MAJOR TOM LYRICS COMPARISON! 🔥 German vs English Explained

Рет қаралды 12,831

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 31

@DefinitelyGerman 4 жыл бұрын

Did you know that 'Major Tom' is a German song in its core? What do you think about the song, and do you know more about a potential direct link to the character of Major Tom in both Peter Schilling's tune and David Bowie's song? :)

@ErableBleu 4 жыл бұрын

Schilling was friends with Bowie and in homage, decided to write this song as sort of a sequel to bring him home... at least in the English version.

@MeThePersonvWeThePrivileged 17 күн бұрын

Man verläbt sich blind One blindly trusts Auf den andern in the other. Major Tom is a fascist. In a democracy one makes up his own mind. I'm learning this song as fast as I can. There may be more. Consequentially, tradition has always been based on fascist values. The Adam and Eve story support ignoring half the population because women are evil. It's so blatantly wrong. Major Tom probably goes to church to condone his atrocities against his community which involves women at it's core.

@ginaramirez2313 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing and explaining each verse in both languages!

@DefinitelyGerman 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching, you're welcome! :)

@shortyankee 2 жыл бұрын

I have loved this song since it came out when I was eight years old. So I’ve been singing it for 30+ years in English, and today for the first time I actually looked up the lyrics and they actually made me cry lol Then I also learned it’s in German😍 And I like that better because I feel The language flows with the music better. But I like lyrics in English because They tugged at the heart . I LOVE THIS SONG 😍

@stevelawlor5112 4 жыл бұрын

Super vid, for a great song. Thanks so much for your insights. However, I think you've missed a significant subtlety in the lyrics at 12:12 which makes the English version superior, more tragic, and heartfelt. At the start, the ship was launched, Major Tom is alone in the capsule. Crew is a ground control reference. All is good, then went bad. Communication was lost on both sides, and then the engines failed. Nothing sinister, just a malfunction. Ship and Tom were coming back to Earth, (as if to fulfill a previous promise to his wife) but sooner than planned, and going to burn up in the atmosphere re-entry. (Now the light commands). He was coming home indeed, back to Earth, but was going to die in the process. "They don't realize, he's alive."'- Meaning he will go through this alone. At the12:12 mark switch out all the "calling" lyrics to "coming". It builds climactically and ironically to the haunting and echoing final line: "Coming, Coming Home". He is resigned to this and seemingly ok with the expected result. Tragic and heroic. But I think there's a clear shift in meaning between German and English versions. Your thoughts?

@steveo7767 3 жыл бұрын

Heard it first in Germany 1991 at the Metropol in Bad Hersfeld

@melodie-allynbenezra8956 4 жыл бұрын

This is the first time I actually caught the NAME of this song, as I'm sure I've heard it many times before. I didn't know that it was originally German. But then again, the enunciation wasn't great in English - there was a LOT that I missed plenty of times before. Thank you for sharing this.

@ronakane9959 4 жыл бұрын

The English version was very popular the year I graduated from high school 1982. Huge Neue Deutche Welle fan. Perhaps, the lyric "Control is not convinced but the computer has the evidence" is more similar than you may think. In America "Control" or "ground control" refers to the scientists on the ground monitoring the computers. You know like, Wehrner Von Braun, a little NASA joke for you.

@stevekoyote3830 2 жыл бұрын

I firt heard this song as a kid living on Ramstein AFB, radio, skating rink, tv... not sure which I heard on first. Always have preferred the German version, the bass line and sound is one of my favorites, especially in a pop song. There are some vocal differences in the the german version too, harmonies. Thanks Dave, this was very fun.

@jaldav 3 жыл бұрын

While watching Deutschland 83 for the first time I recognized the theme song from the early 80s which was played on FM radio in America.

@kathygehring8335 4 жыл бұрын

I heard this song for the first time in 1983, at the skating rink that I frequented. It would be about a year and a half before I heard it in German. I LOVE both versions fairly equally! And although I am seriously hopeless at speaking anything other than English (syntax issues) I CAN sing it in German. I love all of Herr Shillings music, in either language.

@shortyankee 2 жыл бұрын

THANK YOU

@thomasgibson7618 4 жыл бұрын

Was not aware of the German lyrics, but I like the shift in meaning to the song. Also, love this as the theme for Deutschland '83 and '86. Felix Baumgartner, "I'm coming home..."

@derHexenhammer 4 жыл бұрын

As to your last post... You just became my favorite youtuber.

@Eric-zc1ld 2 жыл бұрын

Honestly, I discovered the "Major Tom" song when I first heard the Shiny Toy Guns cover of it during my high school years. I discovered it from a Lincoln MKZ commercial, and I thought the whole song was quite cool! It didn't take long to find out about the fact that it was a cover and discovered the original by Peter Schilling and it gave me as much goosebumps as the STG cover did, and then learned about the German version. After listening to that, and comparing it to the English version, I have to go with the English version. Because while the German version gave me a little bit of those chill bumps, and reading the translation for it, it seems to have a bleak tone for Major Tom's fate (the "I'm getting cold," line is a good example), as if he was gonna die scared (that's what it seemed like to me), while the English version has a more optimistic tone for his fate. "Far beneath the ship, The world is mourning They don't realize, he's alive No one understands, but Major Tom sees Now the light commands This is my home I'm coming home" To me, that sounded like either Major Tom accepted his fate with a sound mind, and space was his new home now, or he decided he was gonna find a way back to Earth or die trying. Anyway, this was a cool explanation video, sir! Well done!

@steveo7767 3 жыл бұрын

Du bist de beste!!

@Gen_X_Rosey 4 жыл бұрын

I am American, and first heard the song in 1982 or 1983 when I was six or seven. So, I learned the song when it was still pretty popular. I have never heard the German version, but the lyrics do add a bit of mystery to the storyline. I still prefer the English version though, but mainly because it's the one I've been used to for almost 40 years.

@silviafarfallina 4 жыл бұрын

I love this song, it´s on my scifi playlist.

@matomajor5124 4 жыл бұрын

Deutschland '83 intro, right?

@jaycee330 Жыл бұрын

In English, vessels such as ships are personified as female as well.

@tracz99 4 жыл бұрын

I first heard the song in The Umbrella Academy. They scripted an entire scene around the English version of the song. I can't really decide which I like more.

@michaeltrautner7042 2 жыл бұрын

At the conclusion of the song, schwerelos, lOs, lOs, lOs versus English version hOme, hOme, hOme. Strange that Los can also mean Fate, and that "coming home", might be referring to the same white light that he has accepted in guiding him home, successfully separating (voellig losgeloest) himself from Ego.

@МаринаСуворова-й5д 4 жыл бұрын

Speaking about David Bowie, what about speaking of his song Heroes which exists also in German version too? I heard that this song is about Berlin, so German people can see more content in it...