof: we even have colorfilm. Please guys, buy our modern products, or your girlfriends will break up with you if you care less" What the audience understood: Michel = thats a poetic synonym for "the German Citizen. The colorfilm was not only on short supply, it was actually impossible to buy, like all other new modern items . The colorfilm was just a smbol for all kind of modern products which were standards in all industrial nations but not available for common people of East Germany. And vacation: Most were only allowed to travel within East Germany, isnt that a laugh worth? The whole song was a joke about life in East Germany. They even put a laugh in plain sight : "...keiner wird jetzt wissen wie schön es WHA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" THis is laughing at the authorities who are constantly repeating a propaganda of how beautiful the land is - but it wasn't. Translation of the songs meaning: Hey Germans, we know we could have a prosper modern life, but they are keeping us poor, but still keep on telling us how nice it is. Yeah, and now we said that openly, by using their own guidlines! HA-Ha-ha+HAHA!
Not once in the many years she was chancellor I got to know about her work as a barmaid.
Modern schlager = bad techno with the worst lyrics imaginable.
The thought of someone snapping their fingers at a young Merkel and going "Fräulein! Ein anderen bier!" is hilarious to me.
Moin, hast Du mal davon gehört, dass es in diesem Lied darum geht, dass sie von ihrem Freund verprügelt wird, was aber nur auf Farbfotos wirklich erkennbar wäre. Mit dem Hintergedanken, dass sie von ihrem Freund geschlagen wird, liest sich der ganze Liedtext plötzlich völlig anders....
Das habe ich gehört und es stimmt einfach nicht. Blaue Flecken und Schnittwunden erkennt man in schwarzweiß sehr, sehr gut. Und wer glaubt, dass ein Ofper häuslicher Gewalt seinem Peiniger sagen würde: "Okay, ich geb dir noch eine Chance, aber wenn du's nochmal machst, zieh ich aus," hat von der Sache überhaupt keine Ahnung.
Völliger Blödsinn, siehe Ninas Kommentar zum Lied, nachzulesen im Wikipedia-Artikel zum Lied: "Es ist Schlager durch Zerstörung von Schlager. Der Farbfilm atmet im Hintergrund das giftige Grau von Bitterfeld und die Tristesse von Leipzig; es spiegelt die Trostlosigkeit der Arbeitswelten zwischen Akkordschraube und Herumlungern an kaputten Maschinen; es spielt im Milieu einer irren Sehnsucht danach, dieser Schwarzweißwelt zu entfliehen, hin zu Orten voll Farbe und Licht. Da sind die kleinen Fluchten in die Natur, ans Meer, an die endlosen Sandstrände der Ostsee - Rügen, Usedom, Hiddensee -, Fluchten ins private Glück, in ein bisschen erotische Freiheit, die zum Guckloch des Paradieses werden. Aber das Paradies wird eingeholt von der banalen Alltagserfahrung in einem Staat, der knattrige, stinkende Plastikautos, beknackte Badeanzüge und Jahr für Jahr zu wenig Farbfilme hervorbringt."
Nichts, aber auch gar nichts von Verprügeln. Und wenn in einer Beziehung Ninas irgendwer wen verprügelt, dann ist wohl klar, wer kloppt.
I like the choice of Mrs Merkel for this ridiculous ceremony that reminds on some times of the Third Reich. It was a choice with humour, because showing this takes away the bad character of this ceremony. It was the first time I was seeing this ceremony and enjoyed it! The second, she has chosen some strong women important in the woman movement. Also it’s self ironic, because Nina Hagen was attacking her in this talkshow and Mrs. Merkel is normally the opposite, conservative, getting attacked by this Punk movement.
Some things of Nina Hagen you can criticise, but you have to see, she is an extraordinary artist and professional. She has (had) got a highly professional developed voice. (now destroyed by age and not taking care) She is a strong symbol figure and important person. I don’t like her, but I think it was important in Germany to have people like her. And I respect, that she was always honest and sincere in her judgment and a brave woman.
Nina Hagen knew at that time already that Merkel was biased and compromised and that she couldn't be trusted. Merkel had become one of Klaus Schwab's ("The Great Reset") first pupils and has been/is still acting out his absolutely destructive agenda.
I´ve asked others this as well, but explain to me how exactly Merkel, with everything she has done and stood for over the past 16 years, could be considered conservative, because I genuinely do not see it.
Your German pronunciation is excellent!
I studied in leipzig too, and nice piece!
4:49 A pioneer of Neue Deutsche Welle? So there's a straight line from Nina Hagen to NENA ("99 Luftballons")?
Thank you very much for this very interesting and - yes - new informations! :-)
Considering the fact that frank zappas "bob brown" was on second place in the german charts or that scooter made millions with phrases like "how much is the fish"... either germans don't get it at all in terms of music or they have a very dry humor
“Bobby Brown Goes Down”