Ahhhh.....the true meaning of 99 Luftballons.
Ok, as I loved the group Nena in the 80s, and still like lead singer Nena Kerner today, I can shed some light on this song.
99 Luftballons doesn't translate to 99 Red Balloons.
Nena never intended on crossing to the US. However, when the song was huge in Europe, a DJ from a California radio station was vacationing in Europe. He heard the song, and purchased the 45, and started to play it on his station. It got a ton of requests, and Epic Records signed Nena in America, and rush released the single out, as well as an English translation. However, the English translation did not match the original German language, which was deemed "too dark" for English speaking audiences.
In the UK, radio picked up on "99 Red Balloons" and the song spent 3 weeks at #1 on their charts. However, in America, it was the original German "99 Luftballons" that was the success, getting to #2 on our charts, blocked from #1 by Van Halen's "Jump".
This is the English version that everyone is familar with.
You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base bugs in the software
Flash the message, something's out there
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by
99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky as 99 red balloons go by
99 Decision street
99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super flurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by
99 knights of the air
Ride super high tech jet fighters
Everyone's a super hero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify, and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by
99 dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standing pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
I think of you, and let it go
This is what the song would've said, if the translation was literal.
Have you some time for me,
then I'll sing a song for you
about 99 balloons
on their way to the horizon.
If you're perhaps thinking about me right now
then I'll sing a song for you
about 99 balloons
and that such a thing comes from such a thing.
99 balloons
on their way to the horizon
People think they're UFO's from space
so a general sent up
a fighter squadron after them
Sound the alarm if it's so
but there on the horizon were
only 99 balloons.
99 fighter jets
Each one's a great warrior
Thought they were Captain Kirk
then came a lot of fireworks
the neighbors didn't understand anything
and felt like they were being provoked
so they shot at the horizon
at 99 balloons.
99 war ministers
matches and gasoline canisters
They thought they were clever people
already smelled a nice bounty
Called for war and wanted power.
Man, who would've thought
that things would someday go so far
because of 99 balloons.
99 years of war
left no room for victors.
There are no more war ministers
nor any jet fighters.
Today I'm making my rounds
see the world lying in ruins.
I found a balloon,
think of you and let it fly
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