I’m back listening to German singer Herbert Grönemeyer as my Repeat Rotation Video today. Grönemeyer, you may remember, is someone I discovered a couple of months ago on Austria’s Ö3 radio, and a singer I’ve liked ever since.
Today, I’m listening to Herbert Grönemeyer’s ‘Der Weg‘ (The Way). It’s a beautiful song, one of those that makes you want to smile, even if you don’t understand a word of German, as it has such a feeling of infinite possibilities.
So, not surprisingly, the lyrics of Grönemeyer’s ‘Der Weg’ are just as beautiful as you might expect. Although, the story behind ‘Der Weg‘ is incredibly sad.
Grönemeyer wrote the song after his wife, actress Anna Henkel, died of cancer and one of his brothers also died in the same week. The song, while it talks about his feelings of loss, is also full of hope as he sings about how he will go on with his life while carrying his wife with him, and keeping her safe inside his soul.
Here are just the last few stanzas in English:
You flooded every room with sunshine,
converted every displeasure into its opposite.
Nordic noble – your gentle kindness,
your irrepressible proudness… Life is not fair.
Your confident pace, your true poems,
your bright dignity, your unshakeable aptitude.
You made head against destiny.
Never revealed your idea of happiness,
your idea of happiness.
I don’t go away, I extended my term.
New time travel, open world.
I have you safely in my soul.
I’ll carry you with me until the curtain falls.
I’ll carry you with me until the curtain falls.
You’ll find the rest of the lyrics of ‘Der Weg‘ at Lyrics Translate.
‘Der Weg‘ is from Grönemeyer’s 2002 album ‘Mensch‘.
Meanwhile, listen to it below as my Repeat Rotation Video for today. It really is beatiful.