DJ Accidentally Played Foreign Language Song... It Went To #1 | Professor of Rock
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- Опубліковано 20 вер 2024
- To many in the US, today’s international artist is simply known as the “balloon chick.” That’s in no small part thanks to her #2 US hit about lighter-than-air party favors. And though this song is only a small part of Nena's career, she doesn’t mind the label One Hit Wonder. Because believe it or not, 99 Luftballoons is a masterful anthem speaking out against Cold War fear and paranoia. It’s the ultimate pop contradiction song, a light-hearted ditty with a heavyweight message.and Nena took it all the way to the top of the charts in 1984 and decades later it still resonates
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Hey music junkies and vinyl junkies Professor of Rock always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest 80s songs of all time for the music community and vinyl community with music history video essay's including today's Nena Reaction and 99 Lufballoons Story. If you’ve ever owned records, cassettes and CD’s at different times in you life or still do this is your place Subscribe below right now to be a part of our daily celebration of the rock era with exclusive stories from straight from the artists and click on our patreon link in the description to become an Honorary Producer.
It’s time for another for another edition of our series Bottled Lightening where we break down the history of a beloved one hit wonder that still resonates in our culture. Here we honor artists and bands and that one glorious hit they had that rocketed up the charts…and for reasons unknown didn’t have another commercial hit. On previous episodes we have covered My Sharona by The Knack, Melt with You by Modern English, and The Promise by When in Rome.
Today we are breaking down the German New Wave world-wide smash ‘99 Luftballons’ by Nena. After playing for years in an ill-fated band called The Stripes in Hagen, Germany; Gabriele Susanne “Nena” Kerner decided it was time to move on. So, she left the band and relocated to Berlin. There Kerner formed a new outfit called Nena in 1980 with her boyfriend Rolf Brendel on drums, Uwe Fahrenkrog-Peterson on keyboards, Jurgen Demel on bass and Carlos Karges on guitars. The name Nena was actually Kerner’s childhood nickname. It was given to her by her family while they were on holiday in Spain. In Spanish it means ‘little girl.’As the band started playing shows along the German club circuit, they quickly started garnering success. Their debut single ‘Nur Geträumt,’ or ‘Just a Dream’ in English, became a #1 hit in Germany and some other German-speaking countries.
Their first album, 1983’s self-titled Nena in also went to #1 in Germany. And much of the credit for that has to go to their follow-up single ‘99 Luftballoons.’ 99 Luftballoons’ literal translation is ‘99 Air Balloons,’ but is more accurately rendered simply as 99 Balloons. In 1983 it was released as Nena’s second single in Germany... This, even though their record company was against it. Apparently, there was some concern because the song didn’t have a chorus. And they just didn’t think it seemed commercial enough. But the band felt strongly about its message and pushed to get it out there. More on that in a minute.
Poll: What is a song that you heard and loved as a child, due to it's musicality, but, wasn't until years later your grasped it's true meaning lyrically?
Pass The Dutchie
...well, there WAS that little ditty called, "Sugarwalls"!! ...ha-HAAA!! ....Oh, WHERE was my mind, in 1985!??? 🤭
Summer of 69
Raindrops keep failing o my head. I was asked by my teacher in infants school what my favourite nursery rhyme was and got told off because it wasn't a nursery rhyme lol.
"RELAX" by Freddie Goes to Hollywood and "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors. "Little Red Corvette" by Prince. I would have turned out a lot different today if, as a child, I knew what these songs were all about. 😅
As a professional translator, I have to say that translating songs is often extremely difficult because you're not just translating words, you're translating nuance and context while also rhyming and coming up with lyrics that flow. It is not as easy as it sounds!😉
Indeed. There is nothing against some artistic license to get the song flowing, as long as you don't butcher the original meaning of the song...
German "translations" of english songs often are quite good at butchering, though... 😖🙄😅
Especially between the 50s and 70s, that was the case. Though I sometimes wonder if these german songs weren't just a rip off using the music of the original...
I am no translator but I speak Japanese as a second language and I find it super difficult to understand Japanese songs. Very different to regular communication.
I can't even imagine trying to translate songs correctly. There's so much wordplay, double meaning, inuendos, culturally specific references, and slang that simply can't translate to another language. Not to mention then trying to get things to rhyme properly afterwards! Seems more like a fools errand to actually try to translate it properly.
@@birchcakes pretty easy actually, to rhyme lyrics in spanish. Just saying. Im not an expert or anything
My favourite band at the moment are Japanese female rock band Band-Maid, and their lyrics are often a mix of Japanese and English, often on the same line of the song, written by the rhythm guitarist whose English is just about conversations, sung by a singer whose skills are even less. It often results in listeners not even realising just how much English is there, until they see the lyrics.
No matter how many times I hear it, the ending of “99 Luftballons” always sends a chill down my spine.
So many great songs about the end of the world. The juxtaposition of 'upbeat' music and serious message has always been appealing to me.
I remember when I worked and we got 99 Red Balloons and played it all. I loved it. (Amazon L o L)
The ending sounds like the beginning of The Shining to me.
Brian Aucuba The ending IS creepy, but for added eerieness, I don't know if you've ever seen the video, but if you haven't, look it up on UA-cam. The look in her eyes at the end of the video, partnered with the ending sounds of the song. Super creepy!
I absolutely agree with you here Brian! I first heard this song at the age of 11 back in 1994 and it got me hooked, it was the English version I was familiar with here in the UK, and bopped away to it until I got a bit older, then became familiar and ended up preferring the German Original and the true message behind that version, there’s something more intense and sincere about her vocal in that version, and the lyrics are much better too, the rising synths, the final verse then leading to that siren at the end gives me goosebumps every single time now… One of the most racing, powerful, thought provoking pop songs ever created.
I was in Florida at the time and met a family visiting from Germany. I took the older girl to see an American Disco and she translated the song as we danced. I think of her whenever I hear this song. I hope she and her family are living happy and successful lives.
I'll bet she thinks of dancing with you every time she hears this song, too. What a lovely memory to have.
The German version just had something special, something in the voice, something in just the way the sounds flow it was by far the best.
My teacher used this song in my high school German class to help us learn. Every week there'd be a new song; wed then listen to it every day to start class and had a sheet with lyrics to memorize it. Then on Friday we'd get a quiz which was simply the lyrics sheet but was littered with blanks here and there that we had to fill in. He'd then play the song twice so we could listen to what words were missing.
Did anyone else have similar quizzes in their language classes?
We also did this in my Spanish class and since I was in high school from Fall '98 to June '02, we heard A LOT of Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias and Shakira from that "Latin Boom" as it was called.
The Deutsche version was better than the English version.
To me it seems like the emotional connection got lost. The German version is really connected in the emotions of the message. The English version lacks that connection. One guess is that she her focus was on getting the English right and forgot the emotions of the message.
The true meaning of the lyrics were sort of lost in translation.
If you have to listen to the English version, listen to the Goldfinger version. They put more effort into it, I think. Nena's English version sounds forced.
One of the odd things about the song is how it challenges the assumption that English-speaking audiences won't want to hear songs that aren't in English. There have been a fair few foreign language hits, and it shows that one people accept a song isn't in English, it stops being an issue. They can still enjoy how the vocals sounds without understanding them.
Pretty sure Gangnam Style helped to make K-pop mainstream.
Also, that song is like 10 years old. Well then.
Most people understand borken english - Whatsamatter You :)
Even to the extent that in non-English countries the majority of songs are in English,
The voice is basically another instrument when you think about it- if a song is good in its native language its because it sounds good- and that translates to those who don't speak the language (excuse the pun).
Any fan of Carlos Santana is comfortable with lyrics not in English. Oye Como Va?
This was the first song I understood after learning German for a year. I was driving, not paying attention to the music. After she sung the first of verses I realized that I understood the German words.
I remember when 99 Luftballoons came out...and the English version. Most wanted the German version...and still do. How Nena pronounced "Jet Fighters" and "Captain Kirk" in the song is so genuine and beautiful (Schon!)
Right! I was studying German in high school. The lyrics and melodies for that song and Falco's Der Kommissar are still recalled today.
One thing I DO like about the English version is that they didn’t do a great of producing the vocal. The vocal is much “drier”, doesn’t have all that reverb making the song sound more raw. This results in the English version sounding more punk/new wave.
Other than that little anomaly, the German version is much better. Especially lyrically
Zoopah hi tech jed faiduhrs!!! The Klaus Meine is strong in this one
@@mmm-mmm But is it a double A or just an A and B and which is the A?
@@mmm-mmm *Neato! What's the label?*
As a native german speaker (austrian), I was going to point out that hereabouts Nena was far from a one-hit wonder, but rather a constant presence on the charts from my teenage years onwards - but then you touched on that towards the end of the video anyway.
Just to add my take on "99 Luftballons": apart from the fact that the english version has always sounded extremely weird and stilted to me, in its original german the song actually has a full story arc going on (which to be quite honest, I only fully realized when I heard you comparing it verse for verse to the english version).
The first verse is the introduction to let you know what's going on, the second one is still somewhat light-hearted (her calling the 99 pilots "great warriors" very much meant sarcastically), the third one gets dead serious when she describes the military practically drooling to have their war, and at the end she just sadly describes everything being in ruins.
So yeah, this one's really a bloody masterpiece when you think about it
@Andreas Gressl "the english version has always sounded extremely weird and stilted to me"
As a native English speaker, I can assure you, the English version completely butchers the lyrical flow along with the story. Very few songs might have "translated" words mesh as nicely as those originally written, this one didn't. So they changed it, and it becomes awkward. 😖
In Canada, I heard the German version for quite a while before hearing the "other" one, so I was already sold. The AM version, I guess was good for little kids to sing-a-long with, but it's just not the same song.
@@CraftAero Never found any issue with the English lyrics, it still portrays the same sentiment, for another audience.
I'm sorry you can't understand that.
@@JoeyMcNelis Lol, so... you have an opinion differing from mine and that makes you pity my inability to "understand".
Gonna go out on a limb and say you're American.
@@JoeyMcNelis I'm gonna go out on 2 limbs and say you're American. holy shitsnacks.
Yes, for sure! I visited Germany the first time back then and remember seeing posters everywhere, which surprised me. I was already a fan of the so-called one hit.
Fun fact: The clip for 99 Luftbalonnen was shot in The Netherlands.
In the 1980's we had a TV program calles Top Pop in The Netherlands and visiting performers would often perform with dansers on a specially for that band build stage.
For 99 Luftbalonnen they decided to film at the "Harskamp" military shooting camp.
The story goes that Nena and the band even got so scared of all the fire and explosions during the filming that they didn't want to do the performance.
Afterwards however the vibe was so inline with the feel of the song, so they decided to make it the official clip for the song.
As a "Cold War" soldier stationed in West German when this song hit Germany...We ask our Girlfriend/friends to translate it for us. When we heard the English version, It did not match What we were told by our friend. I think that had a lot to do with why the English version never made it as big. Believe me though a Vet from that time, that heard it in West Germany loved the song and the whole Album in German. (Now I need to find that album in my record collection and dust off the turn table.)
..I was stationed in Germany in the early 70s.
Best time of my life!!
I don't imagine it helped much that, honestly, the lyrics of the English version are kind of clunky and just don't flow mellifluously at all. It's hard for me to believe that the translation was done by someone with experience in songwriting; just bizarre really.
i was stationed near K-town when the Berlin Wall fell. I miss my trusty '78 Opel Kommodore 🚔
@@joemachine4714 OMG, I used to own one of these, black and orange. I called it my Halloween car.
Red Dawn was one of the big reasons I studied Russian and was selected to go to the Language schools for it. The cold war ended the year I graduated from the program. FML
The Soviets had been such a good enemy, nobody planned for anything else - smh
The concept of a DJ actually being allowed to pick the songs they play to their audience rather than having some coked up MBA at corporate HQ on the other side of the country...it'll never catch on.
The people in LA might listen to different music than people in Chicago, that would just be anarchy.
Absolutely agree. Just as bad are the fretful middle managers who rely on the results of focus groups to steer decisions.
I was a DJ and ALWAYS played my own. I carried sometimes 3 fruit boxes of vinyl into the studio and just went where the mood took me or if i had it where the listeners wanted to go. Do you realise how many version there are named "Georgia" - Boz, Willie..........
@@melchiorwiseman3495 I DJed for my college radio station as a freshman. Every DJ had a milk crate of their own vinyl they lugged in for their "show." Thanks for knocking loose a happy memory from 1983.
@@dougherbert7899 We can't have people listening to different music. Absolutely not!
Singing in German is not easy. Nothing in German is easy, but singing... Ooof. She blows the song out of the water. Also, I've broken three B strings and nearly bitten my tongue off learning to play and sing the German version. Nena, forever.
There's an English version of 99 Luftballoons and the lead singer of Nena ssang it.
Why should singing in German be difficul?. You just have to know the language, than its easy.
@@ekesandras1481 you have to be born or brought up German. After certain age it's impossible to say Eichhörnchen properly 😜
@@ekesandras1481 have you heard German? Let's just say it's not exactly melodious.
Rammstein.
This is timely. I'm the Old Mutti at work and I was explaining to "the kids" that we were treated to plenty of German music when we were kids and it was sung in German. No one thought anything of it until it was gone. I speak only for my area of PA, but German was required in school and plenty of people speak it (or a bastardized form of it) at home. Our German language teachers loved it! We'd ask what Falco or Nena was saying, only to be told, "Translate it!", and we did. It was great for improving our language skills. If a song is recorded in German, I want to hear it in German. If the original is in Italian, I want to hear it in Italian and so on.
German was almost the official language in Pennsylvania, as I understand it ... Then WW1 happened, and German suddenly went out of vogue... WW2 didn't really help the language -- although I'm sure that the Army was happy to have American born German speakers.
The German in Pennsylvania is not a “bastardised” version; it is a distinct dialect. Texas has several German areas where there is also a distinct German dialect.
Unfortunately, WWII drove it underground and it is dying.
During the war, my grandfather had to drop his middle name because the name “Adolph” was not looked on favourably
@@mcgregorpiper My great grandma changed her last name to the English version during WWI because of anti German sentiment, and all the German culture and language disappeared
On the west coast not quite so many spoke German unless they studied it in high school. I liked the song but it was definitely we all kind of muttered when trying to sing along the radio.
That's exactly how I learned English! I fall in love with rock and pop songs! Ordinary world... Cats in the cradle... living on a prayer... songs have an additional mystery when you half-understand the lyrics.
Another thing I love about this song, is how Nena singing in German sounds extremely fragile and sweet, totally unlike the stereotypical harsh and commanding German we were fed for ages. I'm pretty sure many people (except people who actually speak some German) initially didn't even realise she was singing in German. It's one of the reasons why I like even German over my native language, Dutch, which always sounds crude and awkward, where German has a lot of unknown soft nuances.
I noticed that too.
I like dutch simply because it sounds so silly. I remember radio hosts messing up saying 999 so much that they ended up laughing for an entire segment.
Dude, Dutch is terminally sweet and beautiful. From a German.
I knew some Germans in college, and they claimed there has been a concerted effort to soften the German language after ... recent events.
@@WilliamCWayne they didn't have to. In the romantic period German was considered one of the more romantic languages. A role taken by French later.
I never knew the English version deviated so much from the German original, only that it existed…I remember a DJ playing the English version and everyone just sang the German lyrics over it because EVERYBODY knew them by heart…in the 90‘s
„Willst du mit mir gehen“, the album title you translated literally is an idiom which means „Do you want to go steady“ but still in a juvenile sort of way.
Good job on the other translations…
Even after nearly 40 years, the German language version remains the best.
Joined Army and went to Germany in 1985 when this song was still being played on the airwaves and MTV. Actually signed up in Oct 1984. Spent almost 7 years in Germany. My regiment actually was responsible for surveillance of the part of the East German border. Had to spend a lot of time on the border and was actually on the border when it opened 1989. It's amazing how a lot of people don't remember or know what communism really looked like. Ended up marrying a German girl who I'm still married to. Best time of my life.
I remember when the Berlin wall fell in 1989. I was a young Marine stationed in Iwakuni, Japan. If I could travel back in time I'd go to Berlin, November 1989.
lucky you married a german. to this day i still miss currywurst. tired a few german restraunts but when you try to order currywirst they act like you spit in the face and proclaim they are gourmet not "street food" trash. i was 64c (trucker) so i got to see most of southern germany, even got a supply run to berlin and spent a couple of weeks there. berlin back the was party central earth, it made vegas look tame. if i had to choose anywhere other than phoenix to live it would be mid 80s west berlin. atleast in berlin i could probably still get a currywurst.
Thanks for your service. Would love to hear your stories of watching the wall.
@@rdo3 I too have missed having currywurst. German street food is the best. I still eat french fries (pommes frites) with mayo to this day 527th MP Co. Mainz 1982-85
I entered basic training in Oct, 1985, and got to Germany in Apr, 1986.
The really big song, due to its controversial nature was "Jeanne," by Falco. 😉🙂
I love 99 Luftballone as a song. It needs to be understood in its context in Germany. In 1982/83 when it was released we had huge anti nuclear rearmament demonstrations.
Having just returned from a year in the US as highschool exchange student, I found myself standing as part of a 95 miles human chain from the US EUCOM at Stuttgart to the new cruise missile site at Neu Ulm. My father participated in a peaceful sitin blocking the gates of the Mutlangen US Pershing 2 rocket base.
Unbeknown to us at the time NATO ran the Able Archer exercise, which so disturbed the Soviets, that the Mig fighter jets were on the runways in East Germany loaded with their tactical nukes engines running for quick release, should NATO attack during the final stage of the exercise.
Some dumbf*** military planners had included the NATO heads of states in the final nukes release drill of Able Archer, and the Soviets had discovered that.
1983 was also the year in which a software glitch in a new soviet early warning spy satellite triggered the nuke attack alarm in the USSR for real. Only because the duty officer in the alarm center used his head and disregarded all command alert protocol are we all still alive.
Not very many people ever took note of these close calls in one year.
Both the above we only found out about after 1990.
But at least in Germany 1983 in fall we were anything but easy. Ronny Reagan had behaved since early 1981 like a right cold war throwback to the 1960s (an unmittigated International political a**).
The USSR had downed Korean Airlines 007 over Sachalin in spring 1983. The new USSR leader Andropov (ex KGB head) was about as idiological 1960s as RR. His PR was as bad as his paranoia was extreme.
On the movie side in 1982/83 we had
"War Games" with NORAD AI going out of control,
"The Day After" with a realistic depiction of nuclesr wsr in the USA, and
"Red Dawn Rising" depicting a fictional USSR invasion of the USA in the most ludicously gun toting US country village fashion,
To name just the most nuklear war by accident, and hot cold war subject matter films.
So 99 Luftballone reflected a perception of severe political and military east west tensions both in Germany and in the USA.
We all this felt as young and older people living on the designated main NATO vs Warzaw Pact nuclear battlefield, then called West Germany.
We all knew, we'd be dead 50 times over within 30 minutes after the start of a nuclear exchange. The WP had more than 150 thermonuclear warheads targeted onto West Germany alone.
None of us lived further away than 5 miles from a military facility of some kind. All were targeted.
The Pershing 2 rockets about 20 miles west of me, at the time only had a 60% launch success rate. So 40 % would have landed right on us. So we'd be nuked both ways.
We would have had no chance of survival, and we knew it.
That was our daily life. What else could we do but scream out our frustration on the dance floor? We had to live, love and enjoy life in some way under this constant hair trigger threat of death.
No other song ever captured this feeling like 99 Luftballone. That's why we love(d) it.
I also grew up in West Germany at the time. I think you brilliantly summarized the atmosphere in the early 80s. Also there was of cause the nuclear meltdown of chernobyl which send radioactive clouds our way not that long after. The story in this song might be fiction but felt like a real possible future or end of futures to us.
Wow that is commendable in a big way !!!! I appreciate the fortitude and honesty to get out there and get heard
Ultravox "Dancing with Tears in my Eyes" , Sting" Russians", Genesis "Land of Confusion"... etc etc
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this account of your experience ❤ I’ll send it to my Mom - she was in her early twenties then, in Moscow, born&raised near a military base in the Moscow region. The peculiar thing though is that she told me more of her childhood scares of a n@zi invasion, she sometimes had nightmares of that as a child (my grandfather- her father - served in the soviet Air Force during ww2). But not really ever of a nuclear threat scare. Perhaps it’s the young age, or maybe assurance in the Moscow Nuclear Shield 😅 I honestly don’t know. In the 90s’ and on, when we started getting more information about the life of ordinary people in the West we learned how seriously and profoundly the nuclear threat affected the life& mentality of people there, with some building underground shelters equipped with canned food and life support amenities to survive an attack. I’m actually rather talking of the US (which we always regarded as very prone to overreacting and excessive emotion) bc we were getting documentaries and articles and other media more from the US rather that from European countries (which were kinda neighbors anyways and thus kinda a bit “our own” with a small hesitancy re BRD bc, well, you know ;)…) and also with English having become sort of an international lingua franca. But for some reason I never realized how the Cold war affected people in Germany. I had to make screenshots of your comment to save it bc YT doesn’t let copy the text. I wonder what my Mom’s reaction will be to your account of the feelings and thoughts of the Cold war era that you describe.
Felt the same in Australia despite being on the other side of the world. I'd visited the UK and Germany in 1982 land learnt more of the facts.
I LOVE to pull up the English version of this song and then sing it in Deutsch at karaoke when everyone is too drunk to catch on. LOL!!! You see many of the drunks looking at the lyric screen then looking at me perplexed. I LOVE IT!!!
lol I think I have a new idol that's hilarious
Later they did It's All In The Game but that was not the original tune. That was Haus Der Drei Sonnen. Even thogh i am danish I quite like the german versions more, because I feel the texts were worked on to convery the message whereas I do not think the english ones were made to the same end, I think the english versions were merely a response to their record label saying they needed it,
I used to do the same thing years ago with Du Hast, by Rammstein. English lyrics on screen and singing in German. A great way to catch the fans in the crowd.
@@GoodDogTheRottweiler 💖
I also remember when 99 Luftballons hit the airwaves. I even bought the album. I always preferred the German original version. For me it came out shortly after my dad passed away so it was kind of a sad time. When I hear it now it makes me reflect on that period and how as bad as things can get they usually get better. Obviously I don't speak German but when you think about it many English speaking only bands have hits in non-English speaking countries so it's really not odd that it happened the other way around. If you look back at 1962 the same thing happened with Sukiyaki Kyu Sakamoto a fully Japanese song that became a hit here. So it does happen.
I remember the original Sukyaki, my father had a copy of it on 45, I think.
So when it was remade in the 80s in English by A Taste Of Honey, I knew it right away.
I remember the discos in Germany were playing this forever. Good times.
It's actually not obvious to us that you don't speak German
Thank you for reminding me of that wonderful song from about 1974, I think. Didn't understand it, but recognized it as really beautiful.
Me too I still have my album all in German love all the songs
I took german in high school and was always confused as to why the two versions were different. The German version was my preferred version, thanks for clearing it up. 👍
I took 4 years of German in high school. Loved it!
I loved both versions I was a young soldier and we were on patrol in Belfast and we had a big boogie box basting the song full volume out of our land-rover
We got reported and got charged with bringing the Regiment into disrepute
It was worth it though
A little rebellion goes a long way....Sláinte!
@@charlie-obrien slainte, I love our island want to live in peace god bless
What's the penalty for "bringing the unit into disrepute"? Just curious about how much the army pushes back against individualism.
Thank you Professor. As a german native speaker and a child of the mid-1970s I was 10 When this song was released. Love you celebrating this song and breaking it down. This song still sends shivers down my spine. And it is as relevant today as it was back then! Only thing I'd like to add: the ballon at the end is the sign of hope even in complete destruction.
I served in the US Army when this song was released and right in the heart of the Cold War. This song resonated with people because it reflected political reality of the time.
Everything you said about those times, the public outlook, all correct. It’s hard to describe. You really had to live it. This song is a small piece of that time, that era.
Nihilism was rampant with the German & Austrian youth culture during the 80's and into the early 90's especially with reunification. In the 80's everyone was worried about nuclear war and the demonstrations regarding the Pershing II missiles were everywhere. Then when the wall came down and the Soviet Bloc collapsed, it was pretty disastrous for West Germany as it was mostly up to them to reunify with East Germany and absorb 90+% of the East German debt. The very fact the reunification went as well as it did is testament to German ingenuity and determination. All that aside I loved living in Germany from 87-89' when I was there.
I remember the movie from the 80s called 'russkies', russian submarine was stuck in US territory, the crew befriended some US children.. kinda like ET but with russians
Oddly enough, this song is a huge reason I started talking German in high and ended up majoring in it in college. I vividly remember watching the Wall fall in high school. My teacher’s family had escaped the DDR (East Germany) and she was completely shocked at reunification.
I moved between Freshman and Sophomore years, and the teacher at my new school made us memorize and translate the German version ourselves.
To this day, I can recite huge chunks…auf Deutsch!
The biggest thing I remember about the wall coming down is that the people from East Germany were coming across into West in droves, so fearful that this was only temporary, and the wall would be put back in place. Families were reuniting, some having not seen members of their family since the 1940s.
My German teacher recalled a story where they went to and crossed into East Germany with a group of students. One fell ill, and another student went back to the hotel with her, crossing back into West Germany. She then came back to rejoin the class, and they (Russians/East Germans) "thought she was a smuggler" because of the trips across the border so close together. Apparently she'd been strip-searched, interrogated, and held for hours before anyone even realized she was gone - They weren't aware that she was coming back to rejoin the class. She was released (I think the next day? it's been over 30 years since I heard this...) and forbidden to ever visit East Germany again.
Then after the wall came down, there were the jokes about whether they were going to be able to find homes for the 10,000 German Shepherds and Rottweilers that had been trained to kill anyone fleeing.
That was a very interesting period to have lived through.
He brought up the "duck and cover" being foolishly useless - - but I think more so were the air-raid drills we had. Line up in the halls, facing the walls? I told them once - If we were actually invaded, I'd want to face the people shooting at me - force them to see the look on my face. The teacher agreed. Then I got yelled at for talking. Ah, yes - school....
And the lyrics being so different, when I took German, I was EXTREMELY confused, thinking they'd actually translated the original, but there were other words and phrases that weren't in the English. "Rott" (red) wasn't there... that was the first thing I noticed learning colors... And I remember sitting with the dictionary trying to find synonyms for the English words that translated to the German. Really, though, the German is a lot stronger both lyrically and idyllically.
Und Ja. Ich versuche auch mit der Musik zu singen.
Circa 1992 I got to meet very distant German relatives of ours who survived the Holocaust only to get caught behind enemy lines in East Germany. Our meeting at a cafe in Tel Aviv was very awkward. I knew no German, my brother's German was rusty at best and my relatives knew hardly any English and no Hebrew at all. But the worst part was their body odor. It was overpowering even though we were outdoors and sitting at a relatively large table across from me. It made me want to gag...
My wife told me when I said that I had posted about the song that her German teacher used the song lyrics in class when she was in the first year at secondary school in France.
One of my teachers was an Osti and another was a Luftwaffe pilot! (Air Sea Rescue HE said!)
My German teacher in High School did the same to us!I studied German from 7th grade till about 2 years out of High School! And yes I can trace my learning German was directly started by this song!
I LOVE this song and (almost) every single one of her other songs. Interesting side note: When Nena's solo album came out in 1989, the Berlin Wall came down a few days later! The album (and hit song) is called Wunder gescheh'n, which means "Miracles Happen" and they are forever linked.
Great song. She does a great live version in 2018. Great guitar work from John Andrews.
Check out the duet with kim wilde. It was a huge hit as well....
I was in the Air Force stationed in Germany when the song came out. I also speak German. I was a fan of the Band after their first big German hit. Then 99 Luftballoons came out and was incredible, and even before it became a hit, I knew it would be. I was also incredibly surprised that it became big in the US. The translated version was pure garbage and when I heard it I was actually embarrassed for the band. I took the strong anti-war message and made it whimsical. I was also stationed in Berlin before, during and after the fall of the wall. It was an incredible time, and this band is forever a part of all that and a part of my life. I still have several of her albums on CD. I spent a total of over 13 years in Germany during my military career.
I agree with your assessment of the English version of this song. When it's was released, I thought I heard the whole base groan at once!
BTW, I was at Tempelhof Central Airport- 1946 Comm from 1982-1984.
Wait what? You're surprised that the leaders of Reagan's America wouldn't want an anti war song?
@@knoahbody69 President Reagan was awesome! He caused the end of the cold war. He kept the peace in Europe. We all should be thankful to President Reagan!
@@johndwayne3481 Whatever doody.
i am from West Berlin. Thank you for being in Germany. I loved the AFN has had a big influence on my music taste.
Hearing this song as a child, I always presumed it was an innocent tune about balloons. The nuclear war aspect was lost on me until years later!
Me too! I thought it was a happy pop song about 99 balloons floating in the sky.
....the Video had Nena walking through fields of BOMBS! ...ha-HAAA!! ...s'all good, the tune was a BLAST....so to speak......
@ghost mall ...why not BOTH!?? ...ha-HAA!! ...I had to do it, you left it open, Man! ...ha-HAAA!! >IgotaMILLIONof'em
My husband, a dedicated college DJ in 1983 and 1984, wanted me to add the fact that college stations helped present new alternative music during this time and also made slight changes in what was popular nationally. We took trips to Wax Trax Records in Denver, talked to the people who worked there and purchased new music to present on the college radio station. There were no rules: anything could be played. Sometimes things were popular, sometimes they were not, and you'll actually notice slight regional differences to this day when you reference songs of that time period. And noticeably different from today is the fact that you could call and request songs: your vote counted. Now, sadly, these decisions are made by a group of suits in a room. EDIT: And he also wanted to add that there were two versions at Wax Trax of this song, one showing Nina's armpit hair (European) and one not (American).
I always thought that the "99 dreams I have had, and every one a red balloon" in the English version meant to be about how the war caused her dreams to fly away or pop like balloons.
Translations dont always work ... which is why people need to learn more languages.
Same, I think it can be quite easy to dismiss the English language version and take the lyrics too literally especially if you heard the German version first.
Yes, 99 lost chances is what I remember thinking.
Two remarks on her early career: A) Before going full professional with music, Nena was an apprentice goldsmith. I teach at a vocational school in Dortmund, and one of my older collegues still remembered when "Fräulein Kern" was sitting in his class, learning about metals, soldering, brazing etc.
B) Although the Stripes did not go anywhere, their hometown Hagen in West Germany's industrial Ruhr district was a real hotbed for emerging pop and rock bands at the time. Most West Germans my age will remember Extrabreit and their hit single "Hurra, hurra, die Schule brennt" (Hurray, hurray, school's burning). A very happy and upbeat song, BTW.
Kinda like Alice Cooper's "School's Out"...but in German
@@iwasanangryyoungman yep. And faster. ua-cam.com/video/Ibuw9NphX5M/v-deo.html
My favorite Stripes song is Kicks in Berlin
@@iwasanangryyoungman Great song, but I find it sad that Alice Cooper married Joe Biden.
@@moistmike4150 😅😅😅
I looked up Nena and found 4 different versions , from Rock to Jazz styles, I loved them all. I found a live version from 2018 where all the German fans knew all the lyrics. I am 63 and I remember this song well. Thanks for a great video
The lyrics arent that complicated and really easy to remember ... and it has been played a lot of times.
Greetings from Germany. I browsed through youtube and saw your video. Even if have heared the song for hundred times in the past, lisening to it know in the middle of a new big war in europe made me shiver and goosebumps.
I remember in Neew Zealand, year 2000, the Goldfinger cover started playing. Some stations mentioned it was a cover, but a lot didn't. People asked why this band had one German verse in their song, and parents or older cousins or sibings mentioned the original. Some kids had friends or family who had a tape or record with the original song, and fell in love. Others waited until the requests started flowing in on the radio for the original. Goldfinger's cover got to the charts, but within a week, it had been pushed off the charts here by a resurgence in popularity for the original song. it's not the only time I've heard of a cover reviving the original track like that here, either.
I think we've found Casey Casum's replacement, right here. I want to hear this guy coast to coast, finding him on a random station at 2am in the middle of a top 100 count down on an eye-burner road trip. Along with program spots like this. Keep them coming.
He's got a good voice for it.
He told me he was inspired by Casey and took it as a compliment when I noticed the same similarity. I actually think he is better because of his interviews and how the songs fit in history.
He'll have to tighten up and condense his writing. This is rambling and too wordy (and too long).
He's awesome, and this is his medium. TV is for yesterday.
@@davidb2206 I think the content as is, can be edited to fit any program slot if needed.
_99 Luftballons_ (pronounced “looft”) was a huge hit, sure, but it was far from being the only German language hit in the 80s to be big in the English speaking world, and beyond.
No mention of Trio's _Da Da Da;_ Peter Schilling's _Major Tom;_ Falco's _Der Kommissar_ who were all wildly successful before Nena.
And, like Nena's Luftballons, contrary to what music execs thought, people like those songs _because_ they are in German, even if we don't speak German, and we dislike them translated into English.
Even now, however, I don't think we see a series of hit non-English songs, we see a random, one-off, and then another random one-off, and then another...
You forgot Major Tom by Peter Schilling
So true.
Trio with "Da Da Da" got some airtime as well ...
Also Falco's 'Rock Me Amedeus', Alphaville's 'Forever Young', Scorpion's 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' and Taco's synth rendition of 'Putting On The Ritz' even though he's technically not German himself.
It's interesting that "99 Luftballons" and "Jump" by Van Halen were at the top of the charts at the same time. They are both songs with heavy themes set to happy music.
David Lee Roth said that "Jump" was about the frustrations of life and thinking of taking your own life by "jumping" intentionally set to seemingly positive uplifting music.
That makes me hate Jump a little bit less
@@demonhoopa DavidLeeRoth = Skyscraper✨
@@jasfan8247 Went to that tour. It was awful. We walked out
@@demonhoopa haha, i can imagine. That record was a technical studio wonder, impossible live act. But had a great cover.
If DLR actually said that about jump he's either a terrible liar or a terrible songwriter.... either way 🤮
As a 66 year old raised in southern California, I remember well the bomb drills, ducking under our school desks. As an adult, this seems rather ridiculous that school administrators promoted the idea that a school desk would protect a person from a nuclear bomb.
I remember in 1989 I was with a group of students that was talking to the assistant principle while waiting for some event in the auditorium & he said that he was curious why he had to hide under a desk. Looking through old school records & such he found out that the real reason was because every teacher had a seating chart & it would make identifying the bodies easier. Technically if you where far enough from the blast it would decrease the chance of getting hurt by blasted glass from the shock wave but you need to be pretty far off from the missile strike.
My auntie was german/japanese and whilst she was alive when ever this song would come on shed sing along happily and talk about how much she used to love it when she was younger, when ever I hear it i know shes around me so thanks for making me cry this morning haha happy tears
the Goldfinger cover helped me get through the global bastered. I love 99 Luft Balloons both the original Nena German language version and English version. Plus she's still killing it on tours in Europe and other regions.
Goldfinger's version is great. Also solves the German vs English debate.
True, she REALLY sounds great.
Goldfinger's version is a cover of 7 Seconds version. Just giving credit where it's due.
She is better now than ever before. Rocking grandma!
"This is it boys, this is war" was a good line to add. It goes back to the German verses about 99 officials (not with the number, of course).
Everyone's a sailor hero, everyone's a Captain Kirk. Another great line.
My 16-year-old niece is a HUGE 70s and 80s music fan and, consequently, a huge fan of your channel. She’s been trying to get me to watch for ages. This is the first of your videos I’ve watched to the end and now I’m about to go into a deep 80s dive. 😅 I don’t even remember the English version of this song and thanks to you I now know I wasn’t missing anything. I’m also glad to know that Nena has had a successful music career all these years. Thanks for the education…looking forward to more!
As a "German-American" who grew up in the US in the 70s and 80s, who spent countless summers in Germany and even a year in German school, you did great on the translation and research. I remember when Nena came on the scene there and people would ask if you've heard about the band. I remember all the kids just humming or singing the song everywhere you went. As kids, we just thought it was a cool "fast song". Later, we came to appreciate the lyrics/story. I also prefer the original German language versions of all her songs
Through the pre-internet years since 99 Luftballons, whenever I'd get back to Germany, I always checked up on the music scene. And sure enough, it seemed almost every time, Nena was on the charts with a new hit tune or album.
Although I followed Nena as huge fan, you presented a lot of new info about both this song and her story I had not heard. Thanks for that level of effort, Professor of Rock!
i was in my university's German Club when songs were out by Nena, Falco and Peter Schilling. And Kraftwerk of course. Later I was stationed in Germany when Milli Vanilli scandal happened 😅
@@joemachine4714 FACT: Milli Vanilli scandal almost caused NooCulear Holocaust.
@@joemachine4714 Falco and Schilling were very big here in US dance clubs. Kraftwerk were very big.
Nena (the band and singer) and obviously their management were seemingly comfortable not touring the world and focused on Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Nena herself, had a child (who passed away…Nena reportedly almost died in childbirth) had twins both of whom perform in her current band and later two boys with her current husband… She also started a school believing German education wasn’t as good as she felt it should be.
I always felt she was comfortable closer to home.
Hey Professor, I remember Casey Kasem also telling the story about how "99 Luftballoons" was inspired. Those who don't know about or remember the Berlin Wall wouldn't be able to comprehend the gravity of such times. Let's not forget that "99 Luftballoons" was not the only song illustrating such paranoia and hysteria of those times. Just months earlier, Men At Work had the top ten hit "It's A Mistake" which was talking about a similar thing. And let's not forget "Russians" by Sting, from 1986.
If I tell my kids or anyone younger than 45 that Nuclear war with the Russians not only felt probable, but likely and did in fact seem just one unfortunate misunderstanding away from ending it all.
I also recall having to drill by getting under my desk in grade school.
Now we are starting to experience that same apprehension once more as the Russians use veiled threats of Nuclear attacks, to try and intimidate once more.
2 Minutes To Midnight.
Winds of Change
When the Wind Blows
Vamos A La Playa...
Same thing happened to Nena's "irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" meaning "somehow, somewhere, sometime" - much like in west side story's "There's a place for us". Instead they translated it to "anywhere, anyhow, anytime" - which gives it a completely different meaning.
Yep. The song was in heavy rotation at KROQ back in the day, when I was living tin SoCal. Seemed like it was the only station in SoCal playing it for weeks, but a few others eventually joined. All played the German version, which is the superior version for me. All these years, it still holds up. Thanks for this excellent deep dive.
Hahah, KROQ. Loved, needed that station. I was so far out in the boonies (Antelope Valley) the KROQ was hard to get sometimes.
Nena was part of a music movement in Germany called "Neue Deutsche Welle". The sang all in German and the produced incredible stuff. Some songs with deeper meaning some totally silly. There were more acts that reached to US and UK: Falco (Rock me Amadeus, Der Kommissar), Peter Schilling (Major Tom) or Trio (Da Da Da). But there are many many more Bands.
Don't forget the chicken dance 😂
yeah but Falco and Peter Schilling both wrote their own English versions of their songs. Peter in particular had a fairly extensive catalog in English. (he wrote a LOT of Science Fiction based songs) Falco died just as he was starting to get more popular.
Thanks!
I was in high school when this song came out. The song was so catchy, it just stayed in your head. Yes, the synth gave the song an upbeat sound, but I think the fast pace of the drums and the way Nena sang the song gave it a serious tone. I think the Capt. Kirk line and music video gave us non German speakers some insight to the song's meaning. Also, the era we grew up contributed. Don't forget, the movie, "The Day After" broadcasted in 1983.
The German version is far superior. I remember the first time I heard the English version, it just seemed wrong. Also, there were a lot of boys my age who thought Nena was cute as well. LOL
Preach, John! Everything about the song is awesome, from the lyrics right down to the synths, even.
I was in my first German language class when this song came out. I only like the German version. What an era that was.
The Day After and Threads gave me nightmares. I think it was one of those two that convinced President Regan to get the Russians to the table to come up with the treaties to reduce nuclear weapons.
I was actually learning German in high school in, of all places, Germantown, Tennessee. We had our teacher translate this and Falco's Der Kommissar. They didn't say the same things as the English version, but we loved them anyway. That was when we never thought the Berlin Wall would fall, and there would always be an East Germany and a West Germany. We were happy to be wrong. Plus, when you watch the video for 99 Luftballons, you'll see the band running to each other and hugging when the bombs are going off, because they weren't expecting live fire on that range, and they were absolutely terrified. To this day, I have the German version on my playlist.
My HS German class in the 1970s is where I learned the original lyrics to "Mackie Messer" (Mack The Knife) and also how delightfully dark the original is! I learned to sing it in German, and still prefer it over the too cheerful Bobby Darin version. My favorite version is the one Ella Fitzgerald performed (in Germany, I think) where she didn't know all the lyrics so just made up some and then launched into her famous scat. She's been one of my favorite artists since I was a small child and watched her and "Pops" perform on "The Ed Sullivan Show".
“Haha! Germantown, the place where folks learn German!” That’s what 10-year-old me would have thought reading this comment.
"Der Kommisar" hints strongly at dealing drugs... I'm not sure your German teacher did give you that meaning...
Our youngest daughter was born in Germantown, we lived there for about a year then moved to Cordova, cheers from East Texas.
"Ooh.... Rock me, Amadeus."
I love this song.
Even though I don't speak German, I prefer the German version.
It just sounds so much better, than the English version.
My wife is French and tells me the German version was released there and went to number one in 1984, not surprisingly. She studied German and English in school and university, and used to translate songs from English to French as a way of helping her learn English. She still has the scrap books with cut outs of pictures and lyrics from magazines that she used. Here in the UK the English version was released and not surprisingly went to number one too. Very few non British acts had hits in the eighties in the UK, perhaps two or three a year. Less to do with the music and more related to insularity when it comes to other languages, and that is putting it charitably. 99 Red Balloons was really resonant at the time, with a video and lyrics that really hit home. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes by Ultravox, Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Leningrad by Billy Joel to name but three are also great examples of songs about the Cold War. It is worth noting that Germany had a very strong anti nuclear movement, which made 99 Red Balloons an even more powerful statement in Britain which went against the Cold War rhetoric of Thatcherism.
You nailed your description and context of 99 Luftballons for me. I loved listening to the German song on the radio. I bought the tape and lisrened to both the English and German versions. I am really grateful for your clarification of the differences between the English and German lyrics.
Thank you.
This song sparked a bunch of German pop songs to pop up right around the same time. (e.g., Trio "Da Da Da", Falco "Der Komissar", etc.) LOVED it.
This was called "Neue Deutsche Welle" (new german wave) just search on YT for more songs. It was a time when we had the same boring music all over again week for week on the chart show. Everybody got infused by the new music style.
I found this amazing play list here: /watch?v=h0wwyT5eTfY
Rock Me Amadeus was freakin' awesome.
R.I.P Falco
Rock me Amadeus, Falco
Vienna calling by falco is such a bop
what was so fascinating about the early to mid 80s was the strong amount of talent coming from Europe bands and artists such as Alphaville,Falco peter Schilling and aha with massive MTV exposure it opened our ears and eyes to a whole new musical experience
yes, i think the professor was remiss in not mentioning how mtv really was the catalyst for it's massive popularity
@@flerbus yes I mean it was our only way of knowing who these artists where you couldn't find there records or cassettes in your local record store unless they were in the import section so the music videos was our only way to get the music
If not for MTV, we would have never known about these cool European new wave bands.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 I had Kroc in So California. They played it before MTV.
Recently, someone was trying to play this on the guitar and I said, “You’re playing 99 Luftballons!”. He said “No, it’s 99 Red Balloons.” 🤦🏻♂️
Your translation of the German version is pretty spot on. Personally I think it is the music vibe that made this song so popular across language barriers. The difference in lyrics might also be attributed to differences in society and their fears. Loved to get some in depth thought on this particular hit.
My father was working for NATO in the early 80's, so we were living in the NL when this song was released. I was taking German as my foreign language at an international high school, so I learned the German version. The English version never sounded as good to me.
"Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
I was a freshman in HS when the wall came down. Stayed up all night watching the coverage.
@@Jtr_ceral_killer My mom was 20 and in a college dorm room when the wall came down. She remembers watching it on the news very vividly.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980
I lived in W Germany from 86-89. I came back to the States about 6 weeks before The Wall fell. I think my timing was impeccable.
@@misterwombat Wow, just in time! How impeccable!
I remember that cold winter day…. I was at a friend’s apartment with my boyfriend at the time and we were GLUED to the TV!! November 9, 1989. I will NEVER forget that day…
I know this comes 2 years after the fact but just discovered this episode. WOW!! Professor you are uncomparable. Thank you for the in-depth breakdown of this song, especially in the translation; I'm blown away how the English version is NOT the literal interpretation but more of "poetic license" translation. After watching this, I now have greater appreciation for the original German version. I'm also pleasantly surprised to hear that Nena is not a "one hit wonder" globally and that she has progressed through the years with her career; awesome! Thanks again Professor; three cords and the truth!
Thanks for covering German music!!! Nena was one of the extremely rare cases when an artist from Germany got worldwide popularity. Another one from the same era was Peter Schilling ("Major Tom"). In 2000 we had a co-worker from Canada in our group. He was very surprised that "hey, Peter Schilling made a German version" when he heard the song at a party. Imagine his shock when we told him that Peter Schilling was actually German and of course the German version was the original... The "Neue Deutsche Welle" (new German wave) was a really crazy time in music here in Germany. The music was similar to new wave music, but NDW had much funnier lyrics and the antics of the bands were wayyyy crazier. Greetings from northern Germany 🙂
I wonder if most Americans for example don't know actor Joel Kinnaman isn't American ( Swedish ), he is so good at sounding like he grew up here.
Definitely the German version. My Grandmother and Great Grandparents came to America in 1911. Grandma spoke fluent German as well as, English. She translated every song on that 1984 Nena album into English for me. I still know all the Deutsch lyrics for every song on it.
That's great
I went with my German class to Germany (West Germany at the time) in 1983. 99 Luftballoons was a huge hit at that time and I bought the Nena cassette. When we returned to school in the fall 99 Luftballoons was used in class to help us with adding to our German vocabulary. I still go around singing this song and credit it for being the best way for me to learn and remember some German. 99 Luftballoons is one of my all time favorite songs!
I was in Berlin with my class in 9th grade 1987. We traveled by train and was woken by East German guards in the middle of the night, wanting to see our passports. The whole trip was a surreal experience. Our teacher didn't use this song in class, he was too boring!
Goldfingers' cover of this song was great as well. I like that when they covered it, they actually did a full verse in German as well. Was a great cover of a great song, IMO.
"By dancing in the face of our fears, we are saying that we won't let terror rule our lives". This line of yours nails it down so well. I still remember the day when my friend and I jumped around dancing and singing to that song in my room back in the beginning of the 80s here in Germany. Boy, I cannot really describe all the feelings that I had listening to this song. It was so much at once, melancholic but uplifting, sad but hopeful and strong. The lyrics reflected this persistent background fear of nuclear missiles killing all the people in just a second and dancing and singing did so good keeping these thoughts away from my heart and believing that music can make a change, we only had to sing loud enough. Thank you for an episode about this song. Funny: I heard you saying "99 love ballons" for half of the video, until I finally realized that you pronounced Luft as love(d). :D
Fun Fact: Van Halen’s, ‘Jump’ was originally recorded in Dutch and was titled ‘Zitten’ - the Dutch word for ‘sit’.
The song was accidentally leaked in South Ireland and after a rousing response, the record label immediately pushed the band for an English language version and re-write by none other than Barry Manilow. If you check the liner notes, you’ll see his name in the arrangement credits. The 80’s were a wild time!
Manilow rewrote one of the great songs of the 80s? That's wild, man!
"The 80s were -a wild- THE BEST time!!!"
Fixed it
80s songs about the Cold War are such an interesting message to be heard, as that decade definitely had some intense points for the Cold War. I look forward to hearing this story.
Especially since a lot of notable Cold War events happened in that time!
But those nukes went a long way towards the US/USSR holding their tempers. The great nuclear holocaust never happened. After the cold war some nations gave up their nukes. Ukraine was one. But it's not as if Russia has invaded them or anything,.... so they're probably as safe now as they've ever been.
@@stephaniegormley9982 I remember hearing about close calls, like a flock of birds almost being mistaken.
Being bilingual, I’ve heard many songs that are absolutely brilliant in one language being translated into another changing the lyrical intent into something categorized as mediocre or even silly. I think this happens when the translation is being done because it’s close to impossible to do a word for word translation so the phrasing is matched to a syllabic tempo of the original.
"Poetry is what is lost in translation". And you are exactly right. Good listening.
Tom Scott's youtube video, "Why Shakespeare Could Never Have Been French" was an eye opener to me about the difficulty of translating poetry into different languages.
@@glenbe4026 I’ll definitely check that video out, thanks
Actually... there is hundreds of Swedish covers of originally English songs, that are way better than the originals, and have had a longer staying power. There are even some Swedish musicians that built their whole career around interpreting originally English language songs in Swedish, like Povel Ramel, Lill Lindfors (who also interpreted a lot of originally Spanish songs in Swedish) and Cornelis Wreeswijk (who also did really good Swedish interpretations of some Dutch songs). But apart from English, lyrics in most other languages usually doesn't translate that well to Swedish. Greek lyrics translate extremely well into Finno-Swedish, as proved by songstress Arja Sanoma, but not that well into "Swedish" Swedish.
Of course, both the music and translations often includes a lot of artistic interpretation. Like perhaps one of the most beloved "Swedish" songs: "Älskling du är som en ros", which is based on the (also amazing) English poem "Red, red rose", which in turn is based on an old Scottish ballad. The English poem has, at a later point in time, been set to music, that isn't the same one as used in the Swedish song, and the lyrics and music to the Scottish ballad, has, as far as I know, been lost to time.
I think it depends on what languages you translate between. English lyrics is very suitable to translate into Swedish, and a good Swedish translation usually add layers of debt and the songs become more melodic, thanks to Swedish being a more expressive and melodic language. I don't understand Russian, but most songs I've heard that was translated from English to Russian, sound much better in Russian. On the other hand, some originally Swedish songs, sound a lot better in Finnish (which I don't understand well enough to make any literary judgement of).
Meanwhile, I can't think of any language that translate well into English, at least not Modern English. There are some decent translations into English, but none of them as good as the originals. But that might be because most of the common dialects of English, just sounds like dogs barking to me, and English is also a very verbose language, so translations into it necessarily become much longer than the originals, or loose in debt when shortened.
Yeah, like La Mer in French and then the English version in Finding Nemo. I hate the English version.
I cannot thank the ProfessorofRock adequately for this analysis of my favorite song! I have sung it in karaoke situations and, one of my friends and I sang a medley of lyrics of this song and 99 Red Balloons. I love 99 Luftballons so intensely that I recognize it immediately after hearing the first note.
"Visiting the station... Accidentally played the tape... Radio listerers went crazy and started calling the station... Phone lines were lighting up like Christmas trees...."
Profesor: For your millennial viewers you might as well be speaking in tongues right now 😂
True🤣🤣🤣
"With 8 tracks, you don't have to flip the tape over." #Progress :)
Haha 😄
As a Millennial, I understood it well. Millennials lived through the embers of 80s more than one would think.
Apparently something very similar happened with Shaggy's "It wasnt' me".
I was stationed in West Germany in the US Army shortly after this song came out. I remember being surprised how big Nena was in Germany.
I think there's another song that just recently saw a rise in popularity. "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" When the German Netflix show Dark became an international success.
Music hardly ever stands alone. To me it's what connection i have with it. When the show ended and this song was the perfect fit i got hooked on a song i've always known and found it okay? Now it connected to a journey taken.
I think that's why she is a one hit wonder in the US. When her song dropped it came out of left field. Noone expected it. It sounded so foreign, so upbeat. And it's still a hit because of Nostalgia of one of the greatest years in modern music.
I couldnt even imagine for a second what the 80's would have been without 99luftballoons !
Loved the German version! And what a wonderful accident. A great message for us all,especially growing up with the Cold War and Vietnam my entire life makes you truly want peace always.
Having lived through the 80s and sitting here in 2022 I think songs Like This are one of the few things that keep the dystopian nightmare of 1984 at Bay
While discussing "non-english songs" hitting the chart, one must bring up 'Rock Me Amadeus' by Falco-- which, if you take it on its chart performance might be bigger than Nena's 99 Luftballons. It's funny how popular culture at the time :"the Cold War" and Mozart's revival with the movie 'Amadeus' in 1984 contributed to the success of these songs on the charts.
These songs clearly were the tip of the iceberg-- we saw 'Macarena' hit it very big in 1995 and 'Despacito' in 2017 to name a few. It's great to see that music-- no matter the language of the lyrics has the power to bring cultures together and celebrate melodies that is just plain great to listen to!
It's all about timing!
You’re right. While “99 Luftballons” went to #2, “Rock Me Amadeus” went all the way to #1. It’s good for us to have a variety of popular music, no matter what genre or language.
It's strange it doesn't happen more often, considering how many English language songs are big hits in other countries. Our music industry and culture in the West is very insular.
And Dragostea din tei, in Romanian. At least it was a huge hit in Europe
Whilst not rock, don't forget 'Ça Plane Pour Moi,' by Plastic Bertrand, 1977.
I always listen to the German version, mostly because I love how she says luftballons, but I think the English lyrics are great. They captured the same meaning to me, and they rhyme and flow well.
It should have been 99 Mylar Balloons in both languages 😁
I always liked the German version better. Although I was 9 years after my high school German, I could still pick out phrases and words that really made me enjoy the song more. The beat and musicality were just great as well.
Incredible- my wish from 1983 comes true! I wished to know the backstory of how a German song got to our airwaves. And then we had the English version. It was quite perplexing especially because of its message. …but what exactly is its meaning and how much different are the lyrics between the two versions. Amazing-after all these years- to have the answers, thank you professor!!
I really Love both versions. I heard the English first when I was 10 years old, and fell in Love with the story and message - I actually adored how the English story started in a "little toy shop," broke out into war, and ended in the ruins... the poetry worked for me. I only heard the German version after I bought the single, and then fell in Love with that. Our local radio station played a version where the intro was German and then segued into the English (- Casey Kasem played this version once on AT40), which I could never find a copy of - so I figured out how to edit a version of that myself using the single, which is what first got me into music editing and remixing.
Thanks for this. I have always loved her work, her voice is wonderful.
The 80's (and 90's), when you could still find some meaningful music getting through the mainstream. Virtually nill since the 2000's, when "I"m the best at everything" and "Look at me spend money" took over popular radio completely.
I was a New Wave / Punk fanatic and was a DJ on my college radio station playing this and other punk and Nuevo songs! Thanks for this vid!
And yes, and the threat of nuclear was a huge influence on a kid born in the mid 50s.
As somebody from Bavaria, watching this was kind of weird. Yea the contrast between the apocalyptic lyrics and the upbeat musict itself has always been an interesing kind of suspense in this song. I think the song actually holds up very well to this day.
Nice video :)
I took German in high school, and we translated "99 Luftballons" for class. The English version is in the neighborhood, but it doesn't pack the punch of the German version.
I really, really, *really* hope no more generations of kids have to live with the existential dread we did during the Cold War. It did provide great entertainment across the spectrum of media, though.
I'm more worried about WWIII now than I ever was then.
There was no existential threat, gimme a break. I lived during that time and it was all media induced paranoia propaganda, no different than the convid-job.
@@TheSwissChalet Did you know that the judgment of a lone Soviet officer stood between the world and global thermonuclear war in September 1983? Just because the worst-case scenario didn't happen doesn't mean the threat isn't real.
I was in college at the time and taking one of four semesters of German that I had to have for graduation. We talked about the song in class and my teacher gave me a photocopy of a page from a German music magazine that had the lyrics to 99 Luftballons, because I wanted to know how closely the English translation matched up. One evening I took my German dictionary and sat down and attempted to translate the song to English. My teacher helped me smooth out some of the roughness, especially idioms that don't translate precisely from one language to another. It was an interesting exercise for me. I told the teacher how well the song was doing, since I listened to AT 40 every week. Thanks for jogging my memory, Prof!
Professor, thank you. This song has been spinning through my head recently. I was an American 🇺🇸 high school student learning the German language in 1984.
When I read the title of this UA-cam video, I knew it must be Nena. Thanks 🙏 for sharing all of the interesting details.
This mirrors my experience. I was learning German at the same time. I looked everywhere for any kind of German pop music. A friend gave me Nena’s first album which I listened to constantly in my Walkman.
Nena is still around today. Looks great too.
I loved that 1984 look she had.
Vollmond and Nur Getraeumt are great songs.
She's awesome. Want to get an interview with her.
She’s 62 this year and looks fabulous for her age!
@@ProfessorofRock Would love to see you interview her!
You should she her in '85-'86. Watch the Haus der drei Sonnen video
When the English version came out I knew just enough German to know that someone had butchered the translation. I was always surprised that she had agreed to do it, and wondered if perhaps she was just not aware of the changes. Thank you for going through the translation. I only knew enough German to realize it was not the same, but wanted to know what she really said in German.
Love this song. Grew up in Africa during the 80s. Brings backs memories of my teenage days. I forgot if I listened to the German or English version first. This "mistake" is one of the iconic songs from from the 80s.
I agree, the greatest year in music history. So glad I was a teenager then. I was in my 3rd year of secondary school (high school).
The German version had an exotic quality that was lost in translation. Excellent 80's gem ( The German version 👌)
It’s why that version was the one that hit.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 yep, I've heard the English version and it didn't have the same impact on me.
The German version seems more authentic to me, a child of the later Cold War. The real fear wasn't that NATO and Warsaw Pact would deliberately decide to go to war. After 1962, the superpowers made sure that escalation would be slow and measured, with many chances to stop. No, the real fear was that a sensor glitch or a malfunction would get people excited and the DEFCON levels would start to automatically increase. The German lyrics cheerfully sings about an "Oops! We blew up the world by reflex." moment while getting down to life in the moment. The English lyrics version tried to work around the original theme, and just confused things. Like we young people would've worried about the message, like you said, it was everywhere back then. Might as well play the song and enjoy!
Interesting. I didn't find the English version confusing. The metaphors made a lot of sense to me. But I do love listening to both versions, understanding the premise.
I don’t think it was known at the time, but the 1983 incident was super close.
@@JasperJanssen and the 1983 incident wasn't even the only close call...
1983 *War Games*
Automation with computers was becoming a thing in the public conscienceness, and a mistake that would bring about thermonuclear war was a worry to some people both those who didn't understand them at all and some of those that built and wrote programs for them.
Adam, I'm a musician and a fluent German speaker. I lived in the Frankfurt area. The English version is goofy. The German version speaks against communism and the threat of nuclear war. Germany at the time was the gateway to the former soviet union. I was in East Berlin in 92 after the fall of the Berlin wall. You can tell how West Germany despised the notion of communism because they saw the freedom that the Americans showed them after WWII. The east Germans loved the western way of life. Sadly, they still climb to socialism and lack a sense of patriotism. They don't fly their flag and are very shy about national pride yet cling to their German tradition and culture. They are a welcoming and kind people. In summation. I love the Germans and it is the culture of my ancestors. I'm American by birth but German by blood and I have a fond love for Germany and their people. This song introduced America to the nice side of the German language. I truly love that. Thanks for the video. As always. 3 chords and the truth my friend.
The synthesizer in this song is incredible and immediately recognizable when you hear it. And I love both versions! I just ad-lib the German version. ;)
Once again, Thank You Adam!! In 1984 I was a sophomore in HS and I remember that time really really well. That year the Reagan Republicans published yet another and even longer list of banned books, so of course here in NYC we were required to read. When "99 Luft Ballons" hit the airwaves here in NYC--in German, it took off. We were reading Orwell's 1984. The German communities here in NYC no longer felt the need to hide; Luckily for Nena, Falco had been on the US airwaves in both languages already and charted really high, so it was hardly a new thing. I think the record companies were more concerned with more singing in German might be too much for US Audiences. As a city of 1-& 2nd generation Immigrants and newcomers, it actually didn't present any issues. In fact it was the opposite. However for north of the border, recording execs weren't all that far off. The Canadians, not surprisingly, preferred the English version, as did the UK. One Caveat when translating from one language to another: Translations NEVER carry over completely because one language may NOT have an equivalent word thought or idea in the other language & culture of the target audience[s], so the translator needs to identify culturally what the audience of the other language would understand and value to understand & appreciate the message[s] in the song.
In Canada, both versions were performed around the same time.
Sorry, Helene, Republicans don't ban books. Congress doesn't ban books. The President doesn't ban books. Individual Congress members don't ban books. Nor do they publish lists of banned books.
However, just this week we learned that the Democrats in Congress are creating a new division of DHS, the Department of Homeland Security to be called the KGB, errrrr, ummmm, I meant the "DGB", the Government Disinformation Board. Sounds a bit Orwellian, no?? Get on over to Prager University and get educated.
@@s.marcus3669 Your lies are egregiously HILARIOUS!!! You either NEVER grew up in the 80's in the US but instead in a Soviet block NAtion OR you're on the side that banned the books in the '80's. Anyone who tells me to go to a bogus University to get "educated" is likely a Putin operative.US Dept. of EDUCATION banned books by order of the Reagan "Just Say NO To Drugs" Administration. Go do your HW an NOT at Prager, Gonzaga or Trump University.
AS for the "Government DIsinformation Board", which I agree is a terrible name to use, and you can spin that however you please; However IF it gets an overwhelming bipartisan vote, then it's the Government -at-Large that's Orwellian and NOT any one party.
@@eleni1968 I grew up at 13443 Debby Street in Van Nuys; just west of Fulton and just south of Victory Blvd. Grant High School class of 1983. I won't even try to argue with a Fellow Traveler or as Larry Elder calls you bozos; a "toe-tag liberal". Have a nice life, tovarish.
@@eleni1968 Waiting for your lame reply to my retort. But you won't, because you know deep in your heart that I'm right. Must really suck to be an angry Leftist, especially with this week's (leaked) news about the SCOTUS possibly revoking your "Constitutional" right to kill your baby. And to that all I can say is..."poor baby"!
Nena turned 62, still is a top-act here in Germany, concerts are fully booked in locations of any size, great band, loves her family, sells records, and simply is part of German history.
Crazy you're still talking about her...
I lived in Germany in the mid-1980s so this was a staple of every club I went to. Loved it! But definitely the German version is preferable!
When I was a child, I did appreciate the English version… I was only 9 years old and it helped me enjoy the song until I was old enough to appreciate the German version.
THANK YOU!
As a high school senior in 1984 who had two years of German, this song was pretty central to my experience. That said, I kick myself for never actually learning the lyrics. Dummkopf! You provide a wonderful examination of this classic 80's song and juxtaposition of the two versions. It's absurd that it was translated into English. Ironically, the forces behind that pressure were the same that NENA was criticizing in the song! Populism and politicizing, pure & simple.
I like Goldfingers version because they mixed both the German and English together.
My favorite Nena song however is Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann. It also got translated into English having her and Kim Wilde singing together. as Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime.
That's great they mixed the two translations together, that's what I was thinking would have been good. Blondie and the Beatles did it, why not Nena? I'll have to look up the Goldfinger cover.
Goldfinger actually covered 7 Seconds' version. Look it up.
Edit: Not trying to be a bastard, just giving credit where its due.