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According to Wikipedia,
"The English version is not a direct translation of the German original and contains somewhat different lyrics. (click previous "direct translation" to read that as well as a side by side comparison of the original German versus the English version). If, for some strange reason (INCONCEVABLE!) that link no longer functions, I will post the main stuff at the bottom of this post as well.
While at a June 1982 concert by the Rolling Stones in West Berlin, Nena's guitarist Carlo Karges noticed that balloons were being released. As he watched them move toward the horizon, he noticed them shifting and changing shapes, where they looked like strange spacecraft (referred to in the German lyrics as a "UFO"). He thought about what might happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall to the Soviet sector.
Also cited by the band was a newspaper article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal about five local high school students in 1973 who played a prank to simulate a UFO by launching 99 (one was lost from the original 100) aluminized Mylar balloons attached with ribbons to a traffic flare. The red flame from the flare reflected by the balloons gave the appearance of a large pulsating red object floating over Red Rock Canyon outside the Las Vegas Valley in Nevada.
A direct translation of the title is sometimes given as "Ninety-Nine Air Balloons", but the song became known in English as "Ninety-Nine Red Balloons".The title "99 Red Balloons" almost fits correctly with the syllables falling in the right places within the rhythm of the first line of lyrics, although Neunundneunzig (99) has one syllable more than "ninety-nine".
The lyrics of the original German version tell a STORY: 99 balloons are mistaken for UFOs, causing a general (military officer) to send pilots to investigate. Finding nothing but children's toys, the pilots decide to put on a show and shoot them down. The display of force worries the nations along the borders and the defence ministers on each side bang the drums of war to grab power for themselves. In the end, a 99-year war results from what would otherwise have been just a harmless flight of balloons. The ensuing war results in loss of life and devastation ON ALL SIDES, without any clear victor (winner). At the end of the song, the singer walks through the devastated ruins, lets loose a balloon, and cries as it flies away."
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From Siobhán Silke: If you're interested, here is a *very* unpoetic direct translation,
just so you know what she was singing originally. The translation is
line for line.
Do you have some time for me?
Then I'll sing a song for you
About 99 balloons
On their way to the horizon
Are you perhaps thinking of me?
Then I'll sing a song for you
About 99 balloons
And that something (like the war) comes from such a thing (the balloons)
99 balloons
On their way to the horizon
They thought they were UFOs from space
So a general sent
A flying squad out there
To raise the alarm if it was true
Yet there on the horizon were
Only 99 balloons
99 jet airplanes
Each one was a great warrior
Thought that they were Captain Kirk
There were great fireworks
The neighbors didn't understand anything
And felt immediately felt "pissed off"/provoked
Yet there they shot on the horizon
At 99 balloons
99 war ministers
Matches and petrol cans
Thought that they were clever people
Already caught wind of great spoils [of war]
Shouted: War, and wanted power
Man, who would have thought
That one day it would come to this
Because of 99 balloons
99 years of war
Don't leave a place for victors
There are no ministers of war any more
No jet planes either
Today I'm doing my rounds
Seeing the world lying in ruins
Found a balloon
Think of you and let it fly
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If you're still with me, you should really check THIS out .... It's a side-by-side comparison of the original German lyrics versus the direct translation to English versus the "English Version." Very "interesting."
