Music with lyrics in German

The Lounge
#101

yeah you are absolutely right! same here!
still he is the best german rapper by far.

1 Like
#102

totally agree

#103

Classic. I also love this version with mega video

#104

Got really into this song by Peter Schilling as it was the title song for Deutschland 83 (also Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89), which was such a brilliant TV programme.

Ironically, it seems RTL used New Order for the German version!

EDIT: I wish I could add Moderat, but it seems all of their vocals are in English?

1 Like
#105

Füchse is a gem. Great bassline and melody.
I was into german hip hop a little bit in my teen years, back in the 90’s.
Absolute Begginer, Afrob, DJ Tomekk, Das Bo and so on.

2 Likes
#106

And some 90’s raves with german lyrics:

2 Likes
#107

I am bitterly disappointed that nobody has posted Marian yet. Of course you will need to fast forward a bit.

And this is the second thing I thought of, which should have been the first:

But most importantly of all, I think:

TBF I will find a way to shoehorn Der Berg Ruft into any conversation, given half a chance.

1 Like
#108
1 Like
#109

Hi!

Comments on usefulness of German for everyday use, literature and lyrics (native speaker POV)

Annoying and hindering characteristics

Although Standard German from my POV is a highly impractical language for effective everyday-conversation

  • you=Sie; she, her=sie :expressionless:;
  • tenses:
    • simple present=present progressive=near unfinished future=not so near unfinished future=pretty distant unfinished future=plan/idea only (hints by time indicating words or context);
    • indirect/reported speech=conjunctive=indication of doubt - depending on context and background of the speaker,
    • most used past tense is wordy past perfect;
  • subject and object can be interchanged in word order
    • but in some cases one cannot distinguish the case of a noun because they are identical (nominative, accusative)
      • so “Die Sabine schlägt Kerstin” can translate into: “Sabine hits Kersten” and “Sabine is being hit by Kerstin” - depending on context and preceding or following sentences, in spoken language this is easier to decide, because emphasis would be different;
  • cumbersome passive voice construction and reflexive construction)
Summarized

— in short it is very complicated and wordy to express references in terms of persons, locations, timed events —

Neat features

… it has some pretty neat features which I really like - like:

  • the possibility to further extend the descriptive accuracy of nouns indefinitely
    • (like nested lists or brackets)
    • simply by writing/speaking all the nouns without spaces or pauses into one “word”,
      • beginning with the least significant :rofl: –
    • so that’s great for suspense, just like that
  • you can have sentences over pages
    • and the resolution, the verb comes at the very end of it (that’s training for working memory).

Conclusion - fields where German language can shine

… and makes German useful for some sorts of literature

  • novels and the like;
  • and for short poetic forms
    • just like in lyrics
    • you can maintain the structure but
      • "delete“ all the helping word constructions,
      • this yields in most cases a suggested standard interpretation based on recognizable grammatical patterns
      • as well as an equally valid alternative interpretations/readings with completely different meanings
      • at the same time.

Comments on word pool

Sadly, Standard German has

  • only (mostly) a West Germanic word pool - (the Latin/French based alternatives are not used so much, despite efforts of the educated elite in the 1800s, perhaps because there also was a national romantic counter movement from the same stratus of society)
  • which is a drawback compared to English (with West Germanic, North Germanic, Old French word pool, from foreigner’s POV at least 3 words for every thing (maybe everything) with slightly different meaning/subtext).

Rhythm and sound and melody (“tones”)

  • should be rated by non-native speakers

  • I like

    • the rhythmic patterns with stressed/unstressed syllables
    • the hard/soft consonant pairs
    • voiced and voiceless consonants
    • many different sibilants
    • voiceless velar fricatives like in
      • Hebrew
      • Arabic
      • some Scottish and Old English words

  • possibility to express very different meanings by

    • melodic patterns
    • emphasis
      • melodic (pitch)
      • pauses
      • “velocity”
      • (this is very necessary because of the ambiguity resulting from the incomplete transformation from flective to isolating language (Humboldt/Schlegel), which has been frozen by becoming a literary language)

  • German language lacks

    • possibility of emphasis with short and long syllables (because long and short vowels carry meaning)
    • which makes imitation of Greek rhythmic patterns somewhat comical — but there was a phase when the now canonical poets did just that.
Summarized: sound, rhythm, (melody)

In my ears German language is very much EBM, DAF-style:

  • continuous 8th or 16th patterns
  • almost no “swing”
  • strong hard sounds
  • when used in monologue-mode (=no back and forth talking),
    • melody can be omitted, just like techno

Examples, response to OP

Genres, search terms

  • The NDW (Neue Deutsche Welle; ‘New German Wave’ = ‘New (German) Wave’ or ‘New Wave, German’) phase has some dozens of really great songs: NDW - playlist by Niklas Schmickler | Spotify
  • The German Baroque and the romantic phase of the German Classical period brought many great songs (Kunstlieder, KUNSTLIEDER - playlist by tobias.reif96 | Spotify), most impressive ones are by Schubert with wording by Goethe or Schiller for example
  • there is a huge body of German ‘alternative rock’ with very clever and beautiful lyrics
    • Tocotronic
    • Blumfeld
    • Keimzeit
    • Element of Crime
  • and, above all, the genre defining DAF or D.A.F. (Deutsch-Amerikanische-Freundschaft, ‘German-American-Friendship’): Gold und Liebe - Compilation by DAF | Spotify
Outstanding

Lists

Will post videos later.

3 Likes
#110
#111

Nice post!

German has a reputation for being a very hard/harsh language, but when I’ve been to Berlin and Vienna I always find it very melodic, and there is a ‘clarity’ to people’s voices, as if they are producing the sound from deep inside, i.e. the opposite of mumbling. It also sounds so much friendlier than the popular reputation.

Love to sit and listen to Germans speak.

2 Likes
#112

Yes, this popular reputation comes probably from the first radio/TV broadcasts to the world (and space) with speeches by a rather known but untrained agit-prop speaker whose name shall not be mentioned, and speeches of his fellows with a not less underdog/outcast-background.

If I put myself into sensoric aphasic mode so that I just hear sound and don’t understand the language, it is very very comical with these loud bursts, unfamiliar long pauses and unnatural rhythm of speech. So I have an idea how this would sound to the world. :wink:

#113
1 Like
#114

HGichT is German language music and/or art collective with many levels including DaDa references, very comical —and they use a Jomox XBase999 (DJ Hundefriedhof) :smiley:

#116
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#120

Cannot believe no one has posted art rockers (?) Knorkator yet … hilarious live band. Long history.

#121