Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen” by Nina Hagen:

Nina Hagen — “Du has den Farbfilm vergessen”

Nina went with Michael to the lake, and he took a bunch of pictures, but the film was black and white.  She’s none too pleased, and it particularly comes out in this live version of the song. You can read it as a satire or commentary on the dull and gray German Democratic Republic, where Nina Hagen was born and grew up (her stepfather was the famous GDR singer Wolf Biermann, who was kicked out of the country for his political views, and whose story is worth looking up). It seems to me a lot more fun, though, if you imagine poor Micha, snapping all those photos of Nina in her bikini, in her miniskirt, and naked, only to get berated when they get developed.  Of course, maybe he didn’t forget the color film, and it really was that gray on Hiddensee.