# German Music, Bitte! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142 "2016-05-19T02:07:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/41 "2016-05-20T08:20:02Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There are certain German cultural traditions that should not be missed: > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3GTxRt4iao&list=PLA34046A4B9425E66&index=30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3GTxRt4iao&list=PLA34046A4B9425E66&index=30) Actually, they are from the Canton of Bern (in Switzerland). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/42 "2016-05-20T09:16:39Z")
> [@IT\_Guy](#): > > Just a suggestion: [Max Raabe und Palast Orchester](https://youtu.be/M3xcC2H4NoY). I will admit a certain fondness for his unique cover of Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did It Again” (in English). > [@Penfeather](#): > > Beat me to it; she also made _Punishing Kiss_, an English language album with the likes of Nick Cave and Tom Waits: this is her on Kurt Weill’s [Tango Ballad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1cmz-luZS0) with Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy. I beat you both to it in post #11, dammit. Still, can’t get enough Ute. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/43 "2016-05-20T12:51:50Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Sorry to nitpick, but Zarah Leander was Swedish, though it’s an easy mistake to make cause she had her greatest success in Germany with German songs. She used to be Goebbels’ substitute for Marlene Dietrich, an interesting story in itself. > > My favorite Nina Hagen song is TV-Glotzer, her version of the Tubes’ White Punks On Dope, which totally beats the original IMHO. Her band later became Spliff, one of the best bands of the Neue Deutsche Welle aka German New Wave, here’s their Dejà Vue: [https://youtu.be/5zObokRhLL4](https://youtu.be/5zObokRhLL4). > > And because Anette Humpe was posted above, here are two great songs of her NDW band Ideal: > > Blaue Augen: [https://youtu.be/-D52CqyYpHw](https://youtu.be/-D52CqyYpHw) > > Berlin: [https://youtu.be/tYyZaoVT3WA](https://youtu.be/tYyZaoVT3WA) Thank you for the correction. I knew a little bit about Zarah but somehow forgot that she was from Sweden. I read her Wkipedia page but that was years ago. Thank you for the other links. I’ll listen to them when I’m not on data. So what IS “Erfurt & Gera” about? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/44 "2016-05-20T14:17:12Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Thank you for the other links. I’ll listen to them when I’m not on data. So what IS “Erfurt & Gera” about? Frankly, I didn’t know the song before but just listened to it for the first time. It’s an absurd story about a guy who died in a car accident on the Autobahn between Erfurt and Gera, two towns in Thuringia/former East Germany, just weeks after he escaped to West Germany and first time visiting his former homeland after the Wall had come down. It’s set in the turbulent time of the “Wende” in Germany after November 9, 1989 and hilariously deals with the adaptions the Ossis (former East Germans) had to make when they became virtually annexed by West Germany and contains classical advice like: "Und wenn ihr eure Trabbis gegen BMW’s eintauscht, ihr besser auf die kleine inn’re Stimme lauscht! " which means: “If you’re trading your Trabbis[sup]\*[/sup] for BMWs, better listen to your little inner voice” \*) a [Trabbi](http://www.erlebnis-trabant.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/trabi1.jpg) was the standard little plastic car of East Germany It closes with: “Würden Sie sich bitte mal ausweisen? Nee, aber ich kann Ihnen 'ne Banane schenken!” meaning “Would you please show your id? No, but I can give you a banana!” which plays on the cliche that the biggest sign of freedom for Ossis was to be able to get bananas, anytime, anywhere. It’s a fun song about a crazy time in Germany, Nina was qualified to do it because she had made it from East to West already in 1976 and knew both worlds. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/45 "2016-05-20T14:43:19Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > My favorite Nina Hagen song is TV-Glotzer, her version of the Tubes’ White Punks On Dope, which totally beats the original IMHO. Oops, botched up the link on Tapatalk this morning, [here’s the correct one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWzPcDtZZZo&feature=youtu.be). ETA: and the Spliff link too, sorry, coding on the phone is hard to do: [Dejá Vu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zObokRhLL4). ---
**Author:** ![Moris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moris/32/2846_2.png) [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/46 "2016-05-20T15:22:35Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There are certain German cultural traditions that should not be missed: > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3GTxRt4iao&list=PLA34046A4B9425E66&index=30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3GTxRt4iao&list=PLA34046A4B9425E66&index=30) Meh. Every German knows what’s _the_ German cultural tradition. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/TDSiRImxqvU/maxresdefault.jpg "Die Flippers - Die rote Sonne von Barbados (ZDF Musik muss dabei sein 26.08.1995) (VOD)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDSiRImxqvU) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/47 "2016-05-21T12:58:22Z")
^^^^ Too many videos not available in North Korea, Saudi Arabia and the USA. Here’s a version that’s not censored: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HLwm_7dGPps/hqdefault.jpg "Die Flippers - Die rote Sonne von Barbados") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLwm_7dGPps) ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/48 "2016-05-21T16:17:22Z")
While I have you all on the line, any suggestions on what neighborhoods we might like to stay in in Munich and Berlin? We both prefer funky/interesting to fancy, which is good because we’re definitely on a budget. When traveling, we both prefer to do more strolling around and exploring than seeing every single famous tourist destination - though of course we will visit some famous tourist destinations too. We both like live music, street fairs, and odd things unique to a city. A lively neighborhood with good proximity to the subway (or at least the bus) would be perfect. More detail on what we’ll be doing in case it matters - spoiler boxed so the rest of you don’t feel you have to wade through it! 🙂 [spoiler]We’ll be in Munich for all of Saturday and Sunday. Plans include seeing the Glockenspiel at Marienplatz (of course!), the Pinakothek der Moderne, and my son wants to see people surfing in the English Garden. We’ll probably try to make it to BMW Welt as well. We’ll be in Berlin for all of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I was in Berlin for 2 weeks in 1991, so I want to see the change in Potsdamer Platz (it was completely stark!) and find some East Berlin locations that I have pictures of. I’m surprised to find that the place I’m most looking forward to seeing again is the Gedächtniskirche. We’re flying out of TXL on Sunday. p.s. in case you’re wondering what we’re doing in between - Monday we’re traveling from Munich to Rothenberg ob der Tauber. On Wednesday, we’ll go from RodT to Berlin. We go through Göttingen, so we’ll stop there for a few hours to see the Alter Botanischer Garten and look around the university.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/49 "2016-05-21T19:51:12Z")
My own tastes tend more towards pop music, so this might not be your cup of tea, but have you heard anything by Andreas Bourani? He’s got a gorgeous voice with emotion to spare: [Auf anderen Wegen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Ik3yy728Y) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/50 "2016-05-21T21:54:41Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > We’ll be in Munich for all of Saturday and Sunday. Plans include seeing the Glockenspiel at Marienplatz (of course!), the Pinakothek der Moderne, and my son wants to see people surfing in the English Garden. We’ll probably try to make it to BMW Welt as well. [spoiler]Not every place is open on Sundays like in the U.S., so you might want to check in advance for the places you want to go. I enjoyed the Deutches Museum (kind of the German Smithsonian) more than BMW Welt, but that was 16 years ago so no telling how much it might have changed since then. The Deutches Museum will take up a lot more of your time, too. If you’re into old sci-fi you might want to watch _Rollerball_ (the original, not the remake) before your trip; some of the buildings shown in the movie are part of the BMW headquarters. And I believe there’s a nudist section within the English Garden. Depending on how fast you want your son to grow up, plan your route in advance.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142/51 "2016-05-21T22:08:27Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > [spoiler]Not every place is open on Sundays like in the U.S., so you might want to check in advance for the places you want to go. > > I enjoyed the Deutches Museum (kind of the German Smithsonian) more than BMW Welt, but that was 16 years ago so no telling how much it might have changed since then. The Deutches Museum will take up a lot more of your time, too. If you’re into old sci-fi you might want to watch _Rollerball_ (the original, not the remake) before your trip; some of the buildings shown in the movie are part of the BMW headquarters. > > And I believe there’s a nudist section within the English Garden. Depending on how fast you want your son to grow up, plan your route in advance.[/spoiler] Yeah, I’ve only been once to Munich 31 years ago on a school vacation and only spent about three hours in the Deutsches Museum, but if you’re anyway interested in technics and engineering, go there, it’s excellent. Oh, and while we’re at museum recommendations, don’t miss the Museumsinsel in Berlin with the excellent Egyptian and the Pergamon museum: you can see the bust of Nefertiti and the blue brick walls of Babylon as well as the magnificent Pergamon relief. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-music-bitte/755142.md?page=2)