German Studies

Album: Mountain Battles (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This features Kim Deal singing in German. Deal explained to Pitchfork Media why: "I'm in the four-track, and I've got this simple riff [sings riff] on my guitar, and of course, now I gotta grab the microphone. I think it sounds cool, so I've got to sing something over it. I know that I want to sing German on top of it. It's just going to sound cooler. So I figured out the words that I would like to sing, and I knew that I wanted this silly, kind of simple riff that's kind of middling. It has no high frequency or low. It's just this taut, tense thing that continues on, relentless! [Sings riff] I knew that that would be a cool place to put Wagnerian harmonies of me and Kelley, these harmonies in German that go [sings gibberish German] whatever, and I knew that I wanted to stop in the song so that I could say "und so weiter."
  • Deal added in an interview with Mojo magazine January 2008: "I wrote this cool punk riff, and it just needed to be sung in German. But I don't speak any German so Kelley and I found this German teacher called Elsa to help us with the lyrics." Deal added laughing: "(Producer) Steve Albini's fiancée Heather says it could be our biggest song, if we didn't sing it in German!"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Classic Metal

Classic MetalFact or Fiction

Ozzy, Guns N' Roses, Judas Priest and even Michael Bolton show up in this Classic Metal quiz.

Michael W. Smith

Michael W. SmithSongwriter Interviews

Smith breaks down some of his worship tracks as well as his mainstream hits, including "I Will Be Here For You" and "A Place In This World."

Second Wind Songs

Second Wind SongsSong Writing

Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.

Gentle Giant

Gentle GiantSongwriter Interviews

An interview with Ray and Derek Shulman of the progressive rock band Gentle Giant to discuss counterpoint, polyrhythms, and... Bon Jovi.

Gilby Clarke

Gilby ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

The Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist in the early '90s, Gilby talks about the band's implosion and the side projects it spawned.