“Lyrical Learning”
***
Hi everyone,
and welcome back to the German Advent Calendar 2023.
And today, I want to tell you about a website, that might be nice a resource, at least if you’re using music for your German learning.
And also, I want to share a couple of German songs and bands with you that I like (and that are not electronic music).
But’s start with the website, which is… drumroll…
Kind of a generic name, to be honest.
It’s actually been mentioned here in the comments a few times over the years, but I kept on forgetting about it.
What it is essentially, it’s a site where you can look up song lyrics and more importantly, you can also find some annotations and comments about them. Like… what does this line mean, what is that a reference to, and stuff like that. A community based song lyric interpreter, if you will.
Here’s a screenshot for how it looks for a Rammstein song, for example.
When a line is gray in the original, that means there’s some annotation there that someone made. And as you can see, the entire song is annotated here, which is no wonder, because it’s so famous.
And I think when you look up a song by Kendrick Lamar or Taylor swift, I think it’ll be similar.
But as I was browsing the site a bit for this post, I realized that many German songs, even ones that were singles or even small hits, barely have any comments on them. I was honestly a bit disappointed, but okay… if you are learning German with music, it might still be a great tool. So yeah, definitely worth giving it a look … Genius.com.
The … uh… the site is somewhere down there… under all the ad banners :).
And now let me tell you about two songs that I like, because why not.
My main genres are electronic music and anything that has its roots in African music, harmonies and rhythm. And I never cared much for German singer song writer or German rock or whatever and I’m generally not listening to the lyrics. The voice is more like another instrument to me.
But these two songs keep popping into my head year after year and they always cheer me up when I hear them.
The first one is by Die Sterne, a pop-rock band from the 90s, the singer of which looks like a certain Bond villain from the 80s.
And while I wasn’t a fan or anything, this song has stuck with me to this day.
And then, the other song kind of popped into my head completely out of nowhere this summer, as I was riding my bike through Berlin to get to Tempelhofer Feld.
It’s called Kling Klang, is by the band Keimzeit and it just really give me a good mood and really fits summer in Berlin :)
And I originally wanted to wrap it up here, but oooooohhhhhh my god, and while we’re at it, I also want to give a BIG FAT praise to my favorite band ever:
The Can
It’s a German psychedelic rock band from the 70s and holy crap, did they explore music. Their songs are in English, so it’s not interesting from a language learning perspective, but as a piece of music history it’s an absolute treasure.
They have experimented with SOOO many different styles and instruments – some songs are funk (“Moonshaker”), some are like rock (“Mother Sky”), some are legit grunge (“You doo right”), some are space disco (“Animal Waves”), some are 10 minute cinematic sound journeys that sound like they’re made with modern computers (“Future days”) and then there’s “Cascade Waltz”. I don’t even know what to call this.
Absolutely incredible stuff and a wealth to explore.
Chances are you actually know a song of them – Vitamin C – because it was used in Inherent Vice, a Paul Thomas Anderson movie with Joaquin Phoenix.
Honestly, I could rave on about The Can for an hour honestly, they’re just so incredible. But let’s just wrap this up for today with a song of The Can… Moonshake.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve heard of any of these bands before and if you liked the songs.
And of course, if you have any suggestions for good German music, please share. Many people are looking for suggestions and I’m honestly not the best source, simply because I don’t know all that much.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these songs, have a great Sunday and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Did I mention that I love The Can?
Seriously… absolute gem!!!
Audio Speed
Dark Mode
Der Can war eine viele wichtige Gruppen in meine Jugendzeit ❤️
Meinst du eine “sehr wichtige Gruppe” oder “eine der vielen wichtigen Gruppen” :)?
257ers- Gravitacion
Marla Blumenblatt -Gartenpavillion
I’ve learnt so much from listening to German music, and my theory (possibly motivated by preferences) is that hip hop is the best type of music for language learning. Was mit Wortnutzug zu tun. It was a little peinlich how much Diechkind I listened to in 2023, and my most-listened-to-song was Wie Denn (thanks, Spotify).
Also, though, the mention of Der Kommissar and 99 Luftballons reminded me of this classic, which for me rounds out the trilogy: Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst…) | 1st German Video Version 1982
(Obviously the best music genre for language learning is actually the genre you enjoy, so that you enjoy the learning… ignore my theory.)
Among the versions of Schubert that Franz Liszt composed is a sparkling version of “Auf dem Wasser zu Singen, ” which evokes Schubert’s uncanny ear for water-sounds so beautifully. Another Schubert nature piece: “Horch, horch, die Lerch,” is exquisite in the Liszt transscription as well.
Yup, The Can da man.
Ganz Tolle!
*toll (no “e” :)
Living in Minnesota USA, I stumbled upon Santiano and LOVE them. Flew to Germany and saw them live.
Never heard of them, but I just checked on Youtube and I bet it was an absolute wild blast of a concert.
Wow! So surprised that you just “discovered” Santiano. I started learning German via accidentally discovering the acapella bands from Koln and expanded in every direction from there.
A current favorite of mine is Versengold. They seen similar in some ways to Santiano, perhaps its the Celtic influence in Northern Germany?
This song sounds to me just like an Irish drinking song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90jIoKIngGo
Keimzeit made me think “bacteria time!” but to my slight disappointment I think it means something like “germination time”?
Hahaha, I think the same every time I come across the name. But yeah, it’s probably not about germs. I think “sprouting time” is the best match.
I am a Krautrock binger. If there is another one-word term I need to use, I am all ears, but saying ‘a form of awesome music between 1970 and 1986-ish’ is a little long. Something about that music (which totally covers a lot of what became different styles/genres) speaks to me. There is a simplicity in it, and yet there is always something more. It goes somewhere – it says something. Even the more minimalistic works are rarely banal. “Can” comes up in my streaming feed (K.R. essentials) and I dig it. Thanks for the video. I once sent Easy German an ‘audio message’ which was the music of Mahler edited to fit my scolding verbal narration (auf schlechtem Deutsch) where I told them that they need appreciate their own music (this is after one of their podcasts where they seemed to not understand the contribution of 1820-1920 German/Austrian music to the world). JEDENFALLS… I will say that Nena’s latest album “Licht” is absolutely perfect for learning phrases (oft wiederholt) and the music…as pop music goes…is pretty darned good!
kosmische music gets used for a lot of that 70s stuff, although i guess it sounds a little less focused on the rock side of things. Personally I’ve always dislked the term krautrock. Wouldn’t be the only genre name i don’t like (idm or “intelligent dance music” being perhaps my least favourite of all )
Oh, me too. I hate the term Krautrock. Doesn’t do it justice at all.
And I did not know that IDM was short for “intelligent dance music”. I hate Jean-Michel Jarre with a passion and that term fits right in now.
I’ve mentioned her in other comments now already, but you might miss it, so I want to tell you as well… Nina Hagen is worth a look, as well.
And generally, for “Krautrock”, I feel like there’s some Dadaism in all of it, seemingly blending with punk.
I recently started a blog and instagram account all about learning German through popular music (https://sprachmelodie.com/, https://www.instagram.com/sprachmelodie_blog/) – there around around 15 German songs featured there so far, with more to come in the new year. Thanks for the music suggestions and for highlighting this great way to learn!
Ohhh, amazing concept!!! Thanks for sharing and I hope it takes off!!
Thank you for the shout-outs to classical music! I too am a Schubert fan, and was just practicing the Piano Impromptus. (I even had the pleasure of holding the Impromptus manuscript in my hands and studying it at the Morgan Library in New York.) But I also love Mendelssohn, and his sister Fanny Hensel’s music (both Berliners, by the way), and Beethoven– and today is Beethoven’s birthday! Hurra!
Oh, so he was a Saggitarius!! That fits!
I come to German through classical music. But I shouldn’t speak so broadly. Schubert is why I care. Schubert and Hugo Wolf. I like other Lieder pretty well but Schubert is like the fountain of youth or something, for me.
My favorite Schubert song to rock out to and so far the only one on my immersion playlist is Auf Dem Wasser Zu Singen. And, man darf es anhören :D Dieser Singer ist nicht so operatisch. Er war eigentlich nicht als Singer ausgebildet. Er war Lehrer der in seinem Auto oft gesungen hat. He has a thin beautiful voice and clear, literary, expressive way of singing that I think is very listenable. I’m talking about IAN BOSTRIDGE of course…
https://open.spotify.com/track/05w6qC9UXxWNU5EwdGrW6n
I had a funny session with my tutor about the text to this song. She says it’s so funny how her students come to her so transported by Schubert, when her initial reaction is to find the text extremely over-the-top and romantic, as well as old-fashioned. It makes me feel kind of fortunate to have the distance of language. But- okay- I think Schubert is special. This melody feels so fresh to me. I’m sure there are other composers who set this song in a more dated way. And as someone who doesn’t yet speak German it’s the freshness and living quality of the music that first impresses me. I only find out how it descends into text after longer contemplation. And it doesn’t disappoint me too much :) because god knows I studied the romantic period in school, I identify themes, whatever… I actually think the themes in this text are pretty cool, the cosmic thing, the expanded sense…
I feel this way about the Schlager I listen to also. Well, no. Not *the same* way. But I think I’m much more tolerant of the cheesiness, because I feel so engaged by having my ears pricked to understand the German. It tends to be simple and clear in these songs, so even though I feel like I’d change the station immediately if I heard the same thing in English, I’m thrilled to hear them in German. And then the music is so simple that it’s not speeding ahead of me as I grab onto this new knowledge. I think Wolfgang Petry is good for the most basic level and Udo Jurgens for a step above that. Petry has images and rhymes that are like as simple as a children’s book… Jurgens has a lot of imagery that is a step higher in complexity and really rewarding to grab onto over time. And they’re both completely unembarrassed to lean into the cheese.
I listen to soooo much German music. It’s like an itch in my brain, where if I’m not using the music to reinforce my German learning, I’m wasting my time. Pretty much every song on my playlist I can point to as a teacher of a specific phrasing or grammatical concept. And some of it I actually like on its own merits hahaha. Three German artists I like a lot for their own quality rather than providing simple and clear deutsche texten sind Die Ärzte, Alligatoah, und Wir Sind Helden
Maybe I’ll write a blog post of my own about German music. I’m at the coffee shop and I left the essay I was editing at home so I’m taking it out on this comment. I’ll listen to the songs you’ve listed here soon – I’ve liked pretty much everything I’ve come across when you link to a song.
Have you heard of Fritz Wunderlich? He has a lovely version of die schöne Müllerin.
It’s interesting, I also find myself listening to things in other languages that I wouldn’t normally listen to. Sometimes it just hits different somehow.
I think a lot of Germans would never listen to some English pop songs if they understood the lyrics. It’s just so dumb sometimes, it’s a privilege to “not understand” them.
Ja, die schönste Stimme der Welt :D I very almost posted him singing Adélaïde here since it was Beethoven’s birthday. But truth be told that’s the only one of Beethoven’s songs that I really like.
Interesting you bring up Die Schöne Müllerin. I’ve been writing an analysis of Des Baches Wiegenlied on and off for, gosh, I guess a few months at this point, and I’ve been using two of Fritz’s renditions as references. I haven’t listened to him doing the whole cycle though. I recently got on Spotify and listened to about ten versions of it. I was really surprised by two. First, Nathalie Stutzmann – the new female director of Atlanta symphony – did a gorgeous and super interesting kind of Danny Elfman-ish take on it, that defied a lot of my expectations and really enchanted me. And then, this folksy guy Hannes Wader has a really nice rendition with acoustic guitar. This REALLY surprised me – of course one misses the piano but he does VERY well keeping the spirit of the song. He’s actually got a whole album of Schubert songs in his style, and I think they’re generally really nice. Anyway, Fritz is still very close to the top of the list for me :D
Oh yeah, I love his rendition of Adelaide.
Just listened to a little bit of Hannes Wader. I wouldn’t have expected the guitar to work as well as it does. It’s a little folksy almost. Some of his other songs remind me of Woody Guthrie, but he has a smoother voice.
Wow, you really did learn German with songs, at least to an extend. I think the great thing about having each song teach you something is that you’ll likely NEVER forget these things. Stuff connected to songs is such a strong thing in memory.
Also, Ärzte Alligatoah and Wir sind Helde… what a range of styles!! Do you know Funny van Dannen? If you want to add some clever comedy lyrics to your Playlist :)
“Ich fühlte Gott in mir, aber es war Schilddrüsenunterfunktion”
Amazing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlfL7Oe5dAI&list=RDEMbTmvQegx_UNDwPnegPcOwQ&start_radio=1&rv=JU4YxSB2aBc
Wie waere es mit “Pur”, tolle Band aus den 80ern. Und BAP war auch super.
Die Prinzen have good vocal harmonies, and I can understand quite a bit of it. Some is really funny. Here’s one. :) (Okay, maybe it’s not so funny?)
Camille
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qKo2_ZH5Bk
Here is a good, lyric-heavy song that you can have some fun exploring and interpreting (the genre is kind of chilled out indie rock): Thees Uhlmann – Junkies & Scientologen.
I have gotten really deep into the Broilers’ catalog and it’s taught me a lot about German, I love the lyrics. My favorite songs are Irgendwo dazwischen, Nur nach vorne gehen, Singe seufze & saufe, Ihr da oben, and Zu den Wurzeln. Actually I have a lot of favorites from them and can offer more recommendations depending on whether you like rock, ska punk, or soft/acoustic better :) But those five are definitely a good intro and good for lyrics.
And then there is Donots, a German band that used to sing in English but now they switched to German. In 2015 they did one album twice, once in each language, which is really interesting to listen to. It’s not at all a literal translation, but pretty creatively done, just keeping the same music and the same concept/ideas/message in each song. It’s called Carajo in English and Karacho in German.
Never heard of Broiler before. I guess you know Beatsteaks then as well. It’s not really Ska Punk, but there’s some skater incluence in there for sure.
Actually I never heard of them but it looks like they don’t have as many German songs? Ironically I only learned about these three because they are friends with or have played with British and American artists that I like. Broilers played on an American punk cruise that I went on. Everyone else was like, “I like their music but I can’t understand any of it.” And I just think, cool, German people and German words!! I got to talk to them and sing to them a little bit (long story), it was really cool!
Another good thing about having a favorite German band is the non-musical practice that can also go with it. Now I enjoy watching interviews on YouTube and their silly Instagram stories as well.
I started learning German in the context of classical music – operas, lieder, Mahler’s insanely detailed score markings. But there are three pop songs in German that I adore (and that show my age): “Rock Me Amadeus” and “Der Kommissar” by Falco, and “99 Luftballons” by Nena. I love that I know what they’re saying now, thanks in part to Your Daily German! :D
I almost could have written your comment – do you know Nur Geträumt by Nena? It’s special like 99 luftballoons I think
I didn’t know that one – just listened to it on YouTube – definitely special!
Ohhhh, that’s the only Nena song I like. Such a great groove. Do you know Nina Hagen, by the way?
Her most famous song is a really stupid schlager “Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen”, but she’s actually SUPER punk and experimental.
Here’s my favorite song of hers, where she also shows how good a singer she is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVxc_9CpFvY
99 red balloons (auf Englisch) was one of the first songs I remember really loving as a child, it really captured my imagination, and I was so excited to find Nur Geträumt, thinking there was going to be a whole catalogue of magical songs from Nena – and I don’t like ANY of them. So disappointing. Such a beautiful voice!
As opposed to Nena, with her STRONG voice… it’s the same and the opposite story for me with Du Hast Den Farbfilm Vergessen. I actually LOVE that song, I don’t count it along the stupid Schlager songs by any means :D Musically of course it is a bit aggressively, um… I don’t know… we might say “on the nose”? But I think the banging piano dissonance relieves some of that. But yeah, I’ve sung it at karaoke a couple times. I really love how freaking ANGRY she is, like operatically so. And her blatantly unbeautiful and STRONG voice – opposite of Nena hahaha – and the funny, specific, evocative imagery, her funny self-admiration in the second verse and her unabashed skewering of poor Micha – it just delights me, it’s like if Blondie was more unhinged and less “sexy” (and much more German)
And also it’s just so weird, like, who cares that you forgot the color film??? I had to Google it. And then you find out that it’s a microcosm of East German frustration, and you start thinking about how frustration works overall, how it starts in the government and then ends up in the domestic sphere, and … Yeah, to me it’s almost an “art song” written in the style of Schlager. And it did engage me enough to do a Nina Hagen plunge. I really dug it – like, the full realization of the strong, brilliant, frustrated/unhinged woman – but there wasn’t enough German for it to get on my playlist :) so my full exploration will have to wait until this particular phase is over and I can start enjoying non-didactic music again. I just now read in the comments of African Reggae that she was enough of a pain in the ass to the government that she actually got kicked out of east Germany. That’s AMAZING.
Hallo,
I commented before, but the site tagged me as anonymous (even though I was signed in) and now my comment is “waiting for approval”…
Hmm, not sure why that happens. Is it the first time or did that happen before?
That happened to me a couple times. I had been signed in for like a week or so (however long it lets you sign in when you hit “remember me”). I started typing and was still signed in. Hit post and boom, I’m signed out and it posted as anonymous. I guess the login time ran out while I was typing or something.
Ahhhh, I think it might be some sort of login refresh or login check when you post a comment. As long as this is not happening too often, I’d just rather not look into it to be honest, because it sounds like I’ll lose a lot of time searching for something I might not even be able to fix :/. If it happens all the time, that’s a different thing though.
Nah, it’s only been twice, and it was pretty late both times. I took it as a sign that I should go to bed :)
Ze juniwörs telling you dass du darfst jetzt schlafen gehen :D
Hallo,
A couple of typos:
“tell you about a websites, that might be nice a resource” (tell you about a website, that might be a nice resource)
“What it is is essentially” (What it is essentially)
Will check out this resource, I love German music (not electronic, sorry!), I like German rock and I’m even actually going to admit here on the blog that I like Schlager (yes, I know… I know… but I like it). I like Falco and Münchener Freiheit as well ;)
Never heard of those bands you mentioned, curious about “The can” though, will have a listen :)
Bis Morgen!
The one from Keimzeit is catchy. Upbeat, and I like the saxophone.
What kind of things do you like that are African-inspired?
Techno, house, garage, jungle, drum n base, Hip Hop, roots reaggah, Rocksteady and some South American influenced stuff :). Oh and jazz. I like, off beats, syncopes, blue notes and ongoing ever changing percussion essentially, and I don’t like lyrics.
What would be an example of something South American influenced?
I’ve gotten to like hip hop lately, partly because of 4 Blocks. Jazz, just starting to explore it, but I come at it through the vocals, like Ella Fitzgerald.
So I like some old Bossa Nova music, and I quite love Joe Bataan, the older stuff in particular.
And in the early 2000s, there was this trend called “Nu Jazz” which later became Brazilectro, and in Berlin we had a “band”/Dj-collective called Jazzanova, which I REALLY loved in the early days and they blended house, jungle, jazz and Bossa into a really interesting mix.
Later on, they got too “cocktail bar”-y for me, but in the beginning, there was some “street” in what they did.
here’s a feature with the great Ursula Rucker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-pfGpdUayk
Here’s another remix of them (early days, late 90s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtIdRqKkeRI
And here one that’s a bit more drum heavy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2RReia2fGQ
Even though I really stopped following their work after 2004, the early stuff is still very dear to me.
“A pain and a weight…it gots a phantom grip on your heart.” I think I’m gonna be listening to more of Ursula Rucker.
Joe Bataan has one of those voices that’s a little rough but hard to forget. I listened to a couple versions of Gypsy Woman. It was either calm or made you want to dance, depending on the tempo he picked.
The other two songs you linked were kind of soothing. There were some parts, especially in the last one, where it’s like the sounds have these 3D shapes and I can sort of see how they move. Maybe that sounds weird, but there’s some music where I notice that. I wonder if it happens to other people too.
Since you seem to appreciate Ursula, here’s another one you might not stumble across by accident. Again with Jazzanova. I love how this one slowly builds and more and more elements are added.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jko_Zzie0f8
She’s the only spoken word artist I really like.
As for the 3D shaped sounds… that’s one reason I love techno and house so much. It’s like an evolving abstract painting that you can walk around in and discover elements of different shape, color and texture. The absence of recognizable instruments (this is a guitar, this a flute,etc) allows for a whole new world to open up.
The changes caught my attention. I’m drowning in your love….I’m drowning….swim up into the current…and then the beeping at the end. The music fits the words. How does the story end? I don’t know, but it was nice to put on the wired headphones and listen.
I didn’t think I liked spoken word, but she’s got something about her.
Ok, so much i could talk for hours about here. I’m obsessed with Inherant Vice. Its a film i could watch over and over. It shifts around, doesn’t give everything away on its first viewing. Its dense, hazy and obscure.the dialog is kinda hard to follow at times and the atmosphere that is pretty unique.
As for Can, yeah, they are awesome. Do you know this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FaydRUQ42Q
I feel I understood them more from watching videos of their performances than i did listening to their albums. I read this biography of them a few Christmas back All Gates Open. Really interesting how they were students of Stockhausen but working in a “pop” format.
As for songs
This one is fun and i think lots of people would enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBz5HvErwZ4
Die Tödliche Doris are a super interesting band, although their music is kind of not the easiest to find.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKe_pKqEaUU
I am slightly undecided on what i feel about this track,, but its one i definitely looked up the lyrics for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GGfSkvAoRg
The structure is kinda, interesting, moving up through a house, floor by floor
Blixa is really good at making the language sound rough.
This track deserves a shoutout as well :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcUrkl7-k7M
I actually thought the lyrics were really dark and about someone drowning then i read in an interview its is actually about being really stoned in bed and wanting a glass of water.
Do you know this btw Emanuel? The album its from is not good imo but this track is a gem that i can listen to on endless repeat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDgej3somKI
Oh, I didn’t know that live concert recording!!
I find it crazy how different they all look. Like … one is super glamour rock, then a nerd, a guy who was in India… crazy. Also, there’s like some early death metal followed by Hare Krishna style stoner rock.
And it’s great to see Liebezeit live. He sounds so crisp.
I knew about half of the videos you mentioned (the more common ones). The thing is that I’m actually not into German music and “Krautrock” at all. The only band that really won me over is The Can. But I’m fascinated by the dadaistic tendecies in some of the music and lyrics and how absolutely NOT flashy these people were. Like… Lady Gaga is acting all freaky and all that, but these people were REAL freaks.
I love how Irmin Schmidt looks so enthusiastic and excited in that video playing the same two notes over and ove (r for at least the first 15 minutes ). Thejuggler is great too.
Oh, I guess you know Nina Hagen, but if not… she’s also a world to explore.
Here’s my favorite song of her, and I discover it while listening to some electro music on Mixcloud :D. Timeless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVxc_9CpFvY
Actually not really tbh, I’ll check her out!
Just ignore the number one search result “Gummiboot” :D