On the weekend, I accidentally tuned in to one of those casting shows and while they introduced one of the emerging artists – by the way, a very talented young guy – an awesome song was played in the background. Immediately, I booted up my computer to google the lines I memorized in order to find out which song it was. The songs that caught my ear was “Wolke 7” (Cloud 9) by Max Herre and Philipp Poisel.

You might be a little bit confused by my translation: Wolke 7 = Cloud 9. In fact, while speakers of English are on cloud 9 – when they are, for example, in love, Germans are usually on Wolke 7 (lit. cloud 7). But please do not mix that up with the expression: in seventh heaven = im siebten Himmel.

Max Herre and Philipp Poisel are one of the few German musicians who make German-speaking music. Rapper Max Herre was the leader of the hip hop band Freundeskreis, who were very successful with their singles “Anna” and “Halt dich an deiner Liebe fest” (Hold on to your love) in the 1990s. In 2004, Max started his solo career.

Philipp Poisel had his breakthrough between 2006 and 2008, when Herbert Grönemeyer took notice of him and signed him on at Grönland records. Meanwhile, he has released his third studio album. The song Wolke 7 is a single from Max Herre’s album Hallo Welt! (Hello World!) which has been released August 2012.

 

 

Wolke 7 / Cloud 9

Max Herre (1^st verse):

Dinge kommen, Dinge gehen.

Sinn und Unsinn des Lebens.

Kopf in den Wolke, Kopf im Sand,

Hoch geflogen und so oft verbrannt.

Alles dreht sich und es dreht sich täglich.

Die Kraft in dir trägt und verrät dich.

Mann im Spiegel – Hass oder Liebe? –

Er treibt dich vor sich her und er macht dich müde.

Und du willst jemand anders sein.

Wer kann das sein?

Mir fällt keiner ein.

Und du willst nicht machen, was du machst

Und trotzdem sitzt du wieder hier, schreibst die ganze Nacht.

Falscher Stolz, Eitelkeit.

Dein Leben, doch für das Leben keine Zeit.

Mit dieser Leere, Bücher vollgeschrieben.

Dein Albtraum auf Wolke 7.

Things come, things go.

Sense and nonsense of life.

Head in the clouds, head in the sand,

Flown high and got burnt so many times.

Everything rotates and it rotates daily.

The strength in you carries and reveals you.

Man in the mirror – hate or love? –

he drives you in front of him and he makes you tired.

And you want to be someone else.

Who can that be?

I cannot think of anybody.

And you don’t wanna do what you’re doing.

Nevertheless, you are sitting here again, writing all the night.

False pride, vanity.

Your life, but no time for living.

You filled books with this emptiness

Your nightmare on cloud 9.

Philipp Poisel (chorus):

Und ich schließe die Augen,

Vor all diesen Fragen,

Weil es schwer ist die Zweifel

Auf den Schultern zu tragen.

Also schließ ich die Augen

Um an etwas zu glauben.

Ist es wert, es zu lieben

Und das Leben zu lieben,

Hier auf Wolke 7?

And I close my eyes

To all these questions

Because it is hard to carry

The doubts on my shoulders.

So, I close my eyes

To believe in something.

Is it worth to love it,

And to love life,

Here on cloud 9?

Max Herre (2^nd verse):

Dinge kommen, Dinge gehen.

Angst vorm Fallen.

Lieber für nichts mehr stehen,

In den Bilderfluten nichts mehr sehen

Und dann mit wehenden Fahnen untergehen.

Nachts in Katakomben abfliegen,

Den Katakonter wieder abschießen /

Den Kater konnte er dann wieder abschießen,***

Und im Gedränge untertauchen,

An nichts, außer an Wunder glauben.

Und du willst woanders sein.

Wo kann das sein?

Es fällt dir gerade nicht ein.

Dicker Schädel und ne dünne Haut,

Jeden kennen, aber niemandem trauen,

Alles gesagt und es will keiner hören,

Es wär so einfach,

Wenn’s nicht so einfach wär,

Und all die Widersprüche totgeschwiegen,

Mein Albtraum auf Wolke 7.

Things come, things go.

Afraid of falling down.

Better to stand for nothing,

Not seeing anything in these floods of images,

And then drowning with flowing flags.

At night, fly off in catacombs,

Could get rid of this hangover,***

And drowning in the crowd.

To believe in nothing else than miracles.

And you want to be somewhere else.

Where can that be?

You just cannot think of it.

Being groggy and having a thin skin,

Knowing everyone but trusting no one,

Everything has been said but no one wants to hear that,

It would be so easy

If it wouldn’t be that easy,

And pretending that all these contradictions do not exist,

My nightmare on cloud 9.

Philipp Poisel (chorus):

Und ich schließe die Augen,

Vor all diesen Fragen,

Weil es schwer ist, die Zweifel

Auf den Schultern zu tragen.

Also schließ ich die Augen

Um an etwas zu glauben.

Ist es wert, es zu lieben,

Und das Leben zu lieben,

Hier auf Wolke 7?

And I close my eyes

To all these questions

Because it is hard to carry the doubts on my shoulders.

So, I close my eyes

To believe in something.

Is it worth to love it,

And to love life,

Here on cloud 9?

Und ich schließe die Augen

Vor all diesen Fragen.

Ich bin müde vom Zweifeln

Nach all diesen Tagen.

And I close my eyes

To all these questions

I am tired of doubting

After all those days.

(Philipp Poisel) Also schließe ich die Augen.

(Max Herre) Dinge kommen, Dinge gehen,

(Philipp Poisel) um an etwas zu glauben.

(Max Herre) Kopf in den Wolken, Kopf im Sand.

(Philipp Poisel) Ist es wert es zu lieben?

(Max Herre) Hoch geflogen und so oft verbrannt

(Philipp Poisel) Dieses Leben zu lieben

(Max Herre) Mann im Spiegel – Hass oder Liebe

(Philipp Poisel) Dein Albtraum auf Wolke 7

Auf Wolke 7, 7, 7

(Philipp Poisel) So I close my eyes.

(Max Herre) things come, things go,

(Philipp Poisel) to believe in something.

(Max Herre) head in the clouds, head in the sand.

(Philipp Poisel) Is it worth to love?

(Max Herre) flown high and burnt so many times

(Philipp Poisel) to love this life

(Max Herre) man in the mirror – hate or love?

(Philipp Poisel) You nightmare in cloud 9

on cloud 9, 9, 9

 

*** There is a kind of disagreement what Max Herre really says here. In all lyrics, I found on the internet, it says: “Die Katerkonter abschießen”. The thing is that there is no such word as Katerkonter in German. I guess, Max raps the line “Den Kater konnte er dann wieder abschießen” (he was able to get rid of this hangover), since he is obviously talking about someone who gets drunk again, which is revealed by the following words “dicker Schädel” – a way to say that someone has a hangover. In fact, “Die Katerkonter abschießen” does not make any sense.