ENGLISH:

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base bugs in the software
Flash the message, something's out there
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by

99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
Where 99 red balloons go by

99 Decision street
99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by

99 knights of the air
Ride super high tech jet fighters
Everyone's a super hero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify, and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by

99 dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standing pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
I think of you, and let it go


GERMAN:

Hast du etwas Zeit fuer mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer dich
Von 99 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Denkst du vielleicht g'rad an mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer dich
Von 99 Luftballons
Und dass sowas von sowas kommt
99 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Hielt man fuer Ufos aus dem All
Darum schickte ein General
'ne Fliegerstaffel hinterher
Alarm zu geben, wenn's (sie?) war
Dabei war'n da am Horizont
Nur 99 Luftballons
99 Duesenjager
Jeder war ein grosser Krieger
Hielten sich fuer Captain Kirk
Das gab ein grosses Feuerwerk
Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft
Und fuehlten sich gleich angemacht
Dabei schoss man am Horizont
Auf 99 Luftballons
99 Kriegsminister
Streichholz und Benzinkanister
Hielten sich fuer schlaue Leute
Witterten schon fette Beute
Riefen: Kring und wollten Macht
Mann, wer hatte das gedacht
Dass es einmal soweit kommt
Wegen 99 Luftballons
99 Jahre Krieg
Liessen keine Platz fuer Sieger
Kriegsminister gibt's nicht mehr
Und auch keine Duesenflieger
Heute zieh ich meine Runden
Seh' die Welt in Truemmern liegen
Hab' 'nen Luftballon gefunden
Denk' an dich und lass' ihn fliegen


Lyrics submitted by numb

99 Luft Balloons song meanings
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22 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment

    this song is cool, I like the cover by goldfinger

    BURGLAR KINGon February 06, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is so beautiful. I used to listen to it when I was little, but never understood it. Now I know........

    nietzsche_66on June 01, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i really love this song... it is about the cold war i believe...

    babesarooon June 18, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I love this song and now that i know what it means it makes me that much more. This song is so right for the time period it was written. If in fact a general were to see ballons are radar he probably would start WWIII. So its scary to think of how popular this song was

    SicSporkson July 08, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I especially like the base solo at the end

    Zatchon July 10, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i LOVE this song...i first heard about it in german class YEARS ago...and last night i heard someone making fun of it on SNL or something...and i LOVE it. mmm. and...like SicSporks i like it more that i know what it's about

    NessaTrillianon September 16, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    thank god somebody knows what it means and also this was near the end of Berlin Wall which was cool

    bornonaugust10thon March 08, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    See, the thing is that the German translation is almost nothing like the English Version. The English Version Barely touches on half the stuff the German one did... maybe cause the war was different for the Germans. It meant something else. Kind of funny, huh?

    Daydream_Danceron March 10, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    you DD dancer they always do that when they translate things for us americans if you translate some of the grimm fairy tales you will find that these tales are quite gruesome like the mom who chopped up her son and buried him under a tree.

    bornonaugust10thon April 09, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Man I feel so ignorant now.. I didn't know what this song was about until I heard the Goldfinger cover.. but I can be forgiven.. I don't think I was even born when this song came out haha

    PunKinDrubliCon April 16, 2003   Link

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