Hast du etwas Zeit für mich?
I never knew what that meant when I heard it on the radio.
To be honest, I was never able to make out what the words were.
I think I got as far as ‘hast du…..’ and then was lost until the chorus.
And when I say ‘the chorus’ I really mean I could understand two words:
‘99 Luftballoons.’
I had no idea what the song was saying – in German or English.
But it stands out to me among the songs of the 1980s for one reason – I don’t remember hearing it that much in the 1980s, but it was always in those 1980s compilations advertised on TV.
I’ve heard it more in the last three decades on TV shows and films than I ever did in the 1980s.
And when I heard it in an episode of the latest season of Russian Doll, I wondered, What is the story behind 99 Luftballoons?
That’s right, friends: I was curious.
So, as the song opens, hast du etwas Zeit für mich?
That first line asks if you have time for me.
If so, I’ll tell you a story about 99 luftballoons.
The story of the Nena’s song 99 Luftballoons begins in 1982 – back when Germany was divided.
Carlo Karges, guitarist of the band, was attending a Rolling Stones concert in West Berlin. During the show, the band released hundreds of helium-filled balloons into the air.
Carlo watched as the balloons moved toward the horizon, shifting and changing shapes.
He thought they looked like a strange spacecraft and wondered what might happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall into the Soviet sector.
The experience gave him an idea.
Inspired by the moment, Carlo wrote the lyrics for 99 Luftballoons.
The band’s keyboard player, Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, wrote the music, and the band’s singer was Gabriele Susanne Kerner (who is also referred to as Nena).
99 Luftballoons tells a story of a person buying 99 balloons in a shop and letting them go – just for fun – and how ‘one thing leads to another.’
As the song continues, we learn the balloons were mistaken as ‘UFOs from space.’
A general sends pilots to investigate, and when the fighter jets find balloons, they think they are ‘Captain Kirk’ and put on a show of fire power.
This ‘fireworks display’ worries other nations, leading to further confusion, fighting, and devastation.
Nena then sings, “99 Jahre Krieg ließen keinen Platz für Sieger.”
It means, “99 years of war have left no place for winners.”
All from a harmless flight of 99 balloons.
The song ends when the narrator walks through the devastated ruins of the world and finds a single balloon, and sings:
“Denk' an dich und lass' ihn fliegen” (“I think of you and let it go”).
The song was originally released in Germany in 1983 – and was a hit in Germany and across Europe.
Nena’s record company had no intention of releasing the German song in the United States, until a disc jockey at the Los Angeles radio station KROQ found a copy and started playing it.
The German version turned out to be a hit in the US, climbing to #2 on the US Billboard Chart on March 3, 1984.
Nena also recorded an English version of the song, called 99 Red Balloons, that was released in the US in 1984.
The English version is similar to the narrative of the original German song, but it is not a direct translation.
The singer and other members of Nena weren’t happy with the English version of the song, noting that something was lost in translation.
The English version had mixed success overseas, but did reach #1 in the UK, Australia, Canada and Ireland.
But despite having an English version to play, most US radio stations played the original German version.
Although widely regarded as a One-Hit-Wonder, Nena had other successes in Germany, but nothing came close to the worldwide attention generated by 99 Luftballons.
Enjoy this video of Nena performing 99 Luftballoons in 2018:
FUN FACT:
In 2006, someone donated $35,000 to a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser to have the music channel VH1 play 99 Luftballoons and 99 Red Balloons continuously for one hour.
BONUS FUN FACT:
Where have I heard that song? Even if you didn’t grow up in the 1980s, you may know this song from one of the many TV shows or films it has appeared in, including (but not limited to): Irma Vep, Normal People, Despicable Me 3, Atomic Blonde, The Goldbergs, Girls, Watchmen, Scrubs, Gilmore Girls, and Boogie Nights…
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-Beth
What is 99 Luftballoons talking about?