December 5th, 2008 10:50am
Things I Don’t Remember
Think About Life “Cyanide”
“Cyanide” is about panic and confusion, but it somehow feels loose and calm despite its anxiety and tension. Maybe it’s like being in the eye of the storm, or finding some peace amid chaos. Listening to the track, it seems as though it could just explode at any moment or build to some catharsis, but instead, the track just sorta stops, letting the mood run its course without a hint of what could happen next.
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Barbara Morgenstern “Reich & Berühmt”
As far as I can tell, “Reich & Berühmt” is sung in German except for a line in English. Understandably as a non-German speaker, the English line is the one that catches my ear: “Dance the night away if you want to be part of it.” I have no sense of the line’s context, but I’m intrigued by the decision to have that particular sentiment sung in another language, and wonder if it is somehow intended for the segment of Morgenstern’s audience who speak English but cannot understand German. Either way, this is not really a dancing song, but instead something more melancholy and lost in its own head. It’s not “part of it,” but removed, aloof, and physically and/or emotionally removed from the room full of dancing people.
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12/5/08 3:52 pm
you may be glad, not to understand the german words.
it´s something about the typical female believing in hierarchic organized society, which one won´t be able to get rid of. konservative, because she didnt try.
it is sung in “schriftdeutsch”. in germany there is a big difference between common speach and literature. she uses a kind of cutted literature-speaking. hard to understand even for germans.
so enjoy just the sound. it´s the same thing for me, if I listen to english or french music.
I hear the sound of the voices and suggest something, what may happen there. but reality is often another. and sometimes the song becomes less interesting for me, when I translated the words.
have a nice day
greets
klipp
12/5/08 4:52 pm
Thank you, Klipp! I have never heard of schriftdeutsch; that’s really fascinating.
12/5/08 6:36 pm
[...] We are neighbors, but we’ve never met. I bet he goes to the Beer Garden a lot; he wouldn’t be able to understand all of the German words around the place, but he’d still get to drink beer at a picnic table [Fluxblog] [...]