Matthias Reim makes a case for the iPod

By now everyone at work knows that I am on a German music kick that has nothing to do with using Rammstein to communicate severe displeasure with most of the world. In fact the music kick I am on involves hunting for the songs on a tape I was given in high school. Youtube has been a wonderful reference. The problem is that I don't have the case so I am depending on 25 year old memory to tell me what the song is. Remember how hard Name That Tune was? Now try it in a language that you can read but not speak. Yeah... it's been that easy. But like I said, Youtube is helping.

I started with Herbert Groenemeyer because he and Roland Kaiser are predominate in my memory. The refrains are stuck in my head so they are easy to look up. "Tanzen" and "Kinder on Die Macht", namely. With the way that Youtube works finding other artists isn't hard. If a poster likes one artist then likely the other artists won't be too hard to find. Cue Spider Murphy Gang, Nena, Paola, Purple Shultz, Trio (what? They weren't American?) and a pleasant surprise Geier Sturzflug.

That last one was a great surprise. "Besuchen Sie Europa" didn't show up right away so I waded through the start of a lot of songs to find this one. What fun. It's not really the kind of song that you'd polka to. And no one NO ONE wants to see me try to polka. But golly, Wally, it's fun to dance to!!! The poster who listed the video for that song lead me to an new voice I'd not heard before. Enter Matthias Reim.

I don't really know what I can say about the music since I don't, as I said, speak German so much as read it. So transcribing lyrics for future translation is a little tricky. And there is no way that I could manage it right now anyway. The voice has that kind of resonance that induces a trance and warm fuzzies. Which, generally speaking, is probably why I like foreign music anyway. Without knowing what the song's literal meaning is you can pay attention to the tones and the quality of the voice. Smooth as honey with a little bit of a raspy edge, Matthias Reim is all kinds of Wunderbar! And that was before I got a good look at him.... I'm sunk.

This adventure could not make any clearer what my type of person is. German. And not just any kind of German. Richard Dean Anderson kind of German with the low, thick brow; deeper set eyes; firm, angular jawline; wider, bulbous nose; and the mouth... thin lips and a slightly protruding process above the upper lip with deep vertical smile lines that are longer than mere dimples. You know... good strong German features. And he looks so much like someone I know personally that if they were side by side on a street in Dresden at 40 paces I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. OY! and VEY!

I'm sunk. First because I know I can't have what I want and finding a suitable replacement is harder with people than products. And second I'm sunk because I've sworn that I am not going to go digital. Collecting CDs has been expensive enough. But I have to have some Matthias Reim now. And if I get the iPod to listen to him, then I will need Sprunge and most everything that Roland Kaiser did in addition to all the songs from the tape I have. Even at .99 per song that is going to add up. The other upside is that I can plug in the iPod at work and listen to music static free, not worry about people stealing CDs or scratching the heck out of them. Yes, with my musical tastes the former is hardly a real concern.

Damn Matthias, way to make a case for the iPod. @wilw didn't manage to seduce me to the Dark Side of the Digital era with all the iPod stuff. But you... you have to have a voice and a style that oozes all kinds of come hither.