Happy Birthday Dear Wolfgang!
Today is a special day, not because of Mozart's birthday, no, no, nay nay. Today is special because without the birth of the wunderkind, our ears would have never heard the greatest pop/rock song of all time! That's right, "Rock Me Amadeus" by the indomitable Austrian pop star, Falco (God rest his soul).
Why is this song so genius you ask? Let me tell you.
First of all, the song gives you a complete chronology of Mozart's life encapsulated in a 3 min song, in two languages no less! German and English. Observe, first in my mother tongue (sidebar: the English version is called "The Solieri Version", oh, touche!).
"1756, Salzburg, January 27, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born
1761, at the age of five Amadeus begins composing
1773, he writes his first piano concerto
1782, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart marries Constance Weber
1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart becomes a free mason
1791, Mozart composes "The Magic Flute"
On December 5th of that same year, Mozart dies
1985, Austrian rock singer Falco records Rock Me Amadeus!"
Ok, so did you know Wolfgang was a free mason? Nor did I! Thanks Falco! Think that is all? In the 2nd to the last line, you can have oodles of fun with that..how you say?
On December 5th of that same year, Mozart dies-now replace 'dies' with any cliche for death you can think of...like so
On December 5th of that same year, Mozart kicks the bucket
Mozart throws the baby out with the bathwater
Mozart pushes up daisies
Mozart takes a dirt nap, and so on and so forth. Makes a good party game, albeit after about 2 hours of drinking.
Right, so we have the basics down, but let's get to the nitty gritty or as the Austrians would say, UND NITT UND GRITT.
Let's take the same verse and see how it pans out in German.
Es war um 1780
Und es war in Wien
No plastic money anymore
Die Banken gegen ihn
Woher die Schulden kamen
War wohl jedermann bekannt
Er war ein Mann der Frauen
Frauen liebten seinen Punk
See the difference? I know what you are thinking. "No plastic money anymore", why that's not German! No, it sure isn't and furthermore it makes no sense what so ever, but WHO CARES? It's funny as all hell isn't it. Try reading it, best as you can out loud, you'll see and I am sure you will agree. COMIC GENIUS!
Here's the thing, pretty much anything in German is funny. They spell comedy with a 'K'! In case you were not aware, the first rule of comedy is: EVERYTHING IS FUNNIER WITH A K! That, is about 60% of the German language right there, you see where I am going with this. Still don't buy it? Consider this, exit in German is AUSFHART, which I know..doesn't start with a "k" so it sort of dillutes my point, but then is it...wait, what? Right, got that, moving on.
Back to the matter at hand. Another fantastic detail about Rock Me Amadeus is, Falco was a marketing genius! I mean, did he know that in 2006 Austria and much of Western Europe would celebrate Mozart's birthday for an entire year? You could spend a year dissecting this song alone (and I just may do that). I mean hell, even here in London, there are banners for 250th anniversary hootenanny's with the Philharmonic! How many times do you suppose that Rock Me Amadeus was played on the radio, internet, satellite, and/or downloaded today? I would guess a whole lot. A friend of mine put it in simple terms for me today, "It was a commercial marketing coup from beyond the grave"! She's right you know! Madison Avenue needs to take a lesson. Damn I wish I produced that one!
Alas, Falco has been long gone from our world and unfortunately, died pretty much the same way Mozart did, eerie parallel, no?
So....Happy Birthday Mozart and R.I.P Falco
Why is this song so genius you ask? Let me tell you.
First of all, the song gives you a complete chronology of Mozart's life encapsulated in a 3 min song, in two languages no less! German and English. Observe, first in my mother tongue (sidebar: the English version is called "The Solieri Version", oh, touche!).
"1756, Salzburg, January 27, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born
1761, at the age of five Amadeus begins composing
1773, he writes his first piano concerto
1782, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart marries Constance Weber
1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart becomes a free mason
1791, Mozart composes "The Magic Flute"
On December 5th of that same year, Mozart dies
1985, Austrian rock singer Falco records Rock Me Amadeus!"
Ok, so did you know Wolfgang was a free mason? Nor did I! Thanks Falco! Think that is all? In the 2nd to the last line, you can have oodles of fun with that..how you say?
On December 5th of that same year, Mozart dies-now replace 'dies' with any cliche for death you can think of...like so
On December 5th of that same year, Mozart kicks the bucket
Mozart throws the baby out with the bathwater
Mozart pushes up daisies
Mozart takes a dirt nap, and so on and so forth. Makes a good party game, albeit after about 2 hours of drinking.
Right, so we have the basics down, but let's get to the nitty gritty or as the Austrians would say, UND NITT UND GRITT.
Let's take the same verse and see how it pans out in German.
Es war um 1780
Und es war in Wien
No plastic money anymore
Die Banken gegen ihn
Woher die Schulden kamen
War wohl jedermann bekannt
Er war ein Mann der Frauen
Frauen liebten seinen Punk
See the difference? I know what you are thinking. "No plastic money anymore", why that's not German! No, it sure isn't and furthermore it makes no sense what so ever, but WHO CARES? It's funny as all hell isn't it. Try reading it, best as you can out loud, you'll see and I am sure you will agree. COMIC GENIUS!
Here's the thing, pretty much anything in German is funny. They spell comedy with a 'K'! In case you were not aware, the first rule of comedy is: EVERYTHING IS FUNNIER WITH A K! That, is about 60% of the German language right there, you see where I am going with this. Still don't buy it? Consider this, exit in German is AUSFHART, which I know..doesn't start with a "k" so it sort of dillutes my point, but then is it...wait, what? Right, got that, moving on.
Back to the matter at hand. Another fantastic detail about Rock Me Amadeus is, Falco was a marketing genius! I mean, did he know that in 2006 Austria and much of Western Europe would celebrate Mozart's birthday for an entire year? You could spend a year dissecting this song alone (and I just may do that). I mean hell, even here in London, there are banners for 250th anniversary hootenanny's with the Philharmonic! How many times do you suppose that Rock Me Amadeus was played on the radio, internet, satellite, and/or downloaded today? I would guess a whole lot. A friend of mine put it in simple terms for me today, "It was a commercial marketing coup from beyond the grave"! She's right you know! Madison Avenue needs to take a lesson. Damn I wish I produced that one!
Alas, Falco has been long gone from our world and unfortunately, died pretty much the same way Mozart did, eerie parallel, no?
So....Happy Birthday Mozart and R.I.P Falco