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It wasn't an anti-war song. It was an anti-Reagan song. BTW, a flock of geese being detected on radar in the 1950s did almost result in a war, fortunately people did not have quite the hair trigger they might have and cooler heads prevailed.
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: ua-cam.com/video/AOiiJk4yP80/v-deo.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.
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!
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?
"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.
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".
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.
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).
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 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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
@@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.
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 ❤
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.
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 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 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.
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.... :-)
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...!!!
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.
I was 12/13 when this came out. We were stationed in Berlin, and The Wall was always a part of out lives. This was also still the Cold War period, and the threat of one side or the other hitting the button was possible. Great time to be alive !
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 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.
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 🤩
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".
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?? :)
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)
You might not have noticed. but in the music video she is prancing aorund a Military training course the whole time, that was filled with balloons. Also the Red Baloons sylabel comes from the "Luftballons" and from the 99. because nine(1)-ty(2)-nine (3) red(4) balloons(5) and Neun(1)und(2) Neun(3) zig(4) Luft(5) Ballons (6). So the englisch version still is a syllabel short xD
I've loved this song ever since it first came out... and I also love the many parodies that have been produced. Some are really hilarious. Here are some: "99 Dead Baboons" by Tim Cavanagh, "99 Death Eaters" by Draco and the Malfoys, "99 Words for Boob" by Robert Lund, "99 Words for Vagine" by Dan the Engineer, "99 Words for Peen" by JDI-310 Productions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The video was shot for the Dutch program "Avro's Toppop". Kind of the Dutch version of the English Top Of The Pops. And yes, those fireworks got out of hand and frightened the bandmembers 🙂
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 UA-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.
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.
Nena had massive success during the years to follow this song. However, I saw her live in the late 90s when she was playing for free at local fairs and her career seemed to have come to an end. This only changed, when she reinvented herself doing remakes of her old hits (e.g. Kim Wilde -collab) and when in 2005 a German daily soap used one of her songs, she topped the German charts for first time since "99 Luftballons"...
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.
Apparently the reason the German version was played on Top of the Pops in the UK rather than the English was down to hairy arm-pits. The producer had seen the clip with Nena wearing a tank-top (singing in German) and the English version he'd seen she was wearing sleeves. He really wanted the hairy pits (which weren't in the officially released clip anyway) so they played the German cut and it went to number one - and of course, it IS the best version.
I bought the album because of this song, but I found several other songs I like on the album, like Kino and Tanz auf dem Vulkan. Don't speak German, but you can kind of get the gist of what she's singing about just by the familiarity of some words and the feel of the music. Kino is cinema and Vulkan is volcano, Tanz is dance. So yeah, music is international.
I bought the vinyl as released in the US back in '84. As someone else already mentioned, "99 Red Balloons" starts off the album, being the English language version. Side 2 ends with the German language version of "99 Luftballons". The album was actually titled "99 Luftballons". Both versions were played on the radio here in the US, but the english version was played more near the end of the radio run. The LP had all of Side 1 with english language songs. Side 2 was all German. The real "debut" album from '83, just self-titled as "Nena", has a different photo on the cover (same basic layout though) and a tracklist with only about half of the songs that ended up on the US and international version of the LP. So, the '84 album is technically considered a "compilation". I've read that the UK LP version uses a 4+ minute "club mix" version of the english language "99 Red Balloons". The early CD release in the US (I have this too) swapped out the regular "99 Red Balloons" (which was the same as the German backing tracks with only the english vocals tracked in) with the club mix version, and I assume it's the same one the UK LP got. I do know that the English version is not quite the same story that the German version tells if you directly translate it.
Gabrielle (Nena) is still performing, and performing this song as well as others from this period plus of course subsequent releases (in the German speaking world), because in the English world she is pretty much a one hit wonder. Of course her band has now included her own children. Actually saw her live in Concert in Germany in May 2011
None of us back then cared much about the lyrics, if it was a good song so we bought the single and maybe the album. It was a very different time, I never paid much attentions to lyrics until the last 20 years or so.
Growing up MTV had a habit of showing both versions. But the radio only played the English version. And this is the first time I've heard the German version in around 20 years
oh yeah! loved the English version as a kid! the video too! years later I noticed the original version and then knew they were Germans! never knew it was an anti-war song either! these explosions are crazy! her voice and looks were perfect for this song! thanks for teaching us about the lyrics!
I was a young adult when this was released, and was a big fan of Nena. I would go to Newbury Comics in Boston and scour the imports to find any records they had of the band. Also got to see her in concert once and they were great. She had this big skull for a belt buckle. Now she performs with 2 or 3 of her children in her band. Good times.
The real reason for the "red" ballon is different. Ninety-nine and Neun-und-neunzig(or neun-n-neunzig) can be forced into the same length. With Luftballon and ballon this is impossible, therefore they had to add a word before ballon and because air ballon isn't a thing they choose to add an adjective(red).
I'd always thought thought that it was cool that the German version was more popular here in the United States than the English version when it first came out back in the day.
I was a teenager in the 80s. In my opinion, the music of of the 80s is the most powerful music ever played. Especially German songs in the 80s with a political message or impetus are mostly very, very peaceful and powerful. Remember this song or "the wind of change" by the Scorpions.
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.
You're proud of your album... And with good reasons. Beautiful singing, interesting lyrics, varied melodies and instrumentations, adult, mature music... And beautifully published, too. I'm really happy to own a copy. I like chapter 12 especially.
It was interesting when this came out as the Cold War was still in full flower. I also happened to know German, so the lyrics resonated more with me than most others who were either hearing the English version or the also popular English/German pastiche. So many didn't get either the war or the hope allegory of this "Red Balloon" song because of this. (Then again, what singers sing and what people think they sing don't always match even if they speak the same language.)
Bravo on selecting the German version of this gem from the Post-Punk/New Wave era. How I miss the Punk/Post-Punk/New Wave/"College Music"/Alternative days. So much sonic ebullience and sullen beauty was generated. Danke for another fun review, Brüllende Löwin!
The lead singer could be my 1st wife's twin. Our first date we were both 15, got married about ten years later and divorced in 2003. Never had kids and we don't talk anymore. Kind of sad. She was a best friend and beautiful lady. This song being dark takes on more meaning to me. I am not stuck back there but like the Beatles song "In My Life" we can never forget the special people that were in our lives even when we have moved on.
I remember when this song came out and I was like... OMG, this sounds amazing. I didn't care that I couldn't speak German, it just sounded awesome. I've heard the English version and it is a pale imitation of the true German song. The song is still awesome and she still performs the song to this day and still sounds awesome.
Really awesome to see you react to Neue Deutsche Welle! I'm a 90's kid from Germany so I've still grown up with songs like that, but it takes your reaction to learn a lot more about the song and the band, thank you! (I've known the overall meaning, but was lacking the details.) Now I'm in my 30's and 80's pop/rock including NDW is still one of my favourite music genres alongside symphonic metal and soundtracks. If you want to dive in deeper into NDW music, here are some recommendations with interesting music and/or meanings: Peter Schilling "Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst)": about a fictional astronaut, as hommage on David Bowie's "Space Oddity", losing contact with ground control and drifting off in space "Terra Titanic": about the sinking of the Titanic, the force of the ocean and how it is dealt with ...while Major Tom is one of the most popular NDW songs afaik, I think that for a vocal coach reaction Terra Titanic might be even more interesting. Still, both are absolutely worth checking out!! Hubert Kah "Sternenhimmel": about a young (in some theories: gay) romance, a mix of a bit faster music and a hint of melancholy in the vocals Gänsehaut "Karl der Käfer" (Karl the Bug): about the destruction of ecosystems from the perspective of nature, in the context of infrastructure (streets) building ...the lyrics are very simple and direct to get the meaning across, the music is also simple but very emotional, fitting the theme of the song very well. Joachim Witt "Goldener Reiter": about mental health issues of the protagonist (burnout etc.), caused by achievement-oriented society, and how it was (said to be) dealt with patients in psychiatric clinics; especially for the time back then, a remarkable piece of social criticism. (Since I was little, that has been one of my favourites, but of course it took decades for me to get the full meaning of the song... And maybe, a bit of personal experience to refer to.) ......or for some more Nena: "Leuchtturm" :) (Just FYI, even though I'm sure others have pointed it out already: Nowadays, especially since early in the pandemic, Nena sadly has become a very... politically controversial character, let's put it this way. For me personally, she's said and done quite some stuff in those last years that I couldn't morally support, ever. BUT that doesn't make her old music bad, and I can still enjoy watching analysis of her NDW songs!)
I was familiar with the English version of this song from its time in the UK charts in 1984, it was only while on holiday in Europe in 1987 that I heard the German version for the first time.
Nice. There is so much history in it. The keyboarder Jens Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen was in the Band of Jean Beauvoir, who was for two albums in the band of Steve Van Zandt's Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul . Steve himself is part of Bruce Springsteens E Street Band. Nena is or was a great star in Germany, I am unsure about that, 'cause she didn't deal great with the restrictions in the times of the pandemic, that was tough. You realize, it's just a song and so much more. That's culture, I guess.
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It wasn't an anti-war song. It was an anti-Reagan song. BTW, a flock of geese being detected on radar in the 1950s did almost result in a war, fortunately people did not have quite the hair trigger they might have and cooler heads prevailed.
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: ua-cam.com/video/AOiiJk4yP80/v-deo.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 UA-cam some.
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.
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. :)
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?
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.
"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.
Not just the germans thou. Some of the Brits of the time - Joy Division/New Order did that a lot. Frankie Goes to HollyWood among a few others
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.
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.
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).
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.
I love her voice so much! It's like no other! Very unique and distinct! It's awesome!
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Being born 1971 in Germany, this was one of the songs of my youth.
Therefore I will always feel connected with it.
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.
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.
always get goosebumps at the end. I think it is one of the most important songs of that time.
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.
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!
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.
Oh! This is a song from my early teens, and _I still love it_ so, so much.
I'm French, and young when this song came out in the 80's... i loved it, in german.
(the group) Nena has made beautiful songs, for myself I think the song ''Leuchtturm'' is great.
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.
Great song! Reminds me so much of the 80's
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!
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.
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 love Nena. I’ve been a fan for more than 40 years and I still go to her concerts.
Greetings from Denmark ☺️
m.ua-cam.com/video/oIO5lfJ9dhs/v-deo.html&pp=ygUTbmVuYSA5OSBsdWZ0YmFsbG9ucw%3D%3D
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.
I didn't know that name of the artist nor the song.
Thank you so much !
Excellent video !
That thumbnail is pure gold.
😂 indeed
It looks like "The What / Rug Doctor Woman Ad" on Know Your Meme.
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
I was living in Germany when this song blew up. Loved it. I never cared for the English version. Gr8 analysis as usual. 🎶 🎸 🎶 🎹 🇩🇪
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 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.
Loved the German Version when it was originally released, and still my favorite version of this song.
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.
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.... :-)
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".
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.
I was 12/13 when this came out. We were stationed in Berlin, and The Wall was always a part of out lives. This was also still the Cold War period, and the threat of one side or the other hitting the button was possible. Great time to be alive !
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 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
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 🤩
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".
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?? :)
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)
You might not have noticed. but in the music video she is prancing aorund a Military training course the whole time, that was filled with balloons.
Also the Red Baloons sylabel comes from the "Luftballons" and from the 99. because nine(1)-ty(2)-nine (3) red(4) balloons(5) and Neun(1)und(2) Neun(3) zig(4) Luft(5) Ballons (6). So the englisch version still is a syllabel short xD
I've loved this song ever since it first came out... and I also love the many parodies that have been produced. Some are really hilarious. Here are some: "99 Dead Baboons" by Tim Cavanagh, "99 Death Eaters" by Draco and the Malfoys, "99 Words for Boob" by Robert Lund, "99 Words for Vagine" by Dan the Engineer, "99 Words for Peen" by JDI-310 Productions.
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.
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.
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.
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 love her voice! It's so sweet, feminine and mesmerizing.
Ah 80's, best time ever
If you ever want to do a cover version, the band Goldfinger does an excellent version that combines the English and German lyrics.
The video was shot for the Dutch program "Avro's Toppop". Kind of the Dutch version of the English Top Of The Pops. And yes, those fireworks got out of hand and frightened the bandmembers 🙂
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 UA-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.
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 really prefer this version over 99 Red Balloons. Even though I don't understand the lyrics I love the song because of Nena's voice and the music.
Nena had massive success during the years to follow this song. However, I saw her live in the late 90s when she was playing for free at local fairs and her career seemed to have come to an end. This only changed, when she reinvented herself doing remakes of her old hits (e.g. Kim Wilde -collab) and when in 2005 a German daily soap used one of her songs, she topped the German charts for first time since "99 Luftballons"...
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.
Apparently the reason the German version was played on Top of the Pops in the UK rather than the English was down to hairy arm-pits. The producer had seen the clip with Nena wearing a tank-top (singing in German) and the English version he'd seen she was wearing sleeves. He really wanted the hairy pits (which weren't in the officially released clip anyway) so they played the German cut and it went to number one - and of course, it IS the best version.
I bought the album because of this song, but I found several other songs I like on the album, like Kino and Tanz auf dem Vulkan. Don't speak German, but you can kind of get the gist of what she's singing about just by the familiarity of some words and the feel of the music. Kino is cinema and Vulkan is volcano, Tanz is dance. So yeah, music is international.
This song was also covered by one of my favorite punk bands 7SECONDS.They did a great version.
lmfao, the title and the facial reaction got me HAHAHA. Welcome back to the 80's!
I bought the vinyl as released in the US back in '84. As someone else already mentioned, "99 Red Balloons" starts off the album, being the English language version. Side 2 ends with the German language version of "99 Luftballons". The album was actually titled "99 Luftballons". Both versions were played on the radio here in the US, but the english version was played more near the end of the radio run. The LP had all of Side 1 with english language songs. Side 2 was all German.
The real "debut" album from '83, just self-titled as "Nena", has a different photo on the cover (same basic layout though) and a tracklist with only about half of the songs that ended up on the US and international version of the LP. So, the '84 album is technically considered a "compilation". I've read that the UK LP version uses a 4+ minute "club mix" version of the english language "99 Red Balloons". The early CD release in the US (I have this too) swapped out the regular "99 Red Balloons" (which was the same as the German backing tracks with only the english vocals tracked in) with the club mix version, and I assume it's the same one the UK LP got.
I do know that the English version is not quite the same story that the German version tells if you directly translate it.
Gabrielle (Nena) is still performing, and performing this song as well as others from this period plus of course subsequent releases (in the German speaking world), because in the English world she is pretty much a one hit wonder. Of course her band has now included her own children. Actually saw her live in Concert in Germany in May 2011
Good song from a beautiful country. I remember this one. Glad that you did this one in German.
None of us back then cared much about the lyrics, if it was a good song so we bought the single and maybe the album. It was a very different time, I never paid much attentions to lyrics until the last 20 years or so.
I guess that the red ballons came in to replace the LUFTballons in the german version
Growing up MTV had a habit of showing both versions. But the radio only played the English version. And this is the first time I've heard the German version in around 20 years
I was in elementary school when this song was released. It was the first song I could sing by heart.
Greetings from Munich
oh yeah! loved the English version as a kid! the video too! years later I noticed the original version and then knew they were Germans! never knew it was an anti-war song either! these explosions are crazy! her voice and looks were perfect for this song! thanks for teaching us about the lyrics!
I was a young adult when this was released, and was a big fan of Nena. I would go to Newbury Comics in Boston and scour the imports to find any records they had of the band. Also got to see her in concert once and they were great. She had this big skull for a belt buckle. Now she performs with 2 or 3 of her children in her band. Good times.
The real reason for the "red" ballon is different. Ninety-nine and Neun-und-neunzig(or neun-n-neunzig) can be forced into the same length. With Luftballon and ballon this is impossible, therefore they had to add a word before ballon and because air ballon isn't a thing they choose to add an adjective(red).
I'd always thought thought that it was cool that the German version was more popular here in the United States than the English version when it first came out back in the day.
I love this version so much more than the English language version for so many reasons
I was a teenager in the 80s. In my opinion, the music of of the 80s is the most powerful music ever played. Especially German songs in the 80s with a political message or impetus are mostly very, very peaceful and powerful. Remember this song or "the wind of change" by the Scorpions.
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.
You're proud of your album... And with good reasons. Beautiful singing, interesting lyrics, varied melodies and instrumentations, adult, mature music... And beautifully published, too. I'm really happy to own a copy. I like chapter 12 especially.
It was interesting when this came out as the Cold War was still in full flower. I also happened to know German, so the lyrics resonated more with me than most others who were either hearing the English version or the also popular English/German pastiche. So many didn't get either the war or the hope allegory of this "Red Balloon" song because of this. (Then again, what singers sing and what people think they sing don't always match even if they speak the same language.)
Bravo on selecting the German version of this gem from the Post-Punk/New Wave era. How I miss the Punk/Post-Punk/New Wave/"College Music"/Alternative days. So much sonic ebullience and sullen beauty was generated.
Danke for another fun review, Brüllende Löwin!
The lead singer could be my 1st wife's twin. Our first date we were both 15, got married about ten years later and divorced in 2003. Never had kids and we don't talk anymore. Kind of sad. She was a best friend and beautiful lady. This song being dark takes on more meaning to me. I am not stuck back there but like the Beatles song "In My Life" we can never forget the special people that were in our lives even when we have moved on.
I remember when this song came out and I was like... OMG, this sounds amazing. I didn't care that I couldn't speak German, it just sounded awesome. I've heard the English version and it is a pale imitation of the true German song. The song is still awesome and she still performs the song to this day and still sounds awesome.
Really awesome to see you react to Neue Deutsche Welle! I'm a 90's kid from Germany so I've still grown up with songs like that, but it takes your reaction to learn a lot more about the song and the band, thank you! (I've known the overall meaning, but was lacking the details.) Now I'm in my 30's and 80's pop/rock including NDW is still one of my favourite music genres alongside symphonic metal and soundtracks.
If you want to dive in deeper into NDW music, here are some recommendations with interesting music and/or meanings:
Peter Schilling
"Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst)": about a fictional astronaut, as hommage on David Bowie's "Space Oddity", losing contact with ground control and drifting off in space
"Terra Titanic": about the sinking of the Titanic, the force of the ocean and how it is dealt with
...while Major Tom is one of the most popular NDW songs afaik, I think that for a vocal coach reaction Terra Titanic might be even more interesting. Still, both are absolutely worth checking out!!
Hubert Kah
"Sternenhimmel": about a young (in some theories: gay) romance, a mix of a bit faster music and a hint of melancholy in the vocals
Gänsehaut
"Karl der Käfer" (Karl the Bug): about the destruction of ecosystems from the perspective of nature, in the context of infrastructure (streets) building ...the lyrics are very simple and direct to get the meaning across, the music is also simple but very emotional, fitting the theme of the song very well.
Joachim Witt
"Goldener Reiter": about mental health issues of the protagonist (burnout etc.), caused by achievement-oriented society, and how it was (said to be) dealt with patients in psychiatric clinics; especially for the time back then, a remarkable piece of social criticism. (Since I was little, that has been one of my favourites, but of course it took decades for me to get the full meaning of the song... And maybe, a bit of personal experience to refer to.)
......or for some more Nena: "Leuchtturm" :)
(Just FYI, even though I'm sure others have pointed it out already: Nowadays, especially since early in the pandemic, Nena sadly has become a very... politically controversial character, let's put it this way. For me personally, she's said and done quite some stuff in those last years that I couldn't morally support, ever. BUT that doesn't make her old music bad, and I can still enjoy watching analysis of her NDW songs!)
I was familiar with the English version of this song from its time in the UK charts in 1984, it was only while on holiday in Europe in 1987 that I heard the German version for the first time.
Nice. There is so much history in it. The keyboarder Jens Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen was in the Band of Jean Beauvoir, who was for two albums in the band of Steve Van Zandt's Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul . Steve himself is part of Bruce Springsteens E Street Band. Nena is or was a great star in Germany, I am unsure about that, 'cause she didn't deal great with the restrictions in the times of the pandemic, that was tough. You realize, it's just a song and so much more. That's culture, I guess.