🎵 Book a Lesson with Beth email beth@bethroars.com 📖 Get your signed copy of my album Fable here: www.bethroars.com/shop ☀ Find me on Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/1W0He1MTuQoG0Yt2ccmhyL?si=b5qm82DmSRip8L4abe2-nw 🥁 Become a Patreon Supporter: www.patreon.com/bethroars
I was stationed in West Germany from '83 to '85. You couldn't turn on a radio, govt. run or AFN without hearing this every hour. The balloon reference struck a chord with service men and women because at the time, a common euphemism for the initiation of any hostilities was, "When the balloon goes up."
I’m Dutch and this song is also still popular in die Niederlände: th-cam.com/video/AOiiJk4yP80/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bZhZbu3TEqYBppm3 There was quite a lot of great songs from Germany back then. And some of those songs (including this one) are very up to date. No matter how happy it sounds, it’s about a devistating war, caused by a misinterpretation because of 99 balloons. Could happen now in Ukraine or Israel, for real. This video was recorded in the Netherlands in the town where I work.
She did a duet with Kim Wilde later on, "anyplace, anywhere, anytime" - in german, "irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann", well worth listening to. Nena sings in german and Kim in english.
Sorry this is bullshit. Ninety Nine is 3 syllables. neunundneunzig is 4 syllables. Balloon is 2 syllables. Luftballon is 3 syllables. Even adding red doesn't get it even its only because the zig is swallowed and not really a syllable that it works. Why do losers like you lie? How sad is your life?
The German lyric has a rhythm and metre that is completely missing from the English version. I’m proud to say that in Australia it was the German version that was the hit!
The last line in English starts with "I think of you." In the original German version the lyrics are "Denk' an dich" where "dich" is the singular "you". When Nena performs the song she changes it to "euch", which is the plural "you".
"It's so funky yet it has a dark feeling" This is very common on 80's german "Neue deutsche Welle"-Music. The musicians often had "dark-themed" songs but wrapped it up in rather happy music.
This clip is actually shot on an army practice range in The Netherlands. There was no clip for this song so when they came to The Netherlands for the TV show Toppop the program director desided they needed some b-roll to acompany the live performance in the show. They set-up on this gunrange, added some smoke and the rest is history. Fits great with the story of the song.
59yo German here. Thanks a lot for this reaction and analysis. This song is one of the best pop pieces ever to come out of Germany and was certainly a part of my youth. Peace marches and the like were very much a thing in early 1980s West Germany, so this struck a chord with many of us. The YT channel "Professor of Rock" has an in-depth episode on this song. It is the best comparison between the German and the English version that I know of. Before Gabriele Kern AKA Nena became a pro musician and moved to West-Berlin, she was an aprentice goldsmith for a short while and as such attended classes at the same vocational college in Dortmund where I am now teaching plumbers and pipe fitters. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Germany!
_A (rough) translation of the lyrics:_ "Do you have some time for me - then I'll sing a song for you Of 99 balloons - on their way to the horizon Do you per chance think of me right now - then I'll sing a song for you Of 99 balloons - and how small things can make bigger things happen 99 balloons on their way to the horizon - were thought of as UFOs from outer space For that reason a General sent - a fighter squadron after them To raise the alarm if it were so - yet all there was at the horizon Were 99 balloons floating 99 fighter jet pilots - each single one a great warrior Thought of themselves as Capt'n Kirk - which lead to a huge firework The neighbors hadn't gotten the news - and felt they were under attack Though the only shots fired at the horizon Were aimed at 99 balloons 99 war ministers - matches and petrol canisters Thought of themselves as clever people - smelling lots of prey already Shouted: WAR! and wanted power - man, who would have ever thought That once it would come down to this Just because of 99 balloons 99 years of war - left no room for any victors War ministers are no more - and also no fighter jet pilots Today, alone, I'm doing my rounds - see the world, laying in rubble Found a balloon - think of you...and let it fly..."
I (in USA) was a kid when this was released. It brings back tons of nostalgia. The song is great all around but for me, specifically, one of the main things I remember is that it was the first (that I can remember, at least) song in the 80s genres that I heard that was in German. Pretty much everything I had heard up until then had been in English (USA, UK, or other places but the songs lyrics I heard were in the English language) so I was pretty much oblivious that 80s music was literally 'happening' all over the world even in non-English speaking countries. It made me look for more German 80s music, in particular, which was fantastic.
In 1960, a song in German with the Austrian singer Lolita made it to number 5 in the US Billboard Hot 100: Seemann (deine Heimat ist das Meer) English: Sailor (Your Home is the Sea). See also English Wikipedia: Seemann (Lolita song).
Here in the US, the German version seemed more popular than the English, or at least for me. It just sounded catchier in German. Same with Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus", which I humbly ask you react to.
"Alles klar, Herr Kommissar!" Falco was so captivating with his Austrian accent and almost "staccato" singing. And then of course the classic _Major Tom_ by Peter Schilling. Trio, DÔF,...
@@lhplspecial vienna accent, decadent with cynical humor ! In Austria every region has his own accent or dialect. It is possible that two villages which are next to each other but separated by a mountain speak different dialects.
There's technically one more syllable in neunundneunzig than in ninety-nine but she sings those words over the same notes. Red is there to fill the space of luft in luftballons which is one syllable more than balloons 😊
Yeah, I was just thinking that doesn’t actually even up the syllables, since it’s 7 syllables in German, and 6 syllables in English. Rather than just an extra word, it’s also maintained with a drawn out syllable, in the English version.
@@davidwoolbright3675 She literally says at 2:52: “Well, it’s because the German word for 99 has one more syllable than the word ninety-nine. So adding that word red in adds that extra syllable, so it makes it fit the song better." She even shows in a box on the left: 99 German: Neunundneunzig English: Ninety-nine
This song played an important role in my life as if came out just before I decided to take German (and may have played a role in that decision). I went on to become a German major and study in Germany and even got to see Nena in concert. Thanks to Beth for doing such a great analysis. I'm proud to say this one was requested by me and then voted in by the other Patrons.
Hi Beth, i'm here because "you've been warned" by Flowers after Rainfall! I know you already knows our girls of The Warning! I saw some reactions of yours to them! 😘
I was in high school when Nena and Falco came on the scene. I remember translating this and Falco's Der Kommissar and loving every minute of it. Thanks, Beth for showing and reacting to the video!
One of the few singers who when singing almost accapella (like the beginning and the end where it’s just her voice and single long keyboard notes) gives me goosebumps/chills. Even though she is singing in a different language to my own, I still get the emotional connection through her voice. I was lucky enough to see her live last year and she has just as an amazing voice live as she does on record.
I think that because of the topic this became one of their most famous songs. Having listened to their other songs, several of them deserve an equal appreciation, alas hardly anyone has ever heard them.
The story of the song had a happy ending. A few years later the wall came down, peacefully, and millions of people were liberated! May that happen again in troubled parts of our world.
@@eatsmylifeYT You might not be able to imagine, but there was a time when this was looked upon as incredibly sexy. After all, it meant she was a fully grown sexual being. Same with pubic hair. I’ve never understood what is sexy about looking like a child.
@@pigpen5305 You might not be able to imagine, but I don't give a rat's ass what you think. I've never understood why snowflakes like you have to cram their preferences down other people's throats.
Flowers after the rain has said their is a cold front forming. Reaction chain for the band freeze the fall and their song daughters of witches. Then tag a reactor to do the same.
Carlo was an inspired songwriter who wrote intelligent and thought provoking songs and aged 31 when he wrote the lyrics was far from being a scared and naive kid.
In the Netherlands we had a similar song in 1984 called 'Over de Muur' from 'Klein Orkest' about the wall in Berlin, the divide East and West. I always found and still do the German original version of 99 luftballoons much more powerfull then the English version.
Flowers After Rainfall says ❄ A COLD FRONT IS COMING ❄ ❤ - this is the start of a reaction chain to help a young/new band get out there. Freeze The Fall are Quinn, 17, guitar/vocals/piano, Aria, 15, bass/vocals/piano and Jonah, 15 on drums. Some of us The Warning fans ( when you doing another TW reaction ) helped with their kickstarter and we got our minds blown by the 1st two official releases. GLITCH was their debut single and Daughters Of Witches is the second. 🥶😰❄❄ Cold Front forming ❄❄😰🥶 good thing the music is hot. BE GOOD TO ONE ANOTHER AND ROCK ON !!
Totally agree with this. Freeze the Fall is an incredible band and all members are still in High School. If you like The Warning, you will also like Freeze the Fall.
❄️A cold front is coming❄️ This is a chain reaction sent from Flowers After Rainfall. Please keep it going by reacting to Freeze The Fall - Daughters Of Witches and shout out the next channel to pass it onto.
Just about a month ago I heard Nena at an Open Air Festival. It was such a fanstastic performance, she seemed to really have fun doing it and her voice is still so very good.
A cold front is coming from Flowers After Rainfall! Freeze the Fall is the group she wants you to react to. She also suggests more of The Warning. New song is Automatic Sun.
Hehe - I came here to say this too! But I've always loved this song, and a big Beth Roars fan too! So Beth please yeah Freeze the Fall, "Daughters of Witches", if you could?? :)
Hey Beth Roars, "A Cold Front is Coming" from fellow reactor Flowers After Rainfall! She asked us to send you this "chain reaction" to react to "Freeze the Fall" a young Canadian band and their song "Daughters of Witches". And while you're at it, might as well react to "The Warning" who's "You Have Been Warned" reaction chain started all this! Thanks!
85 to 87 I was stationed in northern Germany and I saw this music video for the first time and it instantly became one of my favorite songs, the song was very much a possibility reality for me because It was during the middle of Cold War, I was in a combat unit and if the balloon went up all of Germany would have become one big battle field. I used to spend most of my weekends with Germans so when I heard the song, I understood enough German to understand the lyrics.
❄️A Cold Front is coming ❄️. You've been tagged by the reaction channel Flowers After Rainfall to react to the video "Daughters of Witches" by the band Freeze The Fall. Then you need to tag another reaction channel and pass it along!
A cold front is coming! That's FREEZE THE FALL band - song "Daughters of Witches". A young rock trio from British Columbia that is currently a year or so old as a band and are the "coolest" thing lately since The Warning! Please react to them and pay it forward to another reactor that you think should hear them!
As a new adult and newly on my own at the time when the song first came out, I caught the video on some music show (pre-MTV), I must say it was her looks that first attracted me, and her voicing that got me. As a Canadian I didn't know German at the time, and it did take some research to learn what the meaning was and that added to the allure of this band. Nena stayed true to their music and to German. At the time we were all still in deep cold war, it was there, it was in the movies (Bond and Bond-like movies), the us (west) vs them (east). Sadly now, we are back in the us vs them, but now we have leaders who never grew up in the cold war environment, never really educated themselves and are acting like children while lives and democracy are at stake. This song is again very relevant and I hope a reminder of the deadly seriousness of cold war. Thanks for the analysis of a favourite song of my young adult life.
I bought the album when it came out in the US in '84. Side 1 had English songs and side 2 German. What was so weird at the time is the German version of this song actually hit #2 on the US charts behind Van Halen's Jump.
Heck - I was _part_ of it; in the USAF on a nuclear bomber base. Random weekly drills... when the alarms went off if we weren't otherwise engaged, we'd all turn and look to the alert pad full of armed and ready aircraft, and wait to see what they did. If they ever rolled off the pad and towards the runway, we would know that we had mere minutes left before the sub-launched cruise missiles came howling in over the Eastern horizon. We had a plan for that, too - it involved bottles of champaign, plastic cups and cheap sunglasses. We would lift a toast to the incoming missiles, because we wouldn't have time for anything else...
Yup. Enola Gay (by ELO), Russians (by Sting) and so on. OK, youngsters - so global warming is bad, but since I was born there have been several incidents (especially the Cuban missile crisis) that almost led to nuclear war. Even my first Dungeons & Dragons campaign was set in a post-Armageddon world, near a monster-infested wilderness that had once been London.
I like this song so much!!! I listened it on radio, when I was young. I miss that time... It was a time with a future plenty of possibilities!!! I'm from Brazil and I would love more Brazilian musics, also...!!!
Hey Beth!! Just found your channel due to a ‘cold front’ catching us all!! Brb while I rabbit hole lol Also!! Would love for you to check out ‘Daughters of Witches - Freeze the Fall’ they are a teen band from Canada who deserve all the attention and inspired this chain! I don’t mind donating for it as well😊
Thanks for a great job! It's not just about the singing, you reminded me that I have all the old vinyl records and several CDs of this band. It took years to understand that their music is multi-layered in so many ways, almost like a kaleidoscope... - and much better and deeper than the joyful and easy surface is presenting. Now I'm off to dig out some of the old records, refreshing my memory.... :-)
(3:18) You use a map of Germany, where the "Saarland" _(lower left corner)_ is still shown as separated from the FRG. While it's a fact, that the Saarland was separated fom Germany after the war, it's also a fact, that it re-joined Germany again in 1957, as Germany's 10th state. So - looong before this song was written in 1983. ;o)
Somehow the way Nena sings reminds me of the way Marlene Dietrich sings. Maybe it’s a combination of the airy voice and the way she delivers the words. Hearing Marlene Dietrich made me come to love the German language (when I was young Dutch people hated German, because WW II wasn’t long ago). I also really liked this song, because it gave me the same vibes, and Nena’s German is beautiful.
Oh this takes me back … I was 17 and working in Austria (scorching summer that year) this song always transports me back to that place (Grobming) and time … now listening to you from the West coast of Scotland ❤
I remember the radio stations in Philadelphia used to play the English version as well as a version that combined English and German verses. Cover bands at bars used to cover this song still in the 2000's. They would use more distorted guitars to give it a more punk type of feel. This song was always one of my favorites from the 80's!
I think the "red" in the English title stands for the "Luft" in the German one. "Balloon" in German ist "Luftballon", literally meaning "air balloon". So the missing "air" had to be replaced.
Calling her Gabriele is so weird, for me as a German. Everyone just knows her as Nena. I literally have never heard of her being referred to by her legal name.
My favorite from that album are Nur Geträumt. Keyboard player Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen went on to record with Jean Beauvoir from Plasmatics in the band Voodoo X.
Flowers After Rainfall wants to let you know a cold front is forming, and would like you to take part in a reaction chain and react to Freeze The Falls' song Daughters of Witches. Freeze The Fall is a young band out of Canada, Quinn, who just turned17 lead vocals and guitar, Aria, 15 backing vocals and base, and Jonah, 15 drums. Daughters of Witches is the second song off of their debut EP Thrones. About 10 months ago the posted seven videos from a live show that they did at Crown and Thieves. Two of those were covers, Evolve by The Warning, and The Pretender by the Foo Fighters. The other five videos were all originals, an early version of Daughters of Witches, One Left Standing, Masquerade, Insomnia, and 46. They also posted a demo lyric video for a song called Thrones. A couple of months after that Jessie from BEL Development, a Canadian reactor and podcaster, reacted to a couple of their songs, and gave them an open invitation to join him on a podcast. This led to them joining him for a livestream viewing of The Warning's complete Teatro Metropolitan concert. He interviewed them a bit before starting to stream the concert, and during the stream brought up the idea of people donating to help them pay for recording costs. This resulted in them launching a kickstarter shortly thereafter. The kickstarter went so well they doubled thier goal of $5,000, and so were able to put money towards music videos and promotion. Glitch was the first song and video release from the EP, and Daughters of Witches is the second.
I did a bit of an amateur rhyming translation of the lyrics of this song years ago, trying also to get the spirit of the song as well: 99 Balloons If you can spare some time for me For you I have a song to sing About ninety-nine balloons beelined Out to the horizon's distant line If you would maybe think of me Then for you I have a song to sing Balloons that numbered Ninety-Nine And all about what happened next... Balloons that numbered Ninety-Nine Float out to the horizon's line Are they aliens from outer space? The general's mission to that place To order a squadron & give the go To raise the alarm if it were so While out on the horizon's line Float balloons counting Ninety-Nine Ninety-nine jet fighters soar Each pilot a great warrior Tin-plated crew of Captain Kirks Unleashed impressive fireworks Their neighbours think it's an attack And blindly choose to strike them back Targeting the horizon's line Balloons, in total, Ninety-Nine Ninety-nine war ministers Strike matches near gas canisters Thinking the target intelligent The hunt was on, away they went Power-mad & screaming "War!" Man, how'd it ever get so far? Now everything is on the line Because balloons of Ninety-Nine Because balloons of Ninety-Nine Balloons of Ninety-Nine After nine & ninety years of war None recall what it all was for The War Minister exists no more No jet fighters are left to soar And so today, I make my rounds In my world burnt to the ground In the dust, a balloon I spy I think of you, and let it fly
1984, I was a junior high school student in Japan. I was crazy for her, Nena. What a cute girl she was!!! 99 Luftballons is germany national song for me.
I'm a litter younger, but was an MTV kid. Just turned five years old a few days before watching the Buggles air for the first time. So, I was still in the middle of grade school when this was released. I haven't seen this video in a long time, and I forgot just how absolutely gorgeous she was. A good pair of tight jeans and a little black leather certainly didn't hurt the overall aesthetic, either. What a beautiful voice, as well. Not an easy feat to make German sound so pretty, and she does it with ease.
I saw Nena live in 2019,when she began singing this song-the audience went WILD! She is still an active artist,still singing,still looking smoking hot! I had a big crush on her when I was a teen and although I have always been a metalhead ,I am still in love.
Flowers after rainfall a reactor is asking if you may be interested in a chain reaction for Fteeze The Fall - Daughter’s of Whitches ❄️COLD FRONT INCOMING❄️
Ninety-nine and Neunundneundzig are pretty the same length wenn sung or spoken, but the German word for balloon is Ballon and like you know from the title specially Luftballons (Balloon filled with air) so there is the word they put in to fill which became "red".
Hi Beth! wow, I haven't listened to Nena since this came out! She blew up with MTV playing this every hour of the day for months. BTW... A chain reaction has been taking place across the TH-cam community with reactors. You have been chosen by the last one in the long chain, to check out a new band of teen prodigies, named Freeze The Fall from Canada. The song asked for you to watch, is "Daughters of Witches", found on their Official TH-cam Channel. I would link it but YT has been taking down comments with links lately.
Nostalgia... I am French and the year of this song I did my military service in the French Forces in Germany, discovering this country... It was still the Cold War and this song reminds me of this very particular atmosphere. So much memories 🤩
Funny, I just noticed that ascending glide on the guitar is just like the ending of _And You And I_ by Yes. Probably not on a pedal steel, though. BTW, a band called Goldfinger does a good cover.
Kleine lustige Anekdote: als ich klein war (2000er) haben wir Kinder immer die Parodie von dem Lied gesungen, „99 Handgranaten fliegen übern Kindergarten…“ davon gab es dann viele verschiedene Möglichkeiten, wie es fortgesetzt wird 😂😂😂 das war der Hit überhaupt
I speak almost no German but I still have their self-titled album on the loop I listen to while sleeping (with like 6 other albums) because of her voice and the vibe.
Wow, that's a blast from the 80s. Never thought I'd hear that one again. Good breakdown. Here's a lead, though. A cold front is coming from Canada. Another reactor, Flowers After Rainfall suggests you react to Freeze the Fall, a budding teen group with a new song, *Daughters of Witches.* No doubt The Warning Army is going to want you to hear the latest release from The Warning, which is *Automatic Sun.* Freeze the Fall broke their teeth in doing covers of The Warning's songs...
I was in high school when this song came out, and I was taking German class that year. I was thrilled that we got to dissect the lyrics to an actual Popular Song instead of to something that clueless teenage me thought was a bore (although I also still remember bits of Erlkönig). At the time, I thought it was amazing that they managed to get pretty decent English lyrics to the same tune! With no internet (obviously) and not a lot of sources in the US for info about European music, I had no idea what the band thought of the translation. Today, I still like the original! And the English translation. (And covers!) Ja, ich habe etwas Zeit für dich.
I remember when this song came out. (the German version even in the US) One thing that no matter what language she is singing in her voice is just so beautiful in it's own way. (I love her sound)
It's a bit weird to hear Nena to be refered as Gabriele. I think in Germany she is just known as Nena. I wanted to make a referrence to how it is like with Madonna who is also known with her artist name until I looked her up on wikipedia and learned that her first name actually is Madonna. Same with Cher. Her first name is Cherilyn. I clocked both of them as Artists names.
A lot of 80s Hits were, mostly unbeknown to the listeners, about the nuclear apocalypse: E.g. 99 Luftballons (Nena), Vamos a la playa (Righeira), Red Skies Over Paradise (Fisher-Z), Forever Young (Alphaville), The final countdown (Europe / to some extend), ... and all had pretty dancable soundtracks, while no one really listened to the dystopic lyris - or even sang along the chorus without realizing what they were singing...
I was so excited when this came out. I was studying German in college. Nena (I always thought that was HER name) and Falco (Austrian) made studying German even more exciting. There really is a lot of amazing German/Austrian music. Thanks for giving us the origin of the song, too.
Thanks for the video and analysis. This song has been important to me for a long time as I've been a Nena fan since the 1980s. I took German in High School and this song and the other Neue Deutsche Welle songs that became popular were the only way to hear and practice German outside of class. In 1984, I traveled to Germany on a school trip and one of the areas we visited was the fenced/wired/mined Inter-German Border where we got to see US and East German observation posts watching each other. The last night of the trip was the start of the annual NATO REFORGER exercise and I remember US Army armored vehicle convoys going through the village I was staying in. That feeling of being on the edge of war was still very strong then. The end of the song strongly resonates with the German experience and memory of the end of WWII. "Ich seh' die Welt in Trümmern liegen" translates to "I see the world lying in ruins." Although also representing the destruction of Germany from the expected NATO-Soviet Third World War, "Trümmern" returns the image back to the ruins of German cities after WWII and the mythologized Trümmerfrauen (Rubble Women) who worked to clear the rubble after the war and during the rebuilding of Germany.
@@gulliverthegullible6667 Yes. NDW was just a mix of Punk, New Wave, and Pop, in varying degrees, and with German lyrics. Ideal was one of the bands that had early success, but after around 1982 most of NDW became sad and lame. Annette Humpe had studied composition and piano at the Musikhochschule Köln for sex semesters, and the other members of Ideal were all Jazz cats. Their attitude, OTOH, was very Punk.
@@gulliverthegullible6667 Yes. But the history of Punk did not begin with Slime. It began around 1973 in New York's Lower East Side, with bands like Television, Suicide, the Patti Smith Group, and the Ramones. The name Punk came from a fanzine that promoted these bands, the Punk Magazine. The label Punk was also retroactively applied to bands that had come before, like The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, MC5, and The Stooges. The venue where these new bands played was Hilly Kristal's CBGB's on the Bowery, starting with Television in 1973. During the following years, more bands appeared on the scene, like The Dictators, The Voidoids, The Talking Heads, Blondie, The Heartbreakers, and many more. They were all called Punk bands at the time. The first British Punk bands started to appear in 1976, like the Sex Pistols and The Damned. Only after the breakup of the Sex Pistols many venues declined Punk bands, fearing their behavior, so the bands' managers started calling them New Wave. Over time, Punk and New Wave have diverted very much, but that is how it all started. The first German Punk band was probably PVC from West Berlin. They were founded in 1977. Slime from Hamburg were founded in 1979. In the end, Punk is not a style, but an attitude.
This song tickles a spot in my brain I didn’t know was there. Btw Nick Thurl Mavromatis has done it again! His new song is a masterpiece. React to it now!
As a English speaker who doesn’t understand a word of German I will take the German version every single time. It’s light years better than the English version.
This song was released when I was 25. ( I do have the vinyl , German on one side, English on the other ) I too have heard the 2 versions you mention Beth. I have also found on TH-cam a 2018 Live version, Gabriele sang the song, yet the whole arena sang along, it was fantastic. Today we woke up alive and breathing , as my friend ( R.I.P.) used to say. Have a good day :) Thanks for all you do.
🎵 Book a Lesson with Beth email beth@bethroars.com
📖 Get your signed copy of my album Fable here: www.bethroars.com/shop
☀ Find me on Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/1W0He1MTuQoG0Yt2ccmhyL?si=b5qm82DmSRip8L4abe2-nw
🥁 Become a Patreon Supporter: www.patreon.com/bethroars
I was stationed in West Germany from '83 to '85. You couldn't turn on a radio, govt. run or AFN without hearing this every hour. The balloon reference struck a chord with service men and women because at the time, a common euphemism for the initiation of any hostilities was, "When the balloon goes up."
I was at Wildenwrath in 84 and I know exactly what you mean (Not in forces, was touring playing Rugby)
Oh, wow, that's interesting!
a sort of Lili Marleen. Which has a fascinating story.
I was at Ray Barracks in Fridberg West Germany. Jan. 1983-June 1984.
I´m german and this song is still very popular in germany. I love your videos :) Your knowledge about this song/the time which it is about is great!
@@bantharider5879 I agree. So glad the wall fell in 89, and the East Germans could be free again and reunited with the West Germans.
I’m Dutch and this song is also still popular in die Niederlände: th-cam.com/video/AOiiJk4yP80/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bZhZbu3TEqYBppm3
There was quite a lot of great songs from Germany back then.
And some of those songs (including this one) are very up to date.
No matter how happy it sounds, it’s about a devistating war, caused by a misinterpretation because of 99 balloons. Could happen now in Ukraine or Israel, for real.
This video was recorded in the Netherlands in the town where I work.
@@erik5374 That is very interesting. Good information. I liked the German Band Out of Focus.
@@willieboy3011 Focus is Dutch.
The singer is from very near the place the place where the video was shot.
@@erik5374 That is a different band. Out of Focus is a German band. They are on TH-cam some.
I was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army in 1983 when this song came out. I still listen to this all the time.
Thank you for your service, must've been an interesting to be there.
She did a duet with Kim Wilde later on, "anyplace, anywhere, anytime" - in german, "irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann", well worth listening to. Nena sings in german and Kim in english.
Will be looking for that. I like them both. Thanks for the information, didn't know about that.
99 in german and english are close enough actually. It was balloons vs luft-ballons (air-balloons) that didn't fit, so they made them red.
Sorry this is bullshit. Ninety Nine is 3 syllables. neunundneunzig is 4 syllables. Balloon is 2 syllables. Luftballon is 3 syllables. Even adding red doesn't get it even its only because the zig is swallowed and not really a syllable that it works. Why do losers like you lie? How sad is your life?
The German lyric has a rhythm and metre that is completely missing from the English version. I’m proud to say that in Australia it was the German version that was the hit!
I'm German and I love to read that. :)
What a lovely knowledgeable analysis - as a German I'd like to say thank you, this song means a lot to me
I was in high school when this came out. I love her voice. The NENA live album is amazing!
The last line in English starts with "I think of you." In the original German version the lyrics are "Denk' an dich" where "dich" is the singular "you". When Nena performs the song she changes it to "euch", which is the plural "you".
That's beautiful. I think of you - as in all of you.
"It's so funky yet it has a dark feeling" This is very common on 80's german "Neue deutsche Welle"-Music. The musicians often had "dark-themed" songs but wrapped it up in rather happy music.
This clip is actually shot on an army practice range in The Netherlands.
There was no clip for this song so when they came to The Netherlands for the TV show Toppop the program director desided they needed some b-roll to acompany the live performance in the show.
They set-up on this gunrange, added some smoke and the rest is history. Fits great with the story of the song.
59yo German here. Thanks a lot for this reaction and analysis. This song is one of the best pop pieces ever to come out of Germany and was certainly a part of my youth. Peace marches and the like were very much a thing in early 1980s West Germany, so this struck a chord with many of us.
The YT channel "Professor of Rock" has an in-depth episode on this song. It is the best comparison between the German and the English version that I know of.
Before Gabriele Kern AKA Nena became a pro musician and moved to West-Berlin, she was an aprentice goldsmith for a short while and as such attended classes at the same vocational college in Dortmund where I am now teaching plumbers and pipe fitters.
Keep up the good work! Greetings from Germany!
This was a great era in German music.
I liked Völlig losgelöst and skandal im sperrbezirk even better.
@@erik5374 Yep. Lots of creativity and deliberate goofyness.
I was born in 83 and still remember joining peace marches, that song was my childhood anthem!
@@erik5374 "Völlig losgelöst" is "Major Tom" from Peter Schilling
i'm french, and same age. in the 80's, i loved this song and its message.
_A (rough) translation of the lyrics:_
"Do you have some time for me - then I'll sing a song for you
Of 99 balloons - on their way to the horizon
Do you per chance think of me right now - then I'll sing a song for you
Of 99 balloons - and how small things can make bigger things happen
99 balloons on their way to the horizon - were thought of as UFOs from outer space
For that reason a General sent - a fighter squadron after them
To raise the alarm if it were so - yet all there was at the horizon
Were 99 balloons floating
99 fighter jet pilots - each single one a great warrior
Thought of themselves as Capt'n Kirk - which lead to a huge firework
The neighbors hadn't gotten the news - and felt they were under attack
Though the only shots fired at the horizon
Were aimed at 99 balloons
99 war ministers - matches and petrol canisters
Thought of themselves as clever people - smelling lots of prey already
Shouted: WAR! and wanted power - man, who would have ever thought
That once it would come down to this
Just because of 99 balloons
99 years of war - left no room for any victors
War ministers are no more - and also no fighter jet pilots
Today, alone, I'm doing my rounds - see the world, laying in rubble
Found a balloon - think of you...and let it fly..."
I (in USA) was a kid when this was released. It brings back tons of nostalgia. The song is great all around but for me, specifically, one of the main things I remember is that it was the first (that I can remember, at least) song in the 80s genres that I heard that was in German. Pretty much everything I had heard up until then had been in English (USA, UK, or other places but the songs lyrics I heard were in the English language) so I was pretty much oblivious that 80s music was literally 'happening' all over the world even in non-English speaking countries. It made me look for more German 80s music, in particular, which was fantastic.
Der Kommissar by Falco came out 3 years before in 1981. English version came out in 1983.
@@jimwiater2867 there was so much music translated and rewritten between German and English to reach a wider audience.
In 1960, a song in German with the Austrian singer Lolita made it to number 5 in the US Billboard Hot 100: Seemann (deine Heimat ist das Meer) English: Sailor (Your Home is the Sea). See also English Wikipedia: Seemann (Lolita song).
Here in the US, the German version seemed more popular than the English, or at least for me. It just sounded catchier in German. Same with Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus", which I humbly ask you react to.
"Alles klar, Herr Kommissar!" Falco was so captivating with his Austrian accent and almost "staccato" singing.
And then of course the classic _Major Tom_ by Peter Schilling.
Trio, DÔF,...
Loved them and Peter Schilling, who had Major Tom around that same time
@@michaelmcfarland1716 Me too.
@@lhplgenuinely pretty sure Falco was the first white rapper.
@@lhplspecial vienna accent, decadent with cynical humor ! In Austria every region has his own accent or dialect. It is possible that two villages which are next to each other but separated by a mountain speak different dialects.
I love her voice so much! It's like no other! Very unique and distinct! It's awesome!
There's technically one more syllable in neunundneunzig than in ninety-nine but she sings those words over the same notes. Red is there to fill the space of luft in luftballons which is one syllable more than balloons 😊
Didn't she just explain that? 😅
@@huawafabe She said it was because 99 was longer in German and I said that it's actually because luftballons is longer. Pay attention
She said the word balloons in German is longer than in English so they added the word Red. Pay attention.
Yeah, I was just thinking that doesn’t actually even up the syllables, since it’s 7 syllables in German, and 6 syllables in English. Rather than just an extra word, it’s also maintained with a drawn out syllable, in the English version.
@@davidwoolbright3675 She literally says at 2:52: “Well, it’s because the German word for 99 has one more syllable than the word ninety-nine. So adding that word red in adds that extra syllable, so it makes it fit the song better."
She even shows in a box on the left:
99
German: Neunundneunzig
English: Ninety-nine
This song played an important role in my life as if came out just before I decided to take German (and may have played a role in that decision). I went on to become a German major and study in Germany and even got to see Nena in concert. Thanks to Beth for doing such a great analysis. I'm proud to say this one was requested by me and then voted in by the other Patrons.
👍👍
I also learned German because of this song.
Hi Beth, i'm here because "you've been warned" by Flowers after Rainfall! I know you already knows our girls of The Warning! I saw some reactions of yours to them! 😘
You should try reacting to The Warning "Hell You Call A Dream" if you are into live female rock vocals.
She has done Choke, and she loved them!
I was in high school when Nena and Falco came on the scene. I remember translating this and Falco's Der Kommissar and loving every minute of it.
Thanks, Beth for showing and reacting to the video!
One of the few singers who when singing almost accapella (like the beginning and the end where it’s just her voice and single long keyboard notes) gives me goosebumps/chills.
Even though she is singing in a different language to my own, I still get the emotional connection through her voice.
I was lucky enough to see her live last year and she has just as an amazing voice live as she does on record.
That thumbnail is pure gold.
😂 indeed
It looks like "The What / Rug Doctor Woman Ad" on Know Your Meme.
Oh! This is a song from my early teens, and _I still love it_ so, so much.
I think that because of the topic this became one of their most famous songs. Having listened to their other songs, several of them deserve an equal appreciation, alas hardly anyone has ever heard them.
The story of the song had a happy ending. A few years later the wall came down, peacefully, and millions of people were liberated!
May that happen again in troubled parts of our world.
I remember seeing it on TV and how happy it was.
Yes, those were times of hope that things were turning to the better. May those come back! 🙏
And without use of weapons. The tanks waited around the demonstrating people. I was in front of my TV in these days and prayed that all would go well.
the people in east Germany liberated themselfes, details matter.
Fast forward 30 years and people are wanting USSR back in power
Every boy in my generation was in love with Nena
Gabriella, not Nena. That was the bands name. Also her hairy pits put most boys of the generation off
And her hairy armpits?
@@eatsmylifeYT You might not be able to imagine, but there was a time when this was looked upon as incredibly sexy. After all, it meant she was a fully grown sexual being. Same with pubic hair. I’ve never understood what is sexy about looking like a child.
@@pigpen5305 I've never understood why people like you have to shove their preferences down other people's throats.
@@pigpen5305 You might not be able to imagine, but I don't give a rat's ass what you think. I've never understood why snowflakes like you have to cram their preferences down other people's throats.
Flowers after the rain has said their is a cold front forming. Reaction chain for the band freeze the fall and their song daughters of witches. Then tag a reactor to do the same.
always get goosebumps at the end. I think it is one of the most important songs of that time.
A cold front is coming from Flowers After Rainfall!
Freeze the Fall is the group she wants you to react to.
Chills then tears then heartache, massively powerful song indeed.
Don't overstate it. It's just a cute song by some scared and naïve kids.
Carlo was an inspired songwriter who wrote intelligent and thought provoking songs and aged 31 when he wrote the lyrics was far from being a scared and naive kid.
In the Netherlands we had a similar song in 1984 called 'Over de Muur' from 'Klein Orkest' about the wall in Berlin, the divide East and West.
I always found and still do the German original version of 99 luftballoons much more powerfull then the English version.
Flowers After Rainfall says ❄ A COLD FRONT IS COMING ❄ ❤ - this is the start of a reaction chain to help a young/new band get out there. Freeze The Fall are Quinn, 17, guitar/vocals/piano, Aria, 15, bass/vocals/piano and Jonah, 15 on drums.
Some of us The Warning fans ( when you doing another TW reaction ) helped with their kickstarter and we got our minds blown by the 1st two official releases. GLITCH was their debut single and Daughters Of Witches is the second.
🥶😰❄❄ Cold Front forming ❄❄😰🥶 good thing the music is hot.
BE GOOD TO ONE ANOTHER AND ROCK ON !!
What @iiwdpn said, please check out this new band Freeze the Fall, three high schoolers from Canada with their debut EP coming out soon.
Totally agree with this. Freeze the Fall is an incredible band and all members are still in High School. If you like The Warning, you will also like Freeze the Fall.
❄️A cold front is coming❄️
This is a chain reaction sent from Flowers After Rainfall. Please keep it going by reacting to Freeze The Fall - Daughters Of Witches and shout out the next channel to pass it onto.
Just about a month ago I heard Nena at an Open Air Festival. It was such a fanstastic performance, she seemed to really have fun doing it and her voice is still so very good.
Nice to hear that, I'm going next week!
❄ A COLD FRONT IS COMING from Flowers After Rainfall! ❄ ❤ Please react to Freeze The Fall, Daughters of Witches
A cold front is coming from Flowers After Rainfall!
Freeze the Fall is the group she wants you to react to.
She also suggests more of The Warning. New song is Automatic Sun.
Hehe - I came here to say this too! But I've always loved this song, and a big Beth Roars fan too! So Beth please yeah Freeze the Fall, "Daughters of Witches", if you could?? :)
There is a great live version of this song on the Nena channel from a few years ago. She still has a beautiful voice and looks amazing.
Hey Beth Roars, "A Cold Front is Coming" from fellow reactor Flowers After Rainfall! She asked us to send you this "chain reaction" to react to "Freeze the Fall" a young Canadian band and their song "Daughters of Witches". And while you're at it, might as well react to "The Warning" who's "You Have Been Warned" reaction chain started all this! Thanks!
85 to 87 I was stationed in northern Germany and I saw this music video for the first time and it instantly became one of my favorite songs, the song was very much a possibility reality for me because It was during the middle of Cold War, I was in a combat unit and if the balloon went up all of Germany would have become one big battle field. I used to spend most of my weekends with Germans so when I heard the song, I understood enough German to understand the lyrics.
❄️A Cold Front is coming ❄️. You've been tagged by the reaction channel Flowers After Rainfall to react to the video "Daughters of Witches" by the band Freeze The Fall. Then you need to tag another reaction channel and pass it along!
A cold front is coming! That's FREEZE THE FALL band - song "Daughters of Witches". A young rock trio from British Columbia that is currently a year or so old as a band and are the "coolest" thing lately since The Warning! Please react to them and pay it forward to another reactor that you think should hear them!
Great song! Reminds me so much of the 80's
As a new adult and newly on my own at the time when the song first came out, I caught the video on some music show (pre-MTV), I must say it was her looks that first attracted me, and her voicing that got me. As a Canadian I didn't know German at the time, and it did take some research to learn what the meaning was and that added to the allure of this band. Nena stayed true to their music and to German. At the time we were all still in deep cold war, it was there, it was in the movies (Bond and Bond-like movies), the us (west) vs them (east). Sadly now, we are back in the us vs them, but now we have leaders who never grew up in the cold war environment, never really educated themselves and are acting like children while lives and democracy are at stake. This song is again very relevant and I hope a reminder of the deadly seriousness of cold war. Thanks for the analysis of a favourite song of my young adult life.
(the group) Nena has made beautiful songs, for myself I think the song ''Leuchtturm'' is great.
I bought the album when it came out in the US in '84. Side 1 had English songs and side 2 German. What was so weird at the time is the German version of this song actually hit #2 on the US charts behind Van Halen's Jump.
I love Nena. I’ve been a fan for more than 40 years and I still go to her concerts.
Greetings from Denmark ☺️
m.th-cam.com/video/oIO5lfJ9dhs/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUTbmVuYSA5OSBsdWZ0YmFsbG9ucw%3D%3D
This is why absolutely nothing scares us aging GenXers. Even our pop songs were about nuclear Armageddon.
Heck - I was _part_ of it; in the USAF on a nuclear bomber base. Random weekly drills... when the alarms went off if we weren't otherwise engaged, we'd all turn and look to the alert pad full of armed and ready aircraft, and wait to see what they did. If they ever rolled off the pad and towards the runway, we would know that we had mere minutes left before the sub-launched cruise missiles came howling in over the Eastern horizon. We had a plan for that, too - it involved bottles of champaign, plastic cups and cheap sunglasses. We would lift a toast to the incoming missiles, because we wouldn't have time for anything else...
@@MrJest2 Respect.
Yep, another good one is "Forever Young" by Alphaville.
"Dancing With Tears in My Eyes" is also a good one. While it's not about nuclear war, it's about a nuclear disaster.
Yup. Enola Gay (by ELO), Russians (by Sting) and so on.
OK, youngsters - so global warming is bad, but since I was born there have been several incidents (especially the Cuban missile crisis) that almost led to nuclear war.
Even my first Dungeons & Dragons campaign was set in a post-Armageddon world, near a monster-infested wilderness that had once been London.
I like this song so much!!! I listened it on radio, when I was young. I miss that time... It was a time with a future plenty of possibilities!!! I'm from Brazil and I would love more Brazilian musics, also...!!!
Examples please.
@@LeperMessiah2
Oswaldo Montenegro: "Lua e Flor";
Ney Matogrosso: "Bandolero";
Kleiton & Kledir: "Vira-Virou";
Alceu Valença, Geraldo Azevedo, Elba Ramalho & Zé Ramalho: "Disparada";
Boca Livre: "Toada";
Renato Teixeira: "Amora".
Hey Beth!! Just found your channel due to a ‘cold front’ catching us all!! Brb while I rabbit hole lol
Also!! Would love for you to check out ‘Daughters of Witches - Freeze the Fall’ they are a teen band from Canada who deserve all the attention and inspired this chain! I don’t mind donating for it as well😊
Thanks for a great job! It's not just about the singing, you reminded me that I have all the old vinyl records and several CDs of this band. It took years to understand that their music is multi-layered in so many ways, almost like a kaleidoscope... - and much better and deeper than the joyful and easy surface is presenting. Now I'm off to dig out some of the old records, refreshing my memory.... :-)
(3:18) You use a map of Germany, where the "Saarland" _(lower left corner)_ is still shown as separated from the FRG.
While it's a fact, that the Saarland was separated fom Germany after the war, it's also a fact, that it re-joined Germany again in 1957, as Germany's 10th state.
So - looong before this song was written in 1983.
;o)
I didn't know that name of the artist nor the song.
Thank you so much !
Excellent video !
Somehow the way Nena sings reminds me of the way Marlene Dietrich sings. Maybe it’s a combination of the airy voice and the way she delivers the words.
Hearing Marlene Dietrich made me come to love the German language (when I was young Dutch people hated German, because WW II wasn’t long ago). I also really liked this song, because it gave me the same vibes, and Nena’s German is beautiful.
Oh this takes me back … I was 17 and working in Austria (scorching summer that year) this song always transports me back to that place (Grobming) and time … now listening to you from the West coast of Scotland ❤
I remember the radio stations in Philadelphia used to play the English version as well as a version that combined English and German verses. Cover bands at bars used to cover this song still in the 2000's. They would use more distorted guitars to give it a more punk type of feel. This song was always one of my favorites from the 80's!
Goldfinger did a kick ass cover of this. Matter of fact, that cover was the first time I had heard the song!
lmfao, the title and the facial reaction got me HAHAHA. Welcome back to the 80's!
I think the "red" in the English title stands for the "Luft" in the German one. "Balloon" in German ist "Luftballon", literally meaning "air balloon". So the missing "air" had to be replaced.
I only grew up with the english version on mtv way back. Of course i get it decades later but your take on it is what matters here.
Calling her Gabriele is so weird, for me as a German. Everyone just knows her as Nena. I literally have never heard of her being referred to by her legal name.
Being born 1971 in Germany, this was one of the songs of my youth.
Therefore I will always feel connected with it.
My favorite from that album are Nur Geträumt. Keyboard player Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen went on to record with Jean Beauvoir from Plasmatics in the band Voodoo X.
Beth Roars a Cold Front is coming your way ❤
Ah 80's, best time ever
Flowers After Rainfall wants to let you know a cold front is forming, and would like you to take part in a reaction chain and react to Freeze The Falls' song Daughters of Witches.
Freeze The Fall is a young band out of Canada, Quinn, who just turned17 lead vocals and guitar, Aria, 15 backing vocals and base, and Jonah, 15 drums. Daughters of Witches is the second song off of their debut EP Thrones.
About 10 months ago the posted seven videos from a live show that they did at Crown and Thieves. Two of those were covers, Evolve by The Warning, and The Pretender by the Foo Fighters. The other five videos were all originals, an early version of Daughters of Witches, One Left Standing, Masquerade, Insomnia, and 46. They also posted a demo lyric video for a song called Thrones.
A couple of months after that Jessie from BEL Development, a Canadian reactor and podcaster, reacted to a couple of their songs, and gave them an open invitation to join him on a podcast. This led to them joining him for a livestream viewing of The Warning's complete Teatro Metropolitan concert. He interviewed them a bit before starting to stream the concert, and during the stream brought up the idea of people donating to help them pay for recording costs. This resulted in them launching a kickstarter shortly thereafter. The kickstarter went so well they doubled thier goal of $5,000, and so were able to put money towards music videos and promotion. Glitch was the first song and video release from the EP, and Daughters of Witches is the second.
I did a bit of an amateur rhyming translation of the lyrics of this song years ago, trying also to get the spirit of the song as well:
99 Balloons
If you can spare some time for me
For you I have a song to sing
About ninety-nine balloons beelined
Out to the horizon's distant line
If you would maybe think of me
Then for you I have a song to sing
Balloons that numbered Ninety-Nine
And all about what happened next...
Balloons that numbered Ninety-Nine
Float out to the horizon's line
Are they aliens from outer space?
The general's mission to that place
To order a squadron & give the go
To raise the alarm if it were so
While out on the horizon's line
Float balloons counting Ninety-Nine
Ninety-nine jet fighters soar
Each pilot a great warrior
Tin-plated crew of Captain Kirks
Unleashed impressive fireworks
Their neighbours think it's an attack
And blindly choose to strike them back
Targeting the horizon's line
Balloons, in total, Ninety-Nine
Ninety-nine war ministers
Strike matches near gas canisters
Thinking the target intelligent
The hunt was on, away they went
Power-mad & screaming "War!"
Man, how'd it ever get so far?
Now everything is on the line
Because balloons of Ninety-Nine
Because balloons of Ninety-Nine
Balloons of Ninety-Nine
After nine & ninety years of war
None recall what it all was for
The War Minister exists no more
No jet fighters are left to soar
And so today, I make my rounds
In my world burnt to the ground
In the dust, a balloon I spy
I think of you, and let it fly
Thanks for your beautiful translation from Japan.
Hey Beth please check out Freeze the Fall and their song 'Daughters of Witches" Thanks. A cold front is coming.
1984, I was a junior high school student in Japan. I was crazy for her, Nena. What a cute girl she was!!! 99 Luftballons is germany national song for me.
I'm a litter younger, but was an MTV kid. Just turned five years old a few days before watching the Buggles air for the first time. So, I was still in the middle of grade school when this was released. I haven't seen this video in a long time, and I forgot just how absolutely gorgeous she was. A good pair of tight jeans and a little black leather certainly didn't hurt the overall aesthetic, either. What a beautiful voice, as well. Not an easy feat to make German sound so pretty, and she does it with ease.
I saw Nena live in 2019,when she began singing this song-the audience went WILD! She is still an active artist,still singing,still looking smoking hot! I had a big crush on her when I was a teen and although I have always been a metalhead ,I am still in love.
Flowers after rainfall a reactor is asking if you may be interested in a chain reaction for Fteeze The Fall - Daughter’s of Whitches ❄️COLD FRONT INCOMING❄️
Ninety-nine and Neunundneundzig are pretty the same length wenn sung or spoken, but the German word for balloon is Ballon and like you know from the title specially Luftballons (Balloon filled with air) so there is the word they put in to fill which became "red".
Hi Beth! wow, I haven't listened to Nena since this came out! She blew up with MTV playing this every hour of the day for months. BTW...
A chain reaction has been taking place across the TH-cam community with reactors. You have been chosen by the last one in the long chain, to check out a new band of teen prodigies, named Freeze The Fall from Canada. The song asked for you to watch, is "Daughters of Witches", found on their Official TH-cam Channel. I would link it but YT has been taking down comments with links lately.
Loved the German Version when it was originally released, and still my favorite version of this song.
I'm French, and young when this song came out in the 80's... i loved it, in german.
Please react to freeze the fall daughters of witches
Nostalgia... I am French and the year of this song I did my military service in the French Forces in Germany, discovering this country...
It was still the Cold War and this song reminds me of this very particular atmosphere. So much memories 🤩
I love this NENA lady
Funny, I just noticed that ascending glide on the guitar is just like the ending of _And You And I_ by Yes.
Probably not on a pedal steel, though.
BTW, a band called Goldfinger does a good cover.
Kleine lustige Anekdote: als ich klein war (2000er) haben wir Kinder immer die Parodie von dem Lied gesungen, „99 Handgranaten fliegen übern Kindergarten…“ davon gab es dann viele verschiedene Möglichkeiten, wie es fortgesetzt wird 😂😂😂 das war der Hit überhaupt
I speak almost no German but I still have their self-titled album on the loop I listen to while sleeping (with like 6 other albums) because of her voice and the vibe.
I was living in Germany when this song blew up. Loved it. I never cared for the English version. Gr8 analysis as usual. 🎶 🎸 🎶 🎹 🇩🇪
Wow, that's a blast from the 80s. Never thought I'd hear that one again. Good breakdown. Here's a lead, though. A cold front is coming from Canada. Another reactor, Flowers After Rainfall suggests you react to Freeze the Fall, a budding teen group with a new song, *Daughters of Witches.* No doubt The Warning Army is going to want you to hear the latest release from The Warning, which is *Automatic Sun.* Freeze the Fall broke their teeth in doing covers of The Warning's songs...
I was in high school when this song came out, and I was taking German class that year. I was thrilled that we got to dissect the lyrics to an actual Popular Song instead of to something that clueless teenage me thought was a bore (although I also still remember bits of Erlkönig). At the time, I thought it was amazing that they managed to get pretty decent English lyrics to the same tune! With no internet (obviously) and not a lot of sources in the US for info about European music, I had no idea what the band thought of the translation.
Today, I still like the original! And the English translation. (And covers!) Ja, ich habe etwas Zeit für dich.
oh my goodness, Erlkönig.
Susanne Kerner aka Nena is a fantastic Singer i´m german i hear her my whole Life on TV+ Radio 40+ Years
If you ever want to do a cover version, the band Goldfinger does an excellent version that combines the English and German lyrics.
OK, this is my earliest childhood.
I remember when this song came out. (the German version even in the US) One thing that no matter what language she is singing in her voice is just so beautiful in it's own way. (I love her sound)
It's a bit weird to hear Nena to be refered as Gabriele. I think in Germany she is just known as Nena.
I wanted to make a referrence to how it is like with Madonna who is also known with her artist name until I looked her up on wikipedia and learned that her first name actually is Madonna. Same with Cher. Her first name is Cherilyn. I clocked both of them as Artists names.
A lot of 80s Hits were, mostly unbeknown to the listeners, about the nuclear apocalypse: E.g. 99 Luftballons (Nena), Vamos a la playa (Righeira), Red Skies Over Paradise (Fisher-Z), Forever Young (Alphaville), The final countdown (Europe / to some extend), ... and all had pretty dancable soundtracks, while no one really listened to the dystopic lyris - or even sang along the chorus without realizing what they were singing...
I was so excited when this came out. I was studying German in college. Nena (I always thought that was HER name) and Falco (Austrian) made studying German even more exciting. There really is a lot of amazing German/Austrian music. Thanks for giving us the origin of the song, too.
I remember Nena was the nickname her parents used when she was young.
Thanks for the video and analysis. This song has been important to me for a long time as I've been a Nena fan since the 1980s. I took German in High School and this song and the other Neue Deutsche Welle songs that became popular were the only way to hear and practice German outside of class. In 1984, I traveled to Germany on a school trip and one of the areas we visited was the fenced/wired/mined Inter-German Border where we got to see US and East German observation posts watching each other. The last night of the trip was the start of the annual NATO REFORGER exercise and I remember US Army armored vehicle convoys going through the village I was staying in. That feeling of being on the edge of war was still very strong then. The end of the song strongly resonates with the German experience and memory of the end of WWII. "Ich seh' die Welt in Trümmern liegen" translates to "I see the world lying in ruins." Although also representing the destruction of Germany from the expected NATO-Soviet Third World War, "Trümmern" returns the image back to the ruins of German cities after WWII and the mythologized Trümmerfrauen (Rubble Women) who worked to clear the rubble after the war and during the rebuilding of Germany.
Nena‘s name is Susanne Gabriele. Nena because her sister could not pronounce Susanne. But everyone only knows her as Nena.
Beth, if you want more NDW, the band Ideal is one you should definitely look into. Their greatest hit, Blaue Augen (Blue Eyes) is just wonderful.
i recommend it. the Humpe sisters.
is that even NDW?
@@gulliverthegullible6667 Yes. NDW was just a mix of Punk, New Wave, and Pop, in varying degrees, and with German lyrics. Ideal was one of the bands that had early success, but after around 1982 most of NDW became sad and lame.
Annette Humpe had studied composition and piano at the Musikhochschule Köln for sex semesters, and the other members of Ideal were all Jazz cats. Their attitude, OTOH, was very Punk.
@@pillmuncher67 Slime is punk.
@@gulliverthegullible6667 Yes. But the history of Punk did not begin with Slime. It began around 1973 in New York's Lower East Side, with bands like Television, Suicide, the Patti Smith Group, and the Ramones. The name Punk came from a fanzine that promoted these bands, the Punk Magazine. The label Punk was also retroactively applied to bands that had come before, like The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, MC5, and The Stooges.
The venue where these new bands played was Hilly Kristal's CBGB's on the Bowery, starting with Television in 1973. During the following years, more bands appeared on the scene, like The Dictators, The Voidoids, The Talking Heads, Blondie, The Heartbreakers, and many more. They were all called Punk bands at the time. The first British Punk bands started to appear in 1976, like the Sex Pistols and The Damned. Only after the breakup of the Sex Pistols many venues declined Punk bands, fearing their behavior, so the bands' managers started calling them New Wave. Over time, Punk and New Wave have diverted very much, but that is how it all started.
The first German Punk band was probably PVC from West Berlin. They were founded in 1977. Slime from Hamburg were founded in 1979.
In the end, Punk is not a style, but an attitude.
I was in elementary school when this song was released. It was the first song I could sing by heart.
Greetings from Munich
This song tickles a spot in my brain I didn’t know was there. Btw Nick Thurl Mavromatis has done it again! His new song is a masterpiece. React to it now!
As a English speaker who doesn’t understand a word of German I will take the German version every single time. It’s light years better than the English version.
jesus only now after months i am realizing beth made movie arrival!
This song was released when I was 25. ( I do have the vinyl , German on one side, English on the other ) I too have heard the 2 versions you mention Beth. I have also found on TH-cam a 2018 Live version, Gabriele sang the song, yet the whole arena sang along, it was fantastic. Today we woke up alive and breathing , as my friend ( R.I.P.) used to say. Have a good day :) Thanks for all you do.
I always liked that song, I knew it in english when I was a child, hey! "Everyone is a Captain Kirk" like in
Star Trek 😃