During 2020, I set myself a goal of learning the lyrics of 20 German pop songs. I thought it’d be a good way to keep revising my German language skills (especially as we should have spent the last month of 2020 in Germany and German-speaking Switzerland …), because music is amazing like that – you can remember whole sentences so easily, and I knew this would help cement a bit more grammar, and would simply be fun as well!
Way back in 1990 when I spent a month in Germany on a school trip, I brought home some German music (on cassettes!) – Herbert Grönemeyer, Matthias Reim, Die Toten Hosen – which began my interest in German singers and bands – and then when I lived in Germany in the mid-2000s, my car radio was usually tuned to SWR3 and played me Juli, Söhne Mannheims, Wir Sind Helden and Xavier Naidoo.
The brilliant thing about technology these days is algorithms. Once I’d looked up a few of these artists on Spotify, then it kept recommending other songs I might like, so I’ve since discovered Revolverheld, Johannes Oerding and Max Giesinger, to name a few.
My (German) friend Eva challenged me to prove that I really have completed this goal, and so I wanted to list twenty of the songs I consider I’ve “learnt the lyrics to” during 2020. Of course, I don’t mean I could recite them all verbatim, but I can definitely sing along to them and know what the lyrics mean! I’m pretty sure this is a pretty weird mix of songs here, both old and new, but I like them all for various reasons and I think they’ve got good lyrics for practising your German so – this is what I’ve picked. I actually now have a Spotify playlist with way more than 20 German songs, and you’re welcome to have a look at it – but if you want my specifics then these are the 20 favourites, in no particular order …
- Ich lass für dich das licht an – Revolverheld
(lyrics)
2. Schönste Zeit – Bosse
(lyrics)
3. Die Reise – Max Giesinger
(lyrics)
4. An guten Tagen – Johannes Oerding
(lyrics)
5. Kribbeln im Bauch – Pe Werner
(lyrics)
6. Du fängst mich ein – Sasha
(lyrics)
7. Ich hab’ geträumt von dir – Matthias Reim
(lyrics)
8. Regen und Meer – Juli
(lyrics)
9. Liebe auf Distanz – Revolverheld
(lyrics)
10. Der Sonne entgegen – Ben Zucker
(lyrics)
11. Symphonie – Silbermond
(lyrics)
12. Verdamp lang her – BAP
(lyrics)
13. Demo (Letzter Tag) – Herbert Grönemeyer
(lyrics)
14. Ich bin ich (Wir sind wir) – Rosenstolz
(lyrics)
15. Es war gut – Sarah Connor
(lyrics)
16. Sterben für dich – LaFee
(lyrics)
17. Und wenn ein Lied – Söhne Mannheims
(lyrics)
18. Über den Wolken – Reinhard May
(lyrics)
19. 1000 und 1 Nacht – Klaus Lage
(lyrics)
20. Der Weg – Herbert Grönemeyer
(lyrics)
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