“99 Luftballons” (Nena)

Today’s classic song of the day is “99 Luftballons” by the West German group Nena. The song is unique in being that rare foreign-language hit on the U.S. charts; even though the band released an English-language version (“99 Red Balloons”), it was the German version that was the hit in the U.S.

Released globally in early 1984 (March 1983 in the band’s native West Germany), “99 Luftballons” was a worldwide hit, hitting #1 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and West Germany. Here in the U.S. the song went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Cash Box Top 100. (It was the English-language version that hit in Canada, Ireland, and the UK; the German-language version was big everyplace else.)

The song, in both German and English, tells the story of 99 balloons released near the Berlin Wall that are mistaken by the military as enemy aircraft. One thing leads to another, as it sometimes does with the military, and a worldwide nuclear war results. The final line of the song is “‘Denk’ an dich und lass’ ihn fliegen“—in English, “Think of you and let it go.”

The song’s composer, Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, got the idea for “99 Luftballons” when he attended a Rolling Stones concert in West Berlin in 1982. He watched as a bevy of balloons were released into the sky, shifting and changing shapes like some sort of alien spacecraft. He wondered what would happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall to East Berlin, and the song took shape from there.

The band Nena was formed in 1981 and took its name from singer Gabrielle Kerner’s nickname. They had the one massive international hit but not much after, save for a series of minor hits on the local German charts. The band disbanded in 1987.

And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Nena’s promotional video for “99 Luftballons.” It was produced for the Dutch television program TopPops and first broadcast on March 13, 1983.