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11-20-2011, 03:54 AM
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#16 |
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polaroid of perfection
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 24,185
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Agnetha was the least confident in English, and now cannot speak it easily as she has not used it for years. But in the above clip you can see that even she was able to understand and answer a reasonably complex question "How many people are there in your country."
Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid are still on British tv every now and then and are perfectly fluent in English.
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Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac |
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11-20-2011, 11:59 AM
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#17 |
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™
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
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When a song is in a foriegn language, you don't really understand the words. A song you might hate because the lyrics are so dumb might actually appeal to you in a foreign language. The English version, 99 Red Balloons is pretty dumb, but when you hear it in German, you can imaging the lyrics being these really cool mysterious things.
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11-20-2011, 12:16 PM
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#18 |
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still says videotape
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 26,813
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Imma disagree about the lyrics being dumb.
You and I in a little toy shop Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got Set them free at the break of dawn 'Til one by one they were gone Back at base, bugs in the software Flash the message, something's out there Floating in the summer sky Ninety-nine red balloons go by Ninety-nine red balloons Floating in the summer sky Panic bells, it's red alert There's something here from somewhere else The war machine springs to life Opens up one eager eye Focusing it on the sky As ninety-nine red balloons go by Ninety-nine decisions treat Ninety-nine ministers meet To worry, worry, super scurry Call out the troops now in a hurry This is what we've waited for This is it, boys, this is war The President is on the line As ninety-nine red balloons go by Neunundneunzig Kriegsminister Streichholz und Benzinkanister Hielten sich für schlaue Leute Witterten schon fette Beute Riefen: Krieg und wollten Macht Mann, wer hätte das gedacht? Daß es einmal so weit kommt Wegen neunundneunzig Luftballons Neunundneunzig Luftballons Ninety-nine dreams I have had And every one a red balloon It's all over, and I'm standing pretty In the dust that was a city I could find a souvenir Just to prove the world was here Here it is, a red balloon I think of you and let it go That is a pretty good summation of how I felt about nuclear annihilation back then being just one mistake away. The Reagan bombing Russia sound check happened a little while later, it always felt closer than it was in those days. I thought Nena singing in German sounded sexy back then. Goldfinger's version is the best.
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If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis |
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11-21-2011, 04:40 AM
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#19 | |
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We have to go back, Kate!
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 25,964
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Totally agree. Awesome lyrics. Nothing dumb about that song at all.
I still get a shiver down my spine with the opening bars. There was something just so plaintive about her delivery. I also fell in love with the German language when i heard the original version. It is still my favourite foreign language to speak and hear.
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11-21-2011, 04:55 AM
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#20 |
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the big Cheese
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 390
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let's see if I can 'splain this from my point of view... ( as an A-merican )
1) 1983.. we were all kinda punk back then 2) Nina... she was cute 3) cute woman, singing foreign language = sexy 4) 'enuf said. ( just as a side note.. I've seen BBC shows.. news shows generally ) where the person being interviewed was speaking English* and they've subtitled his speech into english *--speaking english.. usually either a Yorkshire or Cornish version of English......ayyy'up |
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11-21-2011, 07:34 AM
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#21 |
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the big Cheese
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 390
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just as a totally uninteresting side note.. I was just walking back from lunch and what came up on random rotation on my iPod ...
yep.. 99luftballoons. 
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11-21-2011, 08:10 AM
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#22 | |
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Slattern of the Swail
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 15,654
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Quote:
Which also happes to be another 80's song.... I just blew my own mind....
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In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys, the source of fairy dust and ...They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic. "Shall I give you a kiss?" Peter asked and, jerking an acorn button off his coat, solemnly presented it to her. —James Barrie Wimminfolk they be tricksy. - ZenGum |
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11-21-2011, 08:17 AM
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#23 |
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Person who doesn't update the user title
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 13,002
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Well I'll be boiled in oil and covered in feathers, I have been perpetuating that Abba rumor for years. I should know better!
 Sorry Abba. Imma gonna correct that. Abba. Imma. Abba. Imma. |
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11-21-2011, 08:19 AM
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#24 |
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Slattern of the Swail
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 15,654
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Oprah, Uma.
Uma, Oprah.
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In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys, the source of fairy dust and ...They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic. "Shall I give you a kiss?" Peter asked and, jerking an acorn button off his coat, solemnly presented it to her. —James Barrie Wimminfolk they be tricksy. - ZenGum |
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11-21-2011, 08:21 AM
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#25 |
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Person who doesn't update the user title
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 13,002
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I knew you'd get it!
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11-21-2011, 08:43 AM
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#26 | |
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I hear them call the tide
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
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Quote:
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The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart |
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11-21-2011, 10:01 AM
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#27 |
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polaroid of perfection
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 24,185
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I never knew the real meaning of the song, having misheard some of the lyrics.
I thought it was a whimsical little thing about a childish prank that got the Government all hot and bothered. I had no idea it was about actual destruction! Talking about learning things phonetically, I played "Anything Goes" from the Temple of Doom to two Chinese colleagues when I worked in London. They giggled and seemed to enjoy it, but did not seem to get anything from it. They were most confused when I said it was supposed to be in Mandarin. Nononono they assured me, embarrassed. Nor any dialect they had ever heard. Perhaps it was Japanese? Disappointed. I always meant to learn it one day. It would have been my party piece.
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Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac |
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11-22-2011, 02:23 AM
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#28 | |
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the big Cheese
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 390
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Quote:
hey now !!!, there is absolutely no need to be like that!! I have more songs on my iPod than I can count ( yes... 11 ) 
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