Goals for Today:

• To give you a chance to orient yourself to the German 231 webpages with your instructor present, so you can ask him/her questions as they come up.
• To give you a sense of what kinds of songs are at the top of the charts in Germany.
• To give you a chance to listen to sound clips from some German songs, and to look at some of the lyrics. We want you to talk to your partner a bit about what you think of the songs you listen to. This worksheet and the associated links will remain online, so you can come back to it/them anytime you want to look for some German music for fun. You could do this for an LLJ if you like
• To give you a chance to review verb forms.

Instructions

Read through ALL of the following suggested activities. Work with a partner and talk auf Deutsch about what to do and what you find. Your instructor will interrupt you two or three times for a class discussion of what you've found ==> take some notes (auf Deutsch!) as you go! The rest of the time, please ask your instructor for help understanding the lyrics etc.!

Suggested Activities

I. German 231 webpage [12 minutes]

• The purpose of this activity is just to make sure you can find what you need on this site
• Directions:
  • Click here to open the German 221/231 webpage in another window, so you can see the page and these directions at the same time.
  • (1 minute) Find the homework link and figure out what tonight's homework is. Note: Homework assigned on any given day is due on the next class day, unless otherwise indicated.
  • (5 minutes) Go back to the German 221/231 webpage and click on "Home" in the navigation bar on the left, and then on "Videos on Reserve at the LRC." Discuss with your partner which movies look interesting to you. You could watch one of these for your first LLJ!
  • (3 minutes) Go back to the German 221/231 webpage and find the German on the Web link list in the navigation bar on the left.
    • Browse the headings to see the categories of available links
  • Find one fun site in the "Humor und andere Seiten zum Spaß" category
  • (1 minute) Find the link to the BEOLINGUS and LEO online dictionaries in the navigation bar on the left, and look up "fett" and/or "geil."
  • (1 minute) Click on "schreiben" in the navigation bar on the left, and then on "Umlaute und ß auf amerikanischen Computern." Know that this page is available when you type your essays for this course!
  • (2 minutes) Go back to the German 221/231 webpage and briefly try the "Gateway Vocabulary Test"

II. Chartsteam [5 minutes]

• The purpose of this activity is just to give you an idea of what kinds of songs are in the charts in Germany.  You can NOT listen to songs on this site
  • [You'll see an icon next to each song that looks like you would be able to hear the song, but it's for downloading ringer tones ["Klingeltöne"] for your cell phone ["Handy"], which is how kids in Germany go broke these days ==> you won't be able to listen to the songs this way].
• Directions:
  • Gehen Sie zur 101-326 homepage, klicken Sie auf "German on the Web" und von da auf "Musik (modern und klassisch)" [OK, Sie können hier direkt auf den Musik-Link klicken, aber wir wollten, dass Sie sehen, wie man dahin kommt...].
  • Klicken Sie in der Kategorie "Online Music Magazines/Sites" auf Chartsteam.  Klicken Sie links auf "Charts" und darunter auf "Deutschland" und dann auf "Single." 
  • Diskutieren Sie die Lieder mit Ihrem Partner. [The idea is for you to discuss your overall impression of the German charts based on the titles of the songs, and based on any songs you might recognize, e.g. from the US charts, since you can't listen to the songs on this site.] Ideen:
    • Wie viele Lieder sind englisch/amerikanisch? Wie viele sind Deutsch? Wie viele klingen [=sound] international? Was denken Sie darüber?
    • Welche Lieder finden Sie beide gut?
    • Welche Lieder finden Sie beide schlecht?
    • Über welche Lieder können Sie sich nicht einigen [=can't agree about]?
    • Welches Lied würden Sie gern kaufen oder downloaden?

III. We want you to listen to some songs, and, if possible, to read the song lyrics as you listen. Make a note of any lyrics you like or find funny. Since we need to use headphones in the LRC, you and your partner will need to use adjacent computers. You and your partner should listen to the same songs, so you can compare your reactions (auf Deutsch!). The suggestions below are divided into three categories: [20-23 minutes]

• General suggestions for finding German music online to listen to
• General suggestions for finding lyrics of German songs
• Suggestions for some specific German songs you might want to look for

  Finding German music (and music videos) online to listen to

  • stepintogerman.org: This site, created by the Goethe Institute, is a great starting point if you're trying to find what young Germans are currently listening to: there's a representative selection of current music videos, as well as links to the corresponding lyrics. When you enter the site, click on "MUSIC" at the top.
  • launch.yahoo.de: This site offers a wide selection of music videos. If you don't see any German-language videos on the main page, you can
    • In the box "Aktuelles Highlight," select "Weitere Künstler Highlights" [=Additional Artist Highlights] and look for German-looking names like "Wir sind Helden" or "Söhne Mannheims" or "Revolverheld" etc.
    • ...or follow the link to "Musik Videos -- über 5.000 Videos gratis and search the various categories for German-sounding names/titles.
  • VivaTV: This is a German music television channel, and on their website you can actually see a wide variety of music videos online.
    • Go to http://www.vivatv.de/ and click on "Stars" and then "Stars von A-Z." Find a band/artist you like, click on them, and then choose "Pics + Clips" (a couple of items below "Steckbrief"). Ignore the "Pics" section and scroll down to the clips at the bottom of the page.
  • If you have no idea whom to search for, try some of the following:
  • More recent: Bushido, Silbermond, Tokio Hotel [teenaged kids' band, target of derision for everyone but their fans], Laith Al-Deen, Yvonne Catterfeld [soul-less pop idol], Eko Fresh [wannabe rapper or the real thing?? You decide.], Glashaus, Kool Savas, Killerpilze ["killer mushroooms": another teenaged kids' band, less repulsive but also less "huge" than Tokio Hotel], Sportfreunde Stiller, Revolverheld, Wir sind Helden
  • More "classic" but still popular: Xavier Naidoo, Freundeskreis, Fettes Brot, Fünf Sterne Deluxe, Rammstein [intelligent but very sick lyrics; very successful internationally], Herbert Grönemeyer, Die Ärzte, Die fantastischen Vier, Die Toten Hosen, Jasmin Wagner (a.k.a. "Blümchen")
  • "Classic": Nena ("99 Luftballons"), Trio ("Da, da, da"), Marius Müller Westernhagen, Udo Lindenberg, Markus (fun one-hit wonder: "Ich will Spaß")
  • Live Radio Online: surfmusik.de A convenient link to German (and other European) live radio stations. The link we've provided takes you directly to their list of the Top 20 most popular stations. In case it changes, you could go to their homepage at www.surfmusik.de instead. Note that this is a less reliable way to find specifically German music, since most German stations will be playing English-language music most of the time, but you could get lucky. Click here for a list of additional links to German Live Radio Stations.
  • Click here for an annotated list of band homepages. Often, you can find videos, audio and song lyrics there
  • itunes The iTunes Music Store will have samples of most popular songs for you to listen to. If you're on a computer with the iTunes application loaded on it, this is worth a try.
  • amazon.de: Go to http://www.amazon.de/ and click on the "Musik" tab. Under "Suche," select "Pop" if you want to search by artist name or album title; otherwise select "Song-Titel." Look for the first song you picked, and click on the/an album on which the song is included. Scroll down to "Hörbeispiele," and then you can click on any hyperlinked title to hear a 30-second excerpt. Note that for some CDs there are no "Hörbeispiele": for these, the song titles are listed under the heading "Titelverzeichnis," and if this happens, you should either look for a different album that includes the song you want, or look for a different song.

  General suggestions for finding lyrics of German songs

  • Click here for an annotated list of sites where you can find song lyrics
  • Click here for an annotated list of band homepages. Often, you can find videos, audio and song lyrics there
  • Google: Often, the easiest way to find lyrics is just to type the name of the band and a few of the words that you know into Google

Suggestions for some specific German bands/songs you might want to look for, e.g. on Youtube [Your instructor should be able to get a hold of recordings of many or most of these, so if you find something you really want him/her to play in class tomorrow, let him/her know!]

• 2raumwohnung Currently popular band. Very mellow music. Click on "Videos" to see a few of their videos, and on "Songtexte" to see the "minimalist" lyrics.
• Silbermond Currently popular pop band. Click on the links under "Musik" to see videos, listen to songs and see song lyrics ("texte").
• Wir sind Helden Currently popular pop band. Click on "Helden Musik" and then on "Helden hören" to hear their music, and on "Helden auswendig lernen" to see the lyrics.
• Eko Fresh German rapper. Enter the site and then click on "Media Shit" for access to a couple of audio tracks.
• Mundstuhl: "Germans" Wildly popular on the internet, this song to the tune of Bob Marley's "Jammin'" was released for the World Cup 2006 which took place in Germany. The lyrics are in intentionally "Germanic" English. Some excerpts: "We're Germans/football play we better than you [verb in position 2 ]/We're Germans/Germans/Hope you like Germans too ... Welcome here in Germany/from the Alpen to the sea/in unsre Kneipen you can smoke/Lederhos, Oktoberfest/unsre Biere are the best/gebraut nach Germans Reinheitsgebououout ... Have the Autobahn gebaut/And we love the Sauerkraut ..." you get the idea. Just Google "Mundstuhl Germans" to find the video online, or try this youtube link, or their homepage.
• Tokio Hotel If you have a high tolerance for crap, try a Google search for this currently insanely popular kiddie band.
• Juli: "Perfekte Welle" or "Geile Zeit": Currently popular pop band; very pierced lead singer. Click here to enter their site, then click on "weiter," then on "foto & video" for links to some of their more popular videos. Click here or here to see the lyrics to "Perfekte Welle"; click here or here to see the lyrics to "Geile Zeit."
• Freundeskreis: A-n-n-a: Click here or here to see the lyrics of this slow hip hop song reminiscing about a brief encounter [sich begegnen = to meet; kann mich nicht ablenken = can't take my mind off it; nass = wet (denn es regnete, als sie sich trafen: "Vom Himmel goss [=poured] ein Bach [=stream, brook]").
• Die fantastischen Vier: Mfg: A fun hip hop song about acronyms. Click here or here to see the lyrics. [ARD & ZDF are the two main public TV networks, C&A is analogous to Target or TJ Maxx, BSE is the acronym for mad cow disease, GmbH is like "Ltd." in English (limited liability company); "ihr könnt mich mal" is an obscenity because it's short for "ihr könnt mich mal am ... lecken," a phrase introduced into German by Goethe (very, very roughly the German equivalent of Shakespeare). "MfG" = "Mit freundlichen Grüßen" is the German counterpart to "Yours sincerely"].
• Die fantastischen Vier: Die da: Click here for a great site where the lyrics are actually written out in dialogue form, with annotations. Or click here to see the lyrics. Thomas and Smudo each fell in love with over the weekend with a woman who has no time for either of them on Fridays. She shows up at the end of the song ("es ist die da" = "that's her over there"), and they discover they've both fallen for the same woman. Can you figure out why she's never free on Fridays?
• Herbert Grönemeyer: Mensch: Big hit in late 2002/early 2003 by the star of "Das Boot," who has had a successful career as a singer of comparatively sophisticated songs since the mid-80s. Click here or here for the lyrics. Click here for an exercise where you have to fill in the blanks in partial lyrics to this song.
  • Other interesting songs by him that you may want to look up are "Männer" (click here to see the lyrics, which ask "Wann ist ein Mann ein Mann?") and the sad break-up song "Flugzeuge in meinem Bauch" (click here to see the lyrics) ["Bauch" = belly; "Gib mir mein Herz zurück, du brauchst meine Liebe nicht" is the theme of the song].
• Fünf Sterne Deluxe: Deine Mudder: "Mudder" is a regional pronunciation of "Mutter." Click here or here for the lyrics. See below for info on the folk song "Meine Oma fährt im Hühnerstall Motorrad," to which this song refers.
• Fettes Brot: Jein: Jein = Ja + Nein. Click here or here for the lyrics.
• Die Toten Hosen: Bayern: Perhaps Germany's most successful punk band, die Toten Hosen, in their 40s/50s by now, are also diehard soccer fans (of a rather unsuccessful team) and soccer players. In this song, they humorously (but also somewhat controversially, since soccer inspires so much violence) vent their anger against Bayern München, the German equivalent of the Dallas Cowboys in the sense that they essentially have enough money to "buy" championships, and are generally hated for their arrogance by everyone but their fans. Click here or here for the lyrics. [versauen = to defile; Verein = club; Vertrag = contract]
• Die Ärzte: Männer sind Schweine: Die Ärzte, known to their fans as "die beste Band der Welt," are/were [they retired, but are back] a very successful punk band, very few of whose songs could be played on the air due to their "daring" lyrics (one of their records was titled "Ab 18"). Click here [with annotations!] or here for the lyrics.
• Nena: 99 Luftballons: Click here [great site with a parallel translation] or here [this page includes a few annotations] to see the lyrics. To hear Homer Simpson singing "99 Luftballons" surprisingly accurately auf Deutsch, click here (and avoid the links to the ads and popups on this page), or try a Google search for "Homer Simpson 99 Luftballons" if this link breaks. To hear clips from this or other songs by Nena, visit http://www.amazon.de/ and type (or paste) "Nena Alles Gute" in the search box; then click on the sample tracks for that CD.
  • Nena: Nur geträumt: This simple song started Nena's career. Click here or here to see the original lyrics.
  • Nena: Leuchtturm: Another of her big hits. Leuchtturm = lighthouse. Click here to see the original lyrics.
• Markus: Ich will Spaß: Goofy song about a guy who just wants to speed around in his Maserati. Considered to be a quintessential song of the "Neue deutsche Welle" of the early 80s. Click here for the lyrics.
• Trio: Da, da, da: This childishly simplistic but surprisingly mean-spirited song ["Da, da, da, ich lieb dich nicht, du liebst mich nicht"] is another quintessential song of the "Neue deutsche Welle" of the early 80s. You may know it from a 1997 VW ad campaign. Click here for the lyrics.
• Jürgen Drews: Ein Bett im Kornfeld: One of the classics of the "Schlager" genre: squeaky clean songs you would imagine only parents would listen to [literally, "Schlager" means "hits"]. This one is actually a German version of the Bellamy Brothers' 70s hit "Let your love flow," but with entirely different lyrics about sleeping out in the open. A popular parody goes "Ein Korn [a type of liquor] im Feldbett...." Click here for the lyrics.
• Udo Jürgens: Aber bitte mit Sahne: Another song in the "Schlager" genre. Click here for the lyrics.[Sahne = whipped cream; the song is about a group of overweight ladies who want to have everything with whipped cream, and concludes with the priest's sermon at the funeral of the last of them, in which he expresses the hope "Dass der Herrgott den Weg in den Himmel ihr bahne [=that the Lord may open the way to heaven to her]/Aber bitte mit Sahne."].
• Wencke Myrrhe: Er hat ein knallrotes Gummiboot: Very silly song in the "Schlager" genre. The title means "He has a bright red rubber dinghy." Click here for the lyrics.
• Howard Carpendale: Deine Spuren im Sand: Tear-jerking "Schlager," by a South African singer who knows little German, but had a big career in the "Schlager" scene: "Deine Spuren [=traces] im Sand, die ich gestern noch fand, hat die Flut mitgenommen..." Click here for the lyrics.
• Marianne Rosenberg: Er gehört zu mir: Tacky "Schlager" that experienced a huge camp revival. Marianne Rosenberg has become a gay icon in Germany, somewhat analogous to Bette Midler or Cher, but much campier, in the sense that her songs are painfully, inescapably shrill and awful, and a young person would have to be very damaged to seriously like them. Click here for the lyrics.
• Meine Oma fährt im Hühnerstall [=chicken coop] Motorrad: This is a silly folk song you might find funny (it's never been in the charts). Click here or here for the lyrics [which, incidentally, are referred to in the Fünf Sterne Deluxe song "Deine Mudder" included on this list].

IV. Perfect Tense Practice [10 minutes]

• Click here for an activity about the bad behavior of some German musicians while they were in school.