Johann (Hans) Hölzel (19 February 1957 – 6 February 1998), better known by … Read Full Bio ↴Johann (Hans) Hölzel (19 February 1957 – 6 February 1998), better known by his stage name Falco, was an Austrian rap, pop and rock musician and had four #1 Hits - "Der Kommissar", "Rock Me Amadeus", "Jeanny" and "Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2, Ein Jahr danach)".

He is the only artist to score a #1 Hit in the U.S. with a German language song, and his albums and singles have sold about 60 million copies worldwide.

Early Years

Born in Vienna, studying at the Vienna Music Conservatory in 1977 which he left after one semester to pursue a career in music, he lived for a short time in West Berlin while singing in a jazz-rock band. When he returned to Vienna he was calling himself "Falco," reportedly in tribute to the East German ski jumper Falko Weißpflog, and playing in the Austrian bands Spinning Wheel and Hallucination Company. En route to becoming an international rock star in his own right, he was bass player in the Austrian hard rock-punk rock band Drahdiwaberl (from 1978 until 1983). With Drahdiwaberl he wrote and performed the song "Ganz Wien" which he would also include on his debut solo album Einzelhaft.

Individual success

Falco's first hit was "Der Kommissar" from the 1982 album Einzelhaft. A German language song about drug consumption that combines rap verses with a sung chorus, Falco's record was a number-one success in many countries but failed to break big in the U.S. The song, however, would prove to have a life of its own in two English-language versions. British Rock band After the Fire recorded an English cover version, loosely based on Falco's lyrics and also called "Der Kommissar" (with "uh-oh" and "alles klar Herr Kommissar" the only other lyrics held over from the original). This time, the song shot to number three in the United States (their only major hit there) in 1983, though it failed to crack the UK Top 40. The band - who had been together more than a decade - broke up almost immediately thereafter. That same year, American singer Laura Branigan recorded a version of the song with new English lyrics, under the title "Deep in the Dark" on her album Branigan 2.

After a second album, Junge Roemer, failed to provide a repeat to his debut single's success (outside of Austria and Germany, where the album topped the charts), Falco began to experiment with English lyrics in an effort to broaden his appeal, and chose a new production team. The result would be the most popular album and single of his career.

Falco recorded "Rock Me Amadeus" inspired in part by the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, and the song became a worldwide hit in 1986. This time, his record reached #1 in the U.S. and UK, bringing him the success that had eluded him in that major market a few years earlier. The song remained in the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and his album, Falco 3, fittingly peaked at the number three position on the Billboard album charts. Unheard of at the time for a white performer, much less a European one, the Austrian rapper's single climbed to the upper reaches of the Billboard Top R&B Singles Chart (only a few years earlier called the "Black Singles" chart), peaking at number 6. Falco 3 peaked at number 18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Ultimately, "Rock Me Amadeus" went to the #1 spot in over a dozen countries including the Soviet Union and Japan. Follow-up single "Vienna Calling" was another international pop hit, peaking at #18 of the Billboard Charts and #17 on the U.S. Cash Box Charts in 1986. A double A-side 12" single featuring remixes of those two hits peaked at #4 on the U.S. Dance/Disco charts.

"Jeanny" the third release from the album Falco 3, brought the performer back to the top of the charts across Europe. Highly controversial when it was released in Germany and the Netherlands, the story of "Jeanny" was told from the point of view of a rapist and possible murderer. Several DJs and radio stations refused to play the ballad, which was ignored in the U.S., although it became a huge hit in many European countries, and inspired two sequels on later albums.

In 1986, the album Emotional was released, produced by Rob and Ferdi Bolland (Bolland & Bolland). On the Album were "Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2, Ein Jahr danach)" and the song "Kamikaze Cappa" which was written as a tribute to the late photojournalist Robert Capa. "The Sound of Musik" was another international success, and a Top 20 U.S. Dance hit, though he failed to make the U.S. pop charts. He also went on "Emotional-Tour" which was a world tour where he ended up in Japan at 1987. In 1987, he sang a duet with Brigitte Nielsen "Body Next to Body" and the single was a Top 10 hit in the Germanic countries. The Album Wiener Blut was released in 1988 but it did not get much publicity outside Germany and Austria.

After "Jeanny," there were a number of European hits, but Falco was rarely heard in the U.S. and the UK. His 1992 U.S. comeback attempt, the album Nachtflug with the song "Titanic" won a number of awards, but failed to chart in America.

Death

Falco died of severe injuries received from a collision with a bus in his Mitsubishi Pajero near the city of Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic on 6 February 1998, just two weeks before his 41st birthday. While it was initially reported that the autopsy showed high blood levels of alcohol and cocaine, this was disputed. At the time of his death, he was working on a comeback into the music world.
He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna, Austria.

Years active: 1974 -1998

Data de Groove
Falco Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

(Oh yeah)

Cyberspace has got to be
The anarchy a pirate concept
In and out and over me

Create a sequence file
On map disk from, gotta call me

A-B-B-D-S-O-1
Mega user high extension enter edit go A-D, D-A

Stop stop roger over and go
Syntaxerror crashed on bad block
Is it real, is it nothing? Is it
Data overflow

(Ooh) There's no river too deep
No Mountain too high
(Any kind of vision in the air)
Kein backspace mehr

(Ooh, low-tech revolution)
Formt sich dann
Zum Frontprogramm

The mega the score
Desto mono de chrome
Atmo de force
Is the Atmo at home
It's got to be the higher the goal
And the goal, and the goal, desto schwerer Beruf, say!
The deeper the soul
Data de groove

(Oh yeah)

Ich mein', ich, mich, du, ich
Ich mein', du, dein so allein, so allein zu sein
Na und nd so weiter

Hin zu wem zu fällst du ab und zu
Fällst du, nur zu sind zu Ende zu ganz auf

Cyberspace is auto-ex-ex
Show memory size of (size of)
I guess you know what stop stop roger over and go

Syntaxerror crashed on bad block
Is it real, is it nothing? Is it
Data overflow

(Ooh) There's no river too deep
No Mountain too high
(Any kind of vision in the air)
Kein backspace mehr

(Ooh, low-tech revolution)
Formt sich dann
Zum Frontprogramm

The mega the score
Desto mono de chrome
Atmo de force
Is the Atmo at home
It's got to be the higher the goal
And the goal, and the goal, desto schwerer Beruf, say!
The deeper the soul
Data de groove

(Data de groove)
(Data de groove)

(Ooh) There's no river too deep
No Mountain too high
(Any kind of vision in the air)
Kein backspace mehr

(Ooh, low-tech revolution)
Formt sich dann

The mega the score
Desto mono de chrome
Atmo de force
Is the Atmo at home
It's got to be the higher the goal
And the goal, and the goal, desto schwerer Beruf, say!
The deeper the soul
(Data de groove)

The mega the score
Desto mono de chrome
Atmo de force
Is the Atmo at home
It's got to be the higher the goal
And the goal, and the goal, desto schwerer Beruf, say!
The deeper the soul
(Data de groove)

The mega the score
Desto mono de chrome
Atmo de force
Is the Atmo at home
It's got to be the higher the goal
And the goal, and the goal, desto schwerer Beruf, say!
The deeper the soul
(Data de groove)

The mega the score (data de groove)
Desto mono de chrome
Atmo de force
Is the Atmo at home (groove)
It's got to be the higher the goal
And the goal, and the goal, desto schwerer Beruf, say!

The deeper the soul
Data de groove (groove, groove

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Falco's "Data de Groove" seem to talk about the relationship between technology and the human soul. The term "cyberspace" is used as a metaphor for the mind, and the lyrics suggest how one's mind can be both free yet constrained by technology. The chorus "There's no river too deep, no mountain too high" is an optimistic tone which shows that anything can be achieved through technology. The line "The deeper the soul, data de groove" indicates that even though technology can be limiting, it is possible to find a way to connect technology with humanity.

The entire song has a futuristic theme and sounds that are heavily electronic. The lyrics suggest a world where technology controls everything and where people are bound by codes and programs. Falco uses various cryptic computer terms to carry on this theme throughout the song, such as "Syntaxerror crashed on bad block," "Mega user high extension," and "on map disk from." The song clearly aims to provide insight into society's relationship with technology and the potential consequences of advances in computer science.

Line by Line Meaning

(Oh yeah)
Showing enthusiasm and excitement

Cyberspace has got to be The anarchy a pirate concept In and out and over me
Cyberspace is a chaotic and lawless concept, much like the ideology of pirates, which surrounds and overwhelms Falco

Create a sequence file On map disk from, gotta call me A-B-B-D-S-O-1 Mega user high extension enter edit go A-D, D-A
Instructions to create a file sequence, call Falco for assistance, and execute certain commands with precision

Stop stop roger over and go Syntaxerror crashed on bad block Is it real, is it nothing? Is it Data overflow
Technical difficulties such as syntax errors, bad blocks, and data overflow can cause confusion and doubt about the reality of the situation

(Ooh) There's no river too deep No Mountain too high (Any kind of vision in the air) Kein backspace mehr
Metaphor for overcoming any obstacles and limitations, with a possible reference to the lack of a backspace key symbolizing a commitment to moving forward without the possibility of undoing mistakes

(Ooh, low-tech revolution) Formt sich dann Zum Frontprogramm
Low-tech revolution refers to a movement away from advanced technology and towards simpler methods, potentially leading to social and political changes

The mega the score Desto mono de chrome Atmo de force Is the Atmo at home It's got to be the higher the goal And the goal, and the goal, desto schwerer Beruf, say! The deeper the soul Data de groove
Ruminating on the idea that the higher the goal, the more difficult the work, and the deeper the soul, the more one can connect with the groove of the music

Ich mein', ich, mich, du, ich Ich mein', du, dein so allein, so allein zu sein Na und nd so weiter
Conversational lyrics that are difficult to give a specific meaning to

Hin zu wem zu fällst du ab und zu Fällst du, nur zu sind zu Ende zu ganz auf
This line is incoherent and difficult to give a specific meaning to

Cyberspace is auto-ex-ex Show memory size of (size of) I guess you know what stop stop roger over and go
Technical jargon and instructions that can be confusing for those who are not familiar with computer technology

(Data de groove)
Repeating the chorus to emphasize the importance of the groove and its connection to the deeper soul

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Johann Hoelzel, Robert Ponger

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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