99 Luftballons

Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont

99 red balloons go by

Okay, ihr ahnt nicht

Neunundneunzig Luftballons

The entire song is about a mass of balloons causing World War iii. For some reason this line makes me laugh.

How many average toy shops sell bags of 99 balloons? Even if they did, wouldn't that be a tad expensive for most people?

Just because these lyrics have the number 99 in them doesn't mean they have anything to do with the song! Apart from the last line, it has nothing to do with balloons!

These are the last four verses of the 1984 hit, "99 Luftballoons" by Nena (the first verse is difficult for me as an English speaker and writer to transcribe onto this site). Back in 1983, the German synth rock/pop group Nena's song, "99 Luftballoons" seemed to be an odd choice for a #2 hit record in the U.S. Considering it was one of a few social conscience tunes out at the time, and in German to boot. It was definitely an anti-nuclear war tune, that perhaps a German audience could appreciate more at the time than could most audiences in the U.S. (since German was split during the cold war between the Communist East and the democratic West), and Germans were on the front line of the conflict between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. But alas it did become a hit in the U.S., especially when, in early 1984, Nena (led by lead singer Nena Kerner with 4 guys, a bassist, a guitarist, a drummer and a keyboardist -- just like most rock artists in the U.S. and Britain -- and even Australia and Canada), they re-recorded "99 Luftballoons" in English as "99 Red Balloons". Although Nena would never achieve the long lasting fame of fellow German rockers, the Scorpions and Falco, with this one hit, "99 Luftballoons" they would become memorable to many 1980's young people, worldwide. The song itself actually has some idea to it that the members of Nena had studied American history possibly better than many Americans did. For their reference to the "99 Red Balloons", to comment on possible nuclear war, harked backed to a little known incident during World War II when the Japanese tried to attack the western U.S. (Oregon and Washington state) by using bombs set in what looked like normal red balloons (the Japanese did not succeed in the plot, but a few of the balloons did drift down and did explode -- injuring a few people for a few years). Although both "99 Luftballoons" and the English version, "99 Red Balloons" became a #2 hit on Billboard Magazine's HOT 100 charts, in the rest of the English speaking world (Britain, Canada, Australia, etc), the English version didn't sell so well. Many people are much more fond of the original German version for it's more rhyming of the lyrics than the English version has (and it almost seems to some that the English version is slap together as an afterthought). The song itself would have a renewed interest and become a 1997 hit for a group named, Goldfinger. Goldfinger's version oddly enough combines both the German and English version to come up with an interesting bilingual hit.

This is the English version ("99 Red Balloons") of the German group Nena's 1984 smash world wide hit, "99 Luftballoons". It was obvious that Nena is referring to nuclear war and possble aftermath, and for young people that survived the cold war that could certainly make you feel depressed (and more than a little scared, heck with the possiblity of terrorist and rogue states possessing nuclear weapons it should still make us scared). But Nena made it into a dance hit, as well! And a well great synth-rock-pop (and powerpop) 1980's new wave hit! And in what probably, at that time at least, more insulated U.S. (from say Germany which was split during the cold war between Communist East Germany and the democratic West Germany that was facing the watching "war games" and possible nuclear war upfront between the U.S. and the then Soviet Union) it was a very interesting surprise that in the more conservative Reagan era year of 1984 (winter/February to be exact) that this little danceable ditty about nuclear war would make it to #2 on the Billboard Magazine HOT 100 charts (both the German and English version -- one of those rare double-sided hits). (It was stopped to go to #1 by Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" and would be replaced at #2 the next week by Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun"). And "99 Red Balloons" would prove to be a potent and big hit and used by many anti-nuclear war protestors throughout to the end of the cold war in 1991 when the Soviet Union fell apart. I myself, in August 1985 (when I was 21 years old -- with the risk of dating myself), participated in a silent demonstration/memorial for the 40th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima where we used the concepts that Nena brought up in the song "99 Red Balloons" and released red balloons as Nena does in the end of the video for the song (and this was in all places around Orange Lake in New Port Richey, Florida -- certainly not the hotbed of a lot of liberal political mobilization).

A reference to "Star Trek T.O.S".