Today we turn our attention from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Berlin the capital of its neighbour Germany.
“Berlin” is the opening track from the third solo studio album of the same name by American musician Lou Reed, released in October 1973 by RCA. A concept album, Berlin tells the story of a couple’s struggle with drug addiction and abuse. Initially, critical reception was mixed but appraisals of the album have warmed over the years: The title track first appeared on Reed’s solo debut album, only here it is simplified, the key changed and re-arranged for solo piano.
“Berlin” is a track from Fallen Empires the sixth studio album by Northern Irish-Scottish rock band Snow Patrol. The album was released in November 2011 Snow Patrol spent a month in Berlin and this song was conceived in the German city – hence the title. Frontman Gary Lightbody said to Billboard magazine that it is, “almost like a palate cleanser after ‘Fallen Empires’ because it is so intense.”
“Berlin Got Blurry” is a 2016 song by Parquet Courts an American rock band from New York City. This song, like its accompanying video, seems to be a travelogue of a foreign person visiting Berlin. Parquet Courts turn their usual keen lyrical eye on both the physical details we remember while visiting a foreign city (the fast food, the barman, the accents) as well as the feelings of isolation and self-exploration that we only get when we’re outside of our comfort zone.
“Wedding in Berlin” is the closing track of Pet Shop Boys fourteenth studio album, Hotspot released 2020. The upbeat electronic number, originally titled “Married,” was given as a wedding gift to friends of the band in 2015 when the duo was unable to attend the nuptials. Appropriately, two bars of Felix Mendelssohn’s immortal 1842 composition “Wedding March” is interpolated six times.
“Berlin ist Dufte” is a song by Nina Hagen from Revolution Ballroom the sixth solo (and eighth overall) studio album by Nina Hagen, released in 1993. Born Catherina Hagen in the former German Democratic Republic, is an eccentric singer, songwriter, and actress who mixed punk attitude and quirky new wave music with her unique artistic personality and created some of the most riveting music of the late 1970s and 1980s. The daughter of actress Eva-Maria Hagen, Nina Hagen grew up on the east side of Berlin, Germany. This song relies heavily on ‘All Right Now by Free.
