From 1972 to 1973, Hagen enrolled in the crash-course performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin. Upon graduation, she joined the band Automobil (picture), which released a well-received album in Germany, including her first hit "Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen" in 1974.
After a concert for a West German labour union in 1976 her stepfather, Wolf Biermann, was forbidden to return to the GDR. Because of their protests against it her mother, Eva-Maria Hagen and Nina were thrown out of GDR in 1977, and followed Biermann to his hometown Hamburg.
Nina subsequently met West-Berlin photographer Jim Rakete (who also produced some bands he shot the cover-photos for - like "Nena" some years later). He brought Nina together with the politically left-wing band "Lokomotive Kreuzberg" (later known as "Spliff"): thus the "Nina Hagen Band" was born.
In 1978 The Nina Hagen Band released their self-titled debut album, which included titles like "TV-Glotzer" (a cover of "White Punks on Dope" by The Tubes) and "Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo".
According to reviewer Fritz Rumler, she thrusts herself into the music, aggressively, directly, furiously, roars in the most beautiful operatic alto, then, through shrieks and squeals, precipitates herself into luminous soprano heights... she parodies, satirises, and howls on stage like a dervish.
Nina Hagen's eccentricity led to big disputes in the band and during a subsequent European tour Hagen decided to leave the band, though she was still under contract to produce a second album in 1979. This LP, Unbehagen (in addition to the obvious pun on her name, in German this also means 'discomfort' or 'unease'), was eventually produced with the band recording their tracks in Berlin and Hagen recording the vocals in Los Angeles, California. It included the single "African Reggae"/"Wir leben immer... noch" (a cover of Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number"). The headless Nina Hagen Band soon developed a successful independent musical career as Spliff.
Meanwhile, Hagen's public persona was steadily creating an increasing media uproar and she became infamous for an appearance on an Austrian talk show called Club 2, in which she performed an explicit simulation of masturbation. She also acted with Dutch sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'-roll legend Herman Brood in the movie Cha Cha, along with Lene Lovich and various Dutch bands.
An European tour with a new band in 1980 was cancelled, she had a love affair with a 16 year old punk from Amsterdam called Noddy (www.noddyriot.co.uk) and sang a RHCP rapduet with him at the OneWorldPoetry festival at the MilkyWay and lived with him in New York and in the Bahamas.
In 1982 her first solo album NunSexMonkRock, a dissonant mix of punk, funk and opera, was a minor hit, and led to a world tour with the No Problem Orchestra.
In 1983 came the album Angstlos and a minor European tour. By this time, Hagen's public appearances were becoming even stranger; over the years they frequently included discussions of God, UFOs, her social and political beliefs, animal rights / vivisection and claims of alien sightings. The English version of Angstlos, 'Fearless', generated two major club hits in America , "Zarah" and the disco/punk/opera classic, "New York New York".
1985's 'Nina Hagen In Ekstasy' fared less well, but it did generate club hits with "Universal Radio" and a cover of "Spirit In The Sky", and it also featured her hardcore punk take on Frank Sinatra's "My Way", which had been one of her signature live tunes in previous years. Her contract with CBS over, she released the Punk Wedding EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to an 18-year old punk. It followed an independent 1986 one-off single with Lene Lovich, the anthemic "Don't Kill The Animals".
In 1989 Hagen released the album Nina Hagen which was backed up by another German tour. Now living in Paris with her daughter Cosma Shiva, in 1991 she toured Europe in support of her new album Street.
In 1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on RTLplus. The following year she released Revolution Ballroom and two years later the German-language album Freud Euch appeared, recorded in English as Beehappy in 1996. Also in 1996, Hagen collaborated with electronic music composer Christopher Franke on "Alchemy of Love", the theme song for the Tenchi Universe movie Tenchi Muyo! in Love.
In 1998, Hagen became the host of a weekly science fiction show on the British Sci-Fi-Channel, in addition to embarking on another tour of Germany. In 1999, she released the devotional album Om Namah Shivay, which was distributed exclusively online. She also sang "Witness" on KMFDM's Adios.
Nina has a strong interest in various religions, but that is mainly driven by her urge to build a better world and her own colorful freedom within it.
In 2000, her song Schön ist die Welt became the official song of Expo 2000. The album The Return of the Mother was released in February 2001, accompanied by another German tour.
Hagen dubbed the voice of Sally in the German release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and she also did some voice work in Hot Dogs by Michael Schoemann.
Hagen has been featured on many songs by other bands, for instance Oomph!'s song Fieber, a cover of Rammstein's "Seemann" with Apocalyptica and in 2008 appeared readily on psy-trance act S.U.N. Project's X Black Album, most notably on the fully vocal track We're In Space. She also sang the song "Garota de Berlim" with Brazilian singer Supla in her early years.
Her two children are Cosma Shiva and Otis.
URLs:
BEST archive for Nina Hagen pictures and stuff (regrettably just in German), incl. very old GDR pics like a beautiful one at the age of 18 and one shot by the "Stasi" (together with her stepfather Wolf Biermann - wiki)
Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
Nina Hagen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Meine Seele wacht
Und lauscht
Oh Herz, hörst du wie es klingt
In den Palmen sich entfacht!
Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
Und ich hab gehofft –
Auf was?
Ich sah bunten Vögeln nach –
Ach mein Glück zerbrach
Wie Glas!
Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
Von einem Glück unsagbar schön!
Er weiß, was meinem Herzen fehlt
Für wen es schlägt und glüht –
Er weiß für wen!
Komm! Komm! Komm!
Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
Von einem Herzen, das mir fehlt!
Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
Von einem Glück unsagbar schön!
Er weiß, was meinem Herzen fehlt
Für wen es schlägt und glüht –
Er weiß für wen!
Komm! Komm! Komm!
Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
Von einem Herzen, das mir fehlt!
In the first stanza, Nina Hagen sings about being alone at night while her soul is awake and listening. She addresses her heart, asking if it can hear the sound that is emerging from the swaying palms. In the second stanza, she recalls standing by the sea in the past, hoping for something that never came to fruition. She watched colorful birds fly by and, in hindsight, realizes that her happiness was fragile and shattered like glass. In the chorus, she repeats how the wind told her a song of indescribable beauty, and how it knows what her heart is missing and beating for. She implores someone to come to her, as she needs the heart that the wind has told her of.
The song is about longing for a certain person or love that seems out of reach. The first stanza sets the mood of loneliness and listening to the natural elements. When she hears the wind's song, she starts to believe that there is someone out there for her, causing her to recall standing by the sea, hoping for love. By the chorus, she recognizes that the wind knows who her heart beats for, and she pleads for them to join her. It's interesting to note that the lyrics do not specify who this person is, leaving it open for interpretation.
Line by Line Meaning
Allein bin ich in der Nacht
I am alone in the darkness
Meine Seele wacht
My soul is awake
Und lauscht
And it listens
Oh Herz, hörst du wie es klingt
Oh heart, can you hear how it sounds
In den Palmen sich entfacht!
It is ignited in the palm trees!
Am Meer stand ich abends oft
I often stood by the sea in the evenings
Und ich hab gehofft –
And I hoped -
Auf was?
For what?
Ich sah bunten Vögeln nach –
I watched colorful birds
Ach mein Glück zerbrach
Oh, my happiness shattered
Wie Glas!
Like glass!
Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
The wind has told me a song
Von einem Glück unsagbar schön!
Of an unspeakably beautiful happiness!
Er weiß, was meinem Herzen fehlt
He knows what my heart is missing
Für wen es schlägt und glüht –
For whom it beats and glows -
Er weiß für wen!
He knows for whom!
Komm! Komm! Komm!
Come! Come! Come!
Von einem Herzen, das mir fehlt!
Of a heart that I am missing!
Contributed by Lincoln V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@Tom-ml3tn
Tolle Version von diesem alten Lied!
@quaevolumuscredimuslibenter
Wunderschön! Dankeschön! 🥰❤❤❤👌👍😘
@sommera7321
Ninaaaa😍😍😍😍love you 🤗🍀💚🍀💚🍀💚🍀💚🍀🌞🌞🌞🌞Superschönes Lied und sooo romantisch 💖💖💖💖
@SkeeterNYC
Have never seen this. Thank you!
@xopancuicatl
¡Te amo NINA!
@Boban1611
Das ist wahre Kunst!
@juancastillaalejandro5476
La gran Nina❤
@vandambautista
Esa es la que me gusta, del principio de su carrera
@ThePlanetGAGA
💜💜💜
@Theodisc
Is that Cosma Shiva Hagen sitting on the strand with Nini at the end of the clip? She looks just like her (Nini) if it is not. 💙