Attempts to learn languages through music can fail for various reasons like ambiguous lyrics, dialects, accents, or unclear pronunciation. Don’t parrot singers or rappers, don’t repeat everything they say! However, misunderstandings, slang, and old-fashioned expressions can help us learning languages, as adults just like kids learning their mother tongue. Music and poetry sound catchy and are often easier to remember than text in a book.
Unclear pronunciation, dialect, slang, poetry, and irony make understanding German song lyrics difficult, even for native speakers like me. Not everything makes sense, some does but only for insiders, and even ageless lines and idioms are nice to sing alone but not suitable for daily conversation. Even more so, as not every word is correct and accentless. My selection features Rock, Pop, folk songs, and cheesy Schlager kitsch. Some of the songs I only discovered browsing Spotify.
Dialect, Slang, and Singsong
While Cologne lovingly cultivates its dialect, whose cheerful sing-song seems tailor-made for songwriters, the ironic and aggressive sound of the notorious “Berliner Schnauze” is rarely heard anymore and its current remainder is easy to learn.: “Ich” (I, me) becomes “ick” or “icke”, “gut” (good) becomes “juut”, and many places have belittling alias names ending in the letter i, like the infamous Görli(tzer Park). A German rap to the classic “girly, girly” Dancehall reggae melody and bassline invites to explore and find the mentioned places. Peter Fox and his band Seeed became famous with a similar sound, and their legendary song “Dickes B” is still great for singing along and dancing to many years later.
Linguistically and musically, some songs with similar titles could hardly be more different, such as “Tage wiede dieser” by Juli, Stoppok, and Die Toten Hosen, while the numerous songs with titles such as “ich muss gar nichts” or “du musst gar nichts” (“don’t have to do anything”) by Antje Schomaker, Grossstadtgeflüster, Die Sterne, Düsseldorf Düsterboys, and Kellerkommando are a better match.
Poets and Thinkers, Stars and Unknowns
The land of poets and thinkers, as Germany used to like to see itself, naturally has enough to offer to suit every musical taste. Thoughtful, critical songwriters: like Dota Kehr (Bademeister*in, Öffentlicher Nahverkehr), Mine (Hinterher), Berq, and Buntspecht, the popular Die Ärzte with their often controversial lyrics. Current German-speaking artists from the indie scene include Von Wegen Lisbeth (Wenn du tanzt, Elon Musk kommt nicht ins Berghain), Kraftklub (Ich will nicht nach Berlin) and Danger Dan (Das ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt).
Lyrics to Sing Along
The Spotify app shows Karaoke-style lyrics for song of the songs. When it doesn’t, searching Genius Lyrics or Lyrics Translate is an alternative.
The playlist includes classics by Udo Jürgens (Liebe ohne Leiden, Ich war noch niemals in New York), Reinhard Mey (Über den Wolken, Ankomme Freitag den 13.) , Hannes Wader (Heute hier, morgen dort, Gute Nacht, Frreunde), Nina Hagen (Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen, Wenn ich ein Junge wär) or SIlly, a band already popular back in the GDR days.
Among the newer artists are Masha Qrella (Wut und Glück), Juju (Sommer in Berlin, Fick dein Insta) and Nina Chuba.
The eclectic and incomplete list is a musical journey of discovery with German lyrics: irony, intimacy, Indie Rock, Rap, Punk, and Pop Music invite to listen and explore!
