99 Luftballons

So what's with the new song??? It's a relic from my youth. This song was recorded in 1983. So, I guess it's an oldie but a goodie :) Who would have know the wall would come down in only six years? Seems like only yesterday. I thought I would post the history behind the song. This is from Wikipedia.

The translation of the title is sometimes given as "Ninety-Nine Air Balloons". However "Ninety-Nine Balloons" is correct ^[1][2]. A Luftballon is a colourful toy balloon, rather than a balloon for transport or research. The name is derived from Luft, German for air, but the meaning of Luft does not qualify the type of balloon. The title "99 RED Balloons" scans correctly with the syllables falling in the right places within the rhythm of the first lines of lyrics, with "red" replacing "Luft".

"99 Luftballons" is a Cold War-era protest song by the German singer Nena. Originally sung in German, it was later re-recorded in English as "99 Red Balloons".

While at a Rolling Stones concert in Berlin, Nena's guitarist Carlo Karges noticed that balloons were being released. As he watched them move toward the horizon, he noticed them shifting and changing shapes, where they looked nothing like a mass of balloons but some strange spacecraft. (The word in the German lyrics "UFO") He thought about what might happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall to the Soviet sector.^[3]

Both the English and German versions of the song tell a story of ninety-nine balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalyptic overreaction by military forces. The music was composed by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, the keyboardist of Nena's band, while Karges wrote the original German lyrics. - Wiki

Below are the translations I found on a music sight. Notice that the German and English subject verb order is essentially the same. German is such a cool language to learn.

German	Direct German Translation	English as Sung
Hast Du etwas Zeit fuer mich?	Do you have some time for me	You and I in a little toy shop
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich	Then I'll sing a song for you	buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Von Neunundneunzig Luftballons	About 99 balloons	Set them free at the break of dawn
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont	On their way to the horizon	'Til one by one, they were gone
Denkst Du vielleicht grad' an mich?	Are you perhaps thinking of me?	Back at base, bugs in the software
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich	Then I'll sing a song for you	Flash the message, "Something's out there"
Von Neunundneunzig Luftballons	About balloons	Floating in the summer sky
Und dass sowas von sowas kommt	And that something (like the war) comes from such a thing (the balloons)	99 red balloons go by.
Neunundneunzig Luftballons	99 balloons	99 red balloons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont	On their way to the horizon	floating in the summer sky
Hielt man fuer UFOs aus dem All	They thought they were UFOs from space	Panic bells, it's red alert
Darum schickte ein General	So a general sent	There's something here from somewhere red
'ne Fliegerstaffel hinterher	A flying squad out there	The war machine springs to life
Alarm zu geben, wenn's so waer	To raise the alarm if it was true	Opens up one eager eye
Dabei war'n da am Horizont	Yet there on the horizon were	Focusing it on the sky
Nur Neunundneunzig Luftballons	Only 99 balloons	Where 99 red balloons go by.
Neunundneunzig Duesenflieger	99 jet planes	99 Knights of the air
Jeder war ein grosser Krieger	Each one was a great warrior	ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Hielten sich fuer Captain Kirk	Thought that they were Captain Kirk	Everyone's a Superhero
Es gab ein grosses Feuerwerk	There were great fireworks	Everyone's a Captain Kirk
Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft	The neighbors didn't understand anything	With orders to identify
Und fuehlten sich gleich angemacht	And felt equally provoked	To clarify and classify
Dabei schoss man am Horizont	Yet there they shot on the horizon	Scramble in the summer sky
Auf Neunundneunzig Luftballons	At 99 balloons	As 99 red balloons go by.
Neunundneunzig Kriegsminister	99 war ministers	99 Decision Street
Streichholz und Benzinkanister	Matches and petrol cans	99 ministers meet
Hielten sich fuer schlaue Leute	Thought that they were clever people	To worry, worry, super-scurry
Witterten schon fette Beute	Already caught wind of great spoils [of war]	Call the troops out in a hurry
Riefen: Krieg und wollten Macht	Shouted: War, and wanted power	This is what we've waited for
Mann, wer haette das gedacht	Man, who would have thought	This is it boys, this is war
Dass es einmal soweit kommt	That one day it would come to this	The president is on the line
Wegen Neunundneunzig Luftballons	Because of 99 balloons	As 99 red balloons go by.
Neunundneunzig Jahre Krieg	99 years of war	99 dreams I have had
Liessen keinen Platz fuer Sieger	Don't leave a place for victors	In every one a red balloon
Kriegsminister gibt's nicht mehr	There are no ministers of war any more	It's all over and I'm standin' pretty
Und auch keine Duesenflieger	And No jet planes either	In this dust that was a city
Heute zieh ich meine Runden	Today I'm doing my rounds	If I could find a souvenier
Seh' die Welt in Truemmern liegen	Seeing the world lying in ruins	Just to prove the world was here...
Hab' 'nen Luftballon gefunden	Found a balloon	And here is a red balloon
Denk' an Dich und lass' ihn fliegen	Think of you and let it fly	I think of you and let it go.