99 Luft Balloons
Nena Lyrics


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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
Where ninety-nine red balloons go by

Ninety-nine decision street
Ninety-nine ministers meet
To worry, worry, super scurry
Call the troops out 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

Ninety-nine knights of the air
Ride super high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a super hero
Everyone's a captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
Ninety-nine red balloons go by

As ninety-nine red balloons go by

Ninety-nine dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standing pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here




And here is a red balloon
I think of you, and let it go

Overall Meaning

Nena's song "99 Red Balloons" is a commentary on the Cold War and the paranoia surrounding the possibility of a nuclear war. The song starts with two people buying a bag of balloons, setting them free into the sky at dawn. This innocent act is then followed by panic bells and red alerts as something in the sky triggers the war machine to spring to action. The number "99" emphasizes the abundance of balloons, and the repetition of the line "Ninety-nine red balloons go by" adds a sense of urgency and chaos to the song.


As the balloons float through the sky, various groups react to their presence, from ministers worrying and calling troops out in a hurry to knights of the air scrambling to identify and classify them. The final verse brings the song back to a personal level, with the singer reflecting on their dreams of red balloons and the aftermath of the chaos they've witnessed. The line "If I could find a souvenir just to prove the world was here" speaks to the devastating impact of nuclear war.


Overall, "99 Red Balloons" is a powerful commentary on the futility and danger of the Cold War, and the way it affected people's lives and emotions on a personal level.


Line by Line Meaning

You and I in a little toy shop
We went to a small store to purchase something


Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
We bought a pack of balloons using the money we had


Set them free at the break of dawn
We released the balloons when the sun came up


'Til one by one they were gone
The balloons disappeared one after another


Back at base bugs in the software
There were technical problems occurring at headquarters


Flash the message "something's out there!"
The message was sent that there was something present in the sky


Floating in the summer sky
The balloons were moving through the air in the summertime


Ninety-nine red balloons go by
There were 99 red balloons being released


Panic bells, it's red alert
The alarms were sounded as a warning


There's something here from somewhere else
An object has appeared from a foreign place


The war machine springs to life
The military has been activated


Opens up one eager eye
Vigilance is heightened


Focusing it on the sky
Attention is directed to the sky


Where ninety-nine red balloons go by
Where 99 balloons are visible


Ninety-nine decision street
There were 99 decisions being made


Ninety-nine ministers meet
99 government officials are convening to discuss something


To worry, worry, super scurry
They are concerned and in a hurry to act


Call the troops out in a hurry
Military forces are being summoned urgently


This is what we've waited for
It's a moment they've been anticipating


This is it, boys, this is war
They have decided it is time for war


The president is on the line
The leader of the country is in communication


As ninety-nine red balloons go by
As the 99 balloons keep moving through the sky


Ninety-nine knights of the air
99 pilots are in the sky


Ride super high-tech jet fighters
They travel in advanced fighter planes


Everyone's a super hero
All the pilots are seen as heroic figures


Everyone's a captain Kirk
They are all bold leaders like Captain Kirk from Star Trek


With orders to identify
They are commanded to figure out what the object is


To clarify and classify
They are trying to make sense of the situation


Scramble in the summer sky
They are moving rapidly through the sky


Ninety-nine red balloons go by
The 99 balloons are still visible


As ninety-nine red balloons go by
As the balloons keep moving through the sky


Ninety-nine dreams I have had
I have had 99 different dreams


In every one a red balloon
In each of those dreams there was a red balloon


It's all over and I'm standing pretty
The situation has been resolved and I'm doing alright


In this dust that was a city
The city has been destroyed and turned to dust


If I could find a souvenir
If I could locate a memento


Just to prove the world was here
To show evidence that the world existed


And here is a red balloon
I found a red balloon


I think of you, and let it go
I recall you and release the balloon




Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Joern-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, Carlo Karges, Kevin Mc Alea

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@Raz.C

@@rosePetrichor
The effect of fallout on people and on soil and on crops was all depicted in The Day After (1983). The black soldier even attempts to shield himself from the Alpha and Beta radiation while walking through affected areas, by covering as much of himself as he can, with a blanket (which would actually be effective against EXTERNAL Alpha and Beta radiation).

The equipment failures in the hospital and elsewhere show how the EMP would render unshielded equipment useless. Cars are left abandoned, though it's not made clear that it's because they refuse to start.

The societal breakdown is shown with people turning against each other in a makeshift church. A man is murdered by a desperate group of monsters that look like they were a human family before the bombs dropped. I think his wife was killed first, then when he rushed to her aid, they killed him too. I can't remember if they did this so they could eat him, or just to rob him.

The loss of civil infrastructure is apparent when the ruins of neighbourhoods are shown in bleak detail, the new ramshackle huts that are hastily put together for shelter in lieu of the rubble that was once their homes and businesses. It's apparent in the journey of several characters through ruins and wastelands that was once a city and its suburbs. And it's apparent when we see scenes of the remains of the hospital and lab, where the last remnants of technological advancement crumble and decay with the rest of the failing world.


I saw Threads back in the 90s. I thought it was more sophisticated than The Day After, however, The Day After had mass market appeal. Everything was dumbed down a notch, but it was also much more relatable in many ways. The narrative was simpler, allowing the audience more time and brain-space to focus on the aftereffects of the brief nuclear exchange.

I honestly don't understand how you can say that The Day After was "not nearly accurate in depicting the post-nuclear horror that would come after the bombs dropped..."

I included examples from The Day After of all the things you listed, that you intimated were lacking in the film. I would ask you to watch it again (I rewatched it about 18 months ago) to re-familiarise yourself with not just the narrative and the details, but the intricacy with which those details are explored and fleshed out. I can FULLY sympathise that you- or anyone- might see that Steve Guttenberg has a starring role and dismiss the film as a comedy, or as a light drama with some romance elements. That's a perfectly understandable reaction, but it's also dead wrong. The film is BLEAK!

When the family splits and Steve G. takes the girl (and 1 or 2 others, I think?) on the horse-drawn carriage, to try to reach the hospital, EVERYONE assumes that they'll get her there and bring her back and they'll all be safe and everything will work out for this one, fine family. The film makers had more sense than that, thankfully. I don't want to spoil it, but I think you know that this tangent of the story does NOT have a happy ending. It doesn't have a happy middle, either. And the beginning isn't happy too, come to think of it... And then there are all the other stories of all the other people, whose lives we've been following.

It's an UGLY film that doesn't have a happy ending. I cried my eyes out when I first saw it, back in '85. My mother assumed it would be a typical Steve Guttenberg movie and that we'd all enjoy it. She never rented movies for us again, after that. No shit.


Nb: I have to admit, though, she'd rarely ever rented movies for us before that moment. After it and to this day, though, she never rented movies again.



@alexmarginean9131

Hast du etwas Zeit für mich?
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von neunundneunzig Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Denkst du vielleicht grad an mich?
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von neunundneunzig Luftballons
Und dass sowas von sowas kommt
Neunundneunzig Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Hielt man für Ufos aus dem All
Darum schickte ein General
'Ne Fliegerstaffel hinterher
Alarm zu geben, wenn's so wär'
Dabei war'n dort am Horizont
Nur neunundneunzig Luftballons
Neunundneunzig Düsenflieger
Jeder war ein großer Krieger
Hielten sich für Captain Kirk
Das gab ein großes Feuerwerk
Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft
Und fühlten sich gleich angemacht
Dabei schoss man am Horizont
Auf neunundneunzig Luftballons
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
Wegen neunundneunzig Luftballons
Neunundneunzig Luftballons
Neunundneunzig Jahre Krieg
Ließen keinen Platz für Sieger
Kriegsminister gibt's nicht mehr
Und auch keine Düsenflieger
Heute zieh' ich meine Runden
Seh' die Welt in Trümmern liegen
Hab' 'n Luftballon gefunden
Denk' an dich und lass' ihn fliegen



@BusinessPuggo

German Lyrics for those who want it

Hast du etwas Zeit für mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von neunundneunzig Luftballons, auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Denkst du vielleicht grad an mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von neunundneunzig Luftballons
Und, dass so was von so was kommt
Neunundneunzig Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Hielt man für UFOs aus dem All
Darum schickte ein General
'Ne Fliegerstaffel hinterher
Alarm zu geben, wenn's so wär
Dabei war'n dort am Horizont nur neunundneunzig Luftballons
Neunundneunzig Düsenflieger
Jeder war ein grosser Krieger
Hielten sich für Captain Kirk
Das gab ein grosses Feuerwerk
Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft
Und fühlten sich gleich angemacht
Dabei schoss man am Horizont auf neunundneunzig Luftballons
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 soweit kommt
Wegen neunundneunzig Luftballons
Neunundneunzig Jahre Krieg
Ließen keinen Platz für Sieger
Kriegsminister gibt's nicht mehr
Und auch keine Düsenflieger
Heute zieh' ich meine Runden
Seh' die Welt in Trümmern liegen
Hab 'n Luftballon gefunden
Denk' an dich und lass' ihn fliegen



@davidg.9932

Happy 64th Birthday Nena..
Gabriele Susanne Kerner March 24,1960.

Happy 93rd Birthday Captain Kirk..
William Shatner March 22, 1931.

99 Düsenflieger
Jeder war ein großer Krieger
Hielten sich für Captain Kirk....



All comments from YouTube:

@zerinawolfnewac4393

Wer ist 2024 noch alles dabei?! 🤘😎🕊🎶🎹🎸

@lhumour59

die Franzosen sind auch da 🇨🇵

@kinugawa-ch.

i'm 17 years old from japan

@ocean_2761

i'm 16 from Portugal, but Nena is just popular everywhere❤

@eberharddirscherl4120

Jawohl!

@AlanAntonioCortes

Im 28 years from Mexico, since 2002 in love with this song thanks to gta vice city.

544 More Replies...

@lousifei

I was a young U.S. soldier stationed in Pirmasens, West Germany (at the time) when this song came out. I didn't know the words, but I knew what it was about. One day I was out on a day off with a German soldier friend of mine, and we were visiting a wooded area that had seen heavy fighting between the Germans and Allies during WWII. I remember thinking at the time how just a few decades earlier instead of being friends, we would have had to try to kill each other out there. In those days (1983), one of the things we (those in charge) were worried about was a possible soviet tank led invasion into Western Europe via Czechoslovakia. It's a shame. Now, almost 40 years later and after it seemed that all of that was over, we're back to worrying about war with Russia again. It's really a shame because those who have to do the actual fighting are just normal people who could easily be friends if given the chance.

@kennethwarburton177

Because people have short memories. War is MADNESS,

@dhtsoaedsdhtnadi9575

sadly, there are many things that saw progress in the 70s-00s, that have devolved in the last 6yrs or so, and we're essentially right back where we started. those that shape history seem to ignore history.

@HiroNguy

@@dhtsoaedsdhtnadi9575 It's people as a whole who give these malignant narcissists power. Therefore the concept of Total War is correct because people do in general get the government they deserve.

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