Help me make an awesome going-away playlist for a pal!

January 17, 2014 5:18 PM

One of my closest, music-loving pals is moving to Germany to pursue her dream post-doc, hooray! I want to send her off in style with a great playlist.

I've gathered some great ideas from previous playlist posts, but am hoping for some more obscure songs along the rock/lo-fi/pop/soul vein (ie. nothing top 40, preferably at least 10 years old... she really digs Guided by Voices, artsy pop, smart folk, catchy cheesy stuff from the 70s and motown). I'm looking for songs that touch on various themes, including: travelling, moving, ex-pats in Europe, academia, and, uh, Germany I guess. They don't need to be terribly explicit either - I'm also just looking for some quality tunes. Thanks mefites!

posted by Paper rabies to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

"Fred Vom Jupiter," by Die Doraus Und Die Marinas is very cheesy and very catchy German new wave from 1981. It's a start. Might be hard to find, though.
posted by baseballpajamas at 5:47 PM on January 17, 2014

Best answer: Kate Bush: Them Heavy People
Fashion - Move On
Alphaville - Summer in Berlin
Models - I Hear Motion
posted by ostranenie at 5:50 PM on January 17, 2014

Road Movie to Berlin - They Might Be Giants
Impossible Germany - Wilco
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Waving at Airplanes - Guided by Voices
Deceptacon (DFA Remix) - Le Tigre
Debra - Beck
posted by kdern at 5:58 PM on January 17, 2014

Best answer: Peter Schilling - Völlig Losgelöst (though Major Tom dies by floating off into space, so maybe not what you're aiming for) - there's also an English version
Peter Fox - Schwarz zu Blau (if she's going to Berlin)
Die Prinzen - Deutsch (I'm not sure what this song is actually called--it has like three names on YouTube)
Herbert Grönemeyer - Bochum (it's kind of a stretch, given that it's a song about Bochum, not Germany, but I love it too much to not mention it)
posted by hoyland at 6:39 PM on January 17, 2014

Oh, yeah, Bochum had an english version. I always forget Herbert Grönemeyer did an album in English.
posted by hoyland at 6:41 PM on January 17, 2014

"Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp came to mind as appropriate for a cheesy, 70's send-off (I think it's actually about blowing off a one-night stand but it's a great song and the chorus works).
posted by lovableiago at 7:21 PM on January 17, 2014

"I'm In Love With A German Film Star" - The Passions
"Airport" - The Motors
posted by SisterHavana at 8:32 PM on January 17, 2014

posted by hick57 at 10:31 PM on January 17, 2014

Ja Panik: "Trouble" great Berlin-based Band that sings in a mix of English and German

Amanda Palmer: "Berlin"
posted by ironicon at 6:59 AM on January 18, 2014

I think REM's Good Advices is a great moving/traveling/going away song, but it might be too depressing/ambiguous?
posted by jabes at 8:23 AM on January 18, 2014

Geh zu ihr from Die Puhdys (don't watch the video, just listen)
posted by Okapi at 3:37 PM on January 18, 2014

And every German who ever sat around a campfire knows this one. It's about a guy watching a plane taking off and dissappearing into the clouds. Über den Wolken bei Reinhard Mey. Quick google translate of the chorus:

Above the clouds
there must be no limits to freedom.
All fears, all worries, they say,
remain hidden below, and then
is what seems large and important here
suddenly void and small.
posted by Okapi at 3:50 PM on January 18, 2014