William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: Märchenblau ; Year: 1983; Genre: Neue Deutsche Welle Had a hankering to hear something from Joachim Witt this morning. It has been quite some time since I picked one of his songs, so here's another one. Love the mix of the funky rhythm with the German new wave sound; extremely interesting in its own right, but kind of unique from something more mainstream.   Hear Rhythmus im Blut on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Hawkwind - Blue Shift     My song pick 2 years ago today: Sho Nuff - Monster Monster   My song pick 3 years ago today: Wishbone Ash - Anger in Harmony   My song pick 4 years ago today: Eurythmics - Missionary Man   My song pick 5 years ago today: Green River - Together We'll Never   My song pick 6 years ago today: Chris Squire - Safe (Canon Song)   My song pick 7 years ago today: The Chi-lites - Have You Seen Her? My song pick 8 years ago today: Roy Ayers - Funk in the Hole My song pick 9 y...

From: Feuer Und Flamme ; Year: 1985; Genre: Neue Deutsche Welle/Rock/Pop To be honest, I do not know why I haven't chosen more song by Nena, this album in particular. Jung wie du , ( Young as you ), is one of their tracks written by the great songwriting duo of Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (music) and Carlo Karges (lyrics) of which wrote many of their bigger songs both by themselves and together.   Hear Jung wie du on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Klaatu - The Loneliest of Creatures   My song pick 2 years ago today: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)   My song pick 3 years ago today: Chet Atkins and Merle Travis - Nine Pound Hammer   My song pick 4 years ago today: Blondie - One Way or Another   My song pick 5 years ago today: Faith No More - The Real Thing My song pick 6 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Doctor To My Disease My song pick 7 years ago today: Dire Straits - Private Investigations My song pick ...

From: Eisbrecher ; Year: 1986; Genre: Neue Deutsche Welle/Rock/Pop Apparently it has been quite a while since I chose a song from Nena, (both the band and Nena Kerner as a solo artist), and after hearing some of their music the other day I really felt like I should choose one from today's pick. Even though this album, which was the "swansong" record for the band, was considered a commercial failure, for me, looking back, I still like it a lot; something about their sound from that time in particular I find personally endearing. All of the key ingredients were present for the disc to be great, in my opinion it is, but not their best. This song in particular was written by the songwriting duo Fahrenkrog and Karges, who were also responsible for the band's biggest hits. Whatever the case, it's still a 1980s classic and definitely should be in the collection of fans of the band.   Hear Engel der Nacht on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Porcupine Tr...

From: ? ; Year: 1984; Genre: New Deutsche Welle/New Wave Some excellent mid '80s German new wave here; I absolutely love the smoothness at which the song was written and that driving bass as well as that blazing guitar. Hear Ich häng' an dir on YouTube. My song pick one year ago today: Bootsy's Rubber Band - Under the Influence of a Groove My song pick two years ago today: Redbone - Come and Get Your Love My song pick three years ago today: Petula Clark - A Sign of the Times My song pick four years ago today: Iron Maiden - Wrathchild My song pick five years ago today: Guns N' Roses - Paradise City My song pick six years ago today: Ian Anderson - Shunt and Shuffle My song pick seven years ago today: Def Leppard - Waterloo Sunset My song pick eight years ago today: John Denver - Spirit My song pick nine years ago today: Sly and the Family Stone - Everyday People My song pick ten years ago today: David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust

From: ? ; Year: 1984; Genre: Neue Deutsche Welle I don't know why it is that I'm picking this one; mostly for the vocals and music, the lyrics are... yeah; a bit self-absorbed and emo, but whatever. It's a young and raw song; and a good piece of mid 1980s German new wave. Hear ? (Fragezeichen) on YouTube. Hear the English version of ? on YouTube. My song pick one year ago today: Rush - Mission My song pick two years ago today: Amnesty - Love Fades My song pick three years ago today: Gerry Rafferty - Days Gone Down (Still Got The Light In Your Eyes) My song pick four years ago today: Tommy James - Mirage My song pick five years ago today: The Rolling Stones - In Another Land My song pick six years ago today: Iron Maiden - Satellite 15... The Final Frontier My song pick seven years ago today: Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) - Hold on Tight / Epilogue My song pick eight years ago today: C.W. McCall - Wolf Creek Pass My song pick nine years ago tod...

From: Bayreuth 1 ; Year: 1998; Genre: Neue Deutsche Härte I've been feeling sick over the last couple of days, so I didn't really feel like picking a song to-day, but I'm doing it anyway. This is the lead track off of Joachim Witt's first forée into German industrial metal; a great album and a great track. Hear Das Jüngste Gericht on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Carmen - The Gypsies My song pick two years ago today: Rosanne Cash - Seven Year Ache My song pick three years ago today: R.E.M. - The One I Love My song pick four years ago today: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesday's Gone My song pick five years ago today: The Beatles - Help! My song pick six years ago today: Santana - Black Magic Woman My song pick seven years ago today: Bon Jovi - Tokyo Road

From: Pop ; Year: 2004; Genre: Neue Deutsche Härte I had another song in mind for my pick today, but couldn't find it on YouTube or other sites, so I delved deep into my queue and pulled this one up; I've actually had it in my queue for quite a few years now. It's not that I didn't like it or didn't ever want to pick it earlier; it just got lost in the shuffle. Anyway, this is quite a beautiful song, and I definitely love how he contrasts the vocals between the verses and the chorus. Hear Immer Noch on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: "Weird Al' Yankovic - Grapefruit Diet My song pick two years ago today: Soundgarden - I Awake My song pick three years ago today: Dream Theater - The Big Medley My song pick four years ago today: Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude My song pick five years ago today: Johnny Mandel - Suicide is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H) My song pick six years ago today: Rush - Vital Signs

From: ? ; Year: 1984; Genre: Neue Deutsche Welle/Pop Rock Again I am posting a song from a band from my first week, six years ago. Here's one from Nena, which is dripping with that '80s new wave/pop sound. Watch the music video clip on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Rush - New World Man My song pick two years ago today: Ten Years After - One of These Days My song pick three years ago today: Fairport Convention - Polly on the Shore My song pick four years ago today: The Guess Who - No Time   My song pick five years ago today: Jerry Reed - Lord, Mr. Ford   My song pick six years ago today: Nena - Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann

From: Falco 3 ; Year: 1985; Genre: Neue Deutsche Welle Last night I had this song incessantly running through my mind without end; as I usually do I took it as a sign that I should pick it. This is one of those weird songs for me personally; part of me has always liked this song, and another part of me really doesn't; however I do like a lot of Falco's other material. I guess the reason I'm more of a mixed opinion about this one could be due the fact that it got played ad nauseam, at least here in the United States, while most of the rest of his music didn't make it across the pond. Watch the music video clip on YouTube. Hear the extended " Salieri" version on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Stratovarius - Elysium My song pick two years ago today: Johnny Rivers - Muddy River My song pick three years ago today: Steeleye Span - Padstow My song pick four years ago today: Rush - Lakeside Park My song pick five years ago today: B...

From: Silberblick ; Year: 1980; Genre: Neue Deutsche Welle/New Wave I felt like listening to some of Joachim Witt's music today to pass the time. This is one of his earlier hits from his German New Wave period of his career and another one I've been meaning to pick for a while now. Watch a video clip for Goldener Reiter on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Savatage - Memory My song pick two years ago today: Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon My song pick three years ago today: S Sgt Barry Sadler - Ballad of the Green Berets My song pick four years ago today: Pink Floyd - On the Turning Away My song pick five years ago today: ABBA - Soldiers

1494 Joachim Witt - Du Teufel From: Eisenherz , Year: 2002 Genre: Neue Deutsche Härte I had this track running through my mind this morning and it felt like a rather nice song for a Monday pick. This one has a faster technoesque feel to it and reminds me a lot of his earlier work in German New Wave. I absolutely love his vocals throughout this song, especially in the almost operatic chorus sections. Watch an Animé music video with the studio version on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Karussell - Nämlich Bin Ich Glücklich My song pick two years ago today: Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams My song pick three years ago today: The Delgados - All You Need Is Hate My song pick four years ago today: Tesla - Signs +

1101 Joachim Witt - Krieger Des Licht I have decided on doing an "Also Known as Rammstein" theme week; I will be choosing songs from seven different bands that have been mislabeled as Rammstein on the interwebz. It seems that some individuals will label any musical artist with male vocals singing in German "Rammstein" even if they sing in a higher vocal register, however, most of the time the vocalist will have to at least sing in a baritone or lower to be mistaken. Another factor seems to be the genre of the mislabeled bands; most of them are associated with Neue Deutsche Härte , Industrial Metal, and/or similar genres. This phenomenon has gotten to the point that when I am searching for a song by another German band sometimes I have to use "Rammstein" in my search parameters to get a relevant result. The cause of this is probably due to the fact that Rammstein is one of the few German Metal bands to break into America's mainstream pop cultur...

999 Nena - 99 Luftballons I figured with it being my 999th song pick, this aptly named hit from the German Pop/Rock group Nena would be perfect for the occasion. Many over here on this side of "the pond" actually refer to Nena as a "one hit wonder" with this song said to be their only hit. For being a one hit band, it is odd that I can name 5 other songs off of the top of my head that were hits: Irgendwie Irgendwo Irgendwann, Feuer und Flamme, Leuchtturm, Rette Mich , and Nur Geträumt ; if I thought about it I could probably name more. Anyway, this one was originally released on their '83 self-titled debut album as well as the ' 84 album of the song's namesake, which also had on it an English version of the song titled 99 Red Balloons . From what I understand them using the title 99 Red Balloons worked better with the lyrical scheme in English. Oddly enough because of the English version's title I have noticed many people who don't know ...

For today I am choosing Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann by Nena from their '85 Feuer und Flamme album; ever since I heard this song I immediately loved it. The musicianship on this song is incredible, I especially like the bass line. I have always loved Nena's voice from their other songs that I have heard. This song is definitely worth a listen to anyone who is willing to hear something different. Here is the studio version on YouTube. Here is a television performance on YouTube. +