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)
Unbeschreiblich weiblich
Nina Hagen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mir ging's zum Kotzen
Ich wollt's nicht haben, musste (musst du) gar nicht erst nach fragen
Ick (Ich) fress Tabletten
Und überhaupt, Mann,
Ich schaff' mir keine kleinen Kinder an
Warum soll ich meine Pflicht als Frau erfüll'n
Für wen?
Für die?
Für dich?
Für mich?
Ich hab' keine Lust, meine Pflicht zu erfüll'n
Für dich nicht
Für mich nicht
Ich hab' keine Pflicht
Als es vorbei war
Ging's mir zum Kotzen
Jetzt ist es Zeit, endlich mal aufzumotzen
Ick (Ich) fress Tabletten
und überhaupt, Mann
Ich schaff' mir keine kleinen Kinder an
Nein, nein, nein
Warum soll ich meine Pflicht als Frau erfüll'n?
Für wen?
Für die?
Für dich?
Für mich?
Ich hab' keine Lust, meine Pflicht zu erfüll'n
Für dich nicht
Für mich nicht
Ich hab' keine Pflicht
Marlene hatte and're Pläne
Simone Beauvoir sagt: "Gott bewahr!"
Und vor dem ersten Kinderschrei'n
Muss ich mich erst mal selbst befrei'n
Und augenblicklich fühl' ich mich
Unbeschreiblich weiblich
Warum soll ich meine Pflicht als Frau erfüll'n?
Für wen?
Für die?
Für dich?
Für mich?
Ich hab' keine Lust, meine Pflicht zu erfüll'n
Für dich nicht
Für mich nicht
Ich hab' keine Pflicht
Marlene hatte and're Pläne
Simone Beauvoir sagt: "Gott bewahr!"
Und vor dem ersten Kinderschrei'n
Muss ich mich erst mal selbst befrei'n
Und augenblicklich fühl' ich mich
Unbeschreiblich weiblich
The song Unbeschreiblich Weiblich, which translates to Indescribably Female, is a feminist anthem sung by Nina Hagen. It speaks about a woman's right to choose whether to have children or not. The lyrics focus on the singer's disgust towards her pregnancy and her decision to have an abortion. She feels that having a child is not her obligation and she does not want to compromise her life and her goals for anyone else's sake, not even for society's expectations of women.
The first verse describes the singer's experience when she was pregnant. She felt nauseous and wanted to terminate the pregnancy without even being asked. The second verse expresses her determination not to have children at all. She resorts to taking pills to prevent any possibility of getting pregnant. She says that she does not want to have any obligations or responsibilities towards anyone else, especially not something that society has imposed on women for years.
She is adamant that it is not her duty as a woman to bear children and that it is unfair to expect women to fulfill this obligation. She questions why she should fulfill this duty and for whom. The song takes a feminist stance and highlights the idea that women should have the power to make decisions about their bodies and their lives.
The final verse acknowledges the concerns expressed by prominent feminist thinkers like Simone de Beauvoir and Marlene Dietrich. It underlines the importance of women taking control of their lives before anything else. The singer feels a sense of liberation after having exercised her choice to not have children, and the song ends on an empowering note with the line "And instantly I feel indescribably female."
Line by Line Meaning
Ich war schwanger
I found myself pregnant
Mir ging's zum Kotzen
It made me feel terrible
Ich wollt's nicht haben, musste (musst du) gar nicht erst nach fragen
I didn't want it and you didn't even have to ask
Ick (Ich) fress Tabletten
I take pills
Und überhaupt, Mann,
And overall, man,
Ich schaff' mir keine kleinen Kinder an
I'm not having any little children
Nein, nein, nein
No, no, no
Warum soll ich meine Pflicht als Frau erfüll'n
Why should I fulfill my duty as a woman
Für wen?
For whom?
Für die?
For them?
Für dich?
For you?
Für mich?
For me?
Ich hab' keine Lust, meine Pflicht zu erfüll'n
I don't feel like fulfilling my duty
Marlene hatte and're Pläne
Marlene had different plans
Simone Beauvoir sagt: "Gott bewahr!"
Simone Beauvoir says: "God forbid!"
Und vor dem ersten Kinderschrei'n
And before the first cry of a child
Muss ich mich erst mal selbst befrei'n
I need to free myself first
Und augenblicklich fühl' ich mich
And immediately I feel
Unbeschreiblich weiblich
Indescribably feminine
Contributed by Aubrey I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@themaidofmiddleearth
English lyrics:
I got pregnant, I felt like pukin'
I didn't want to have it, you better believe it!
I pop pills and, anyway, man,
I'm not about to get me a kid
Why should I do my duty as a woman?
For whom? For them? For you? For me?
I got no mind to do my duty as a woman!
Not for you, not for me; I ain't got no duty!
When it was over, I felt like pukin'
Now's the time to finally get it on,
I pop pills and, anyway, man,
I'm not about to get me no kid
Why should I do my duty as a woman?
For whom? For them? For you? For me?
I got no mind to do my duty as a woman!
Not for you, not for me; I ain't got no duty!
MARLENE WASN'T MAKING THAT SCENE.
SIMONE BEAUVOIR SAID "AU REVOIR".
AND BEFORE THE FIRST BABY'S SCREAM,
I FIRST GOTTA SET ME FREE.
AND RIGHT NOW I FEEL ALL WOMAN. WOMAN!
@laudibus1
"Simone de Beauvoir sacht Gott bewahr...!!!"
War doch die Frau von Sartre.
Habe aus meinem
Philosophie Studium
Bücher von Simone Zuhause
Eine der ersten Feministinnen.
Aber wir Jungs aus Marl
verliebten uns auch direkt
in Nina Hagen selber und deren
technisch sehr brillianten
Begleitband Spliff.
Nina Hagen war schon damals
weit ihrer Zeit voraus...:
@Jpeg13759
@@StefWangPARIS Das Lied hatte ich mal als Single, nach der Wende aus der DDR importiert;-)
"Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen, mein Michael...Jetzt weiß niemand mehr, wie schöns hier war Haha Haha""
Simpel, aber ein ziemlicher Ohrwurm...;-)
Ach Gott, da war Nina ja noch ein Küken...
Ich glaub, ich hab so ziemlich alle Platten von Ihr, sogar die mit Lene Lovich und Hermann Brood...
Bei vielen davon krieg ich heut noch Gänsehaut, so gut sind die...
Mann, die Frau (Nina) hat aber auch ne Stimme, gewaltig, und kluge Texte dazu....
Mit 19 war das für mich ne echte Sensation...
Und dann noch diese Schnuller-Ohrringe...göttlich....
Ich war hin und weg...
@wyrdsys
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
Ich war schwanger
Mir ging’s zum Kotzen
Ich wollt’s nicht haben, musste gar nicht erst nach fragen
Ick fress’ Tabletten
Und überhaupt, Mann
Ich schaff’ mir keine kleinen Kinder an
[Chorus]
Nein, nein, nein
Warum soll ich meine Pflicht als Frau erfüll’n?
Für wen? (Für wen? Für wen?)
Für die? (Für die?)
Für dich? (Für dich?)
Für mich? (Für mich?)
Ich hab’ keine Lust, meine Pflicht zu erfüll’n
Für dich nicht
Für mich nicht
Ich hab’ keine Pflicht!
[Verse 2]
Als es vorbei war
Ging’s mir zum Kotzen
Jetzt ist es Zeit, endlich mal aufzumotzen
Ick fress’ Tabletten
Und überhaupt, Mann
Ich schaff’ mir keine kleinen Kinder an
[Chorus]
Nein, nein, nein
Warum soll ich meine Pflicht als Frau erfüll’n?
Für wen? (Für wen? Für wen?)
Für die? (Für die?)
Für dich? (Für dich?)
Für mich? (Für mich?)
Ich hab’ keine Lust, meine Pflicht zu erfüll’n
Für dich nicht
Für mich nicht
Ich hab’ keine Pflicht
[Bridge]
Marlene hatte and’re Pläne
Simone Beauvoir sagt: „Gott bewahr!“
Und vor dem ersten Kinderschrei’n
Muss ich mich erst mal selbst befrei’n
Und augenblicklich fühl’ ich mich
Unbeschreiblich weiblich! Weiblich!
[Chorus]
Wa-Wa-Wa-Warum soll ich meine Pflicht als Frau erfüll’n?
Für wen? (Für wen? Für wen?)
Für die? (Für die?)
Für dich? (Für dich?)
Für mich? (Für mich?)
Ich hab’ keine Lust, meine Pflicht zu erfüll’n
Für dich nicht
Für mich nicht
Ich hab’ keine Pflicht!
[Bridge]
Marlene hatte and’re Pläne
Simone Beauvoir sagt: „Gott bewahr!“
Und vor dem ersten Kinderschrei’n
Muss ich mich erst mal selbst befrei’n
Und augenblicklich fühl’ ich mich
Unbeschreiblich weiblich! Weiblich!
@jecksoncerqueira3828
Nina Hagen é uma cantora sensacional. Orgulho de ser fã 🤘🏻
@80thtasties85
1978 first tour, Krone, Darmstadt, ging dermaßen durch die Decke!!! Eigentlich unbeschreiblich 🙂 saugeil!
@Urnai7
Nina ist wunderbar! 🇩🇪
@Najain
Nina estava a frente do seu tempo, talento extraordinário ❤ descobri o passado dela no youtube. Uma mulher fora do comum, sem vergonha de nada ❤❤
@joppemin
the amount of time's I replayed the first verse is insane, definately my favorite song of hers!
@rolfagten857
The song has the right tone, with Frau Hagen's sharp voice.
@jandekker1768
Nee.
@blacksunshine7122
Her glam and performance style is my actual inner self. Pretty sure of it.
@rogerthijs7256
Don't know. She once had a show in my hometown (loooong time ago) and when she
got out of the car that brought her, my good friend Willem walked by with is dog,
and when she saw it, stopped immidiatly and most kindly asked a hundred questions about him
and gave him (not the dog ! ) immidiatly a free ticket for the show ...
During the show, she saw my friend again , stopped the show for a moment
and asked him : "Everything OK with the little dog " ?
@garconius3000
Ha ! ich schaue mir gerade dieses Video an. Sie war wundervolle Nina in ihrer Zeit. Crazy women I just love her voice! .