I think it's pretty common for less than profound songs to strike a chord with one's emotions. There's a reason why songs like “Long December” and “Move Along” have nailed down little strongholds in the far reaches of my sentimental soul, while I often forget about better songs that I actually like more. Honestly, this seems to hold for any song called “American Girl(s)” as well, though that one I can’t quite explain.

Where this gets a little stickier for me is in the realm of German music. Clearly there’s a little trap door in my soul through which the German language likes to slip. I may not have a ton of interest in the country itself, but the language makes me happy. The result where music is concerned has been that snippets I’d not even notice in English just kind of stick with me. (Please reference the title of this blog.) I hadn’t listened to any of the CDs I brought home from Germany with me in over a year, and have really only been exposed to a tiny sliver of German music to begin with, but recent exposure to a couple of absurd YouTube clips kind of got me in the mood again, so I popped in die Ärtze. Much like going to see Rancid last summer, it felt a little like a warm hug. A homecoming to a place I’d forgotten I loved. Granted, they can get pretty cheesy, but several of their songs prove to be pure joy for me. I end up wanting to quote whole verses.

This poses more problems in German than it does in English for precisely the same reason that it happens in the first place. The songs stick with me because they’re German. If they were in English I’d post them to an AIM away message, or they’d make it into a profile somewhere (please reference the About Me section of this blog). But auf Deutsch, that’s not a realistic outlet. The people that would read those little quotes speak French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, more French, Portuguese, a little Japanese, perhaps some Greek, and a whole lot more French, but minimal German. I already get eye rolls when I throw random incoherent German phrases around while basically talking to myself.

Something that makes the whole thing funny to me is that I haven’t had reason to use my German in four years beyond reading Harry Potter and some news sources. So, essentially I have no cultural references and my speaking skills are completely shot, meaning that when I do actually come into contact with some one I could talk to, it’s still the same as finding myself in the usual group of Francophiles. Anyway, now more for my amusement than yours, a sampling of songs that have been stuck in my head for the past several days:

• Doch ich halt den Schmerz als wärs ein letzter Teil von dir
• vielleicht bin ich auch nur ein Masochist, das ändert nichts daran wie schön du bist
• Manchmal aber nur Manchmal haben Frauen ein kleines bisschen Haue gern. Immer ja wirklich immer haben Typen wie du was auf die Fresse verdient.
• Bitte, geh noch nicht. Am besten, gehst Du nie. Ich hab's Dir schon so oft gesagt, in meiner Phantasie. Bleib noch ein bißchen hier. Bitte, geh noch nicht. Was ich versuche, Dir zu sagen, ist "Ich liebe Dich".
• Ich tausch nicht mehr ich will mein Leben zurück. Guten Tag ich gebe zu ich war am Anfang entzückt aber euer Leben zwickt und drückt nur dann nicht wenn man sich bückt -Guten Tag
• Und wo du hingehen willst, Ich häng an deinen Beinen. Wenn du schon auf den Mund fallen musst Warum dann nicht auf meinen.