I lived in Berlin in the early 1970s. It's a special place for me for a lot of reasons. When I lived there, the Wall seemed permanent. I never thought I'd see it come down in my lifetime.
This song is very personal. It's a very rough and ready first draft and needs polishing, but at least I got it written in time for today. (Except the title...)
TTTO "Mein Berlin" by Reinhard Mey
I was only ten years when they first built the wall,
I knew nothing of politics, didn't understand at all.
The news often reported on our radios and tvs
Of yet more people shot there just for trying to be free.
In Africa, then Vietnam, we saw more wars begin,
And tanks rolled through the streets of Prague to put an end to spring.
And all throughout the decade that saw us fly in space
The name I often seemed to hear was of that fateful place
Called Berlin, my Berlin, my Berlin.
The guns and the barbed wire a world I soon would come to know,
My Berlin.
So ten years passed and I came, scarcely older than a child
To live within the city ringed by those stone and concrete piles.
Though not a proper teacher, as an English Miss I went
To learn the meaning of the phrase "die Berliner haben Temperament!"
In the mornings I would try to help the students understand me,
And after school I would explore and see what I could see,
The Memorial at Plötzensee, and the eternal flame,
And always that stark structure that accompanied the name
Of Berlin, my Berlin, my Berlin,
I thought the wall would last my lifetime, I would never see it go
From my Berlin.
The weeks turned into months and I knew time was passing by,
So off to Checkpoint Charlie to visit the other side,
Anxiety and butterflies both made my stomach churn,
And then to make things worse, I was searched on my return.
I saw the Brandenburger Gate, and the Island of Museums
The Berliner Ensemble, the Cathedral still in ruins.
And along Unter Den Linden, that great wide boulevard,
I saw soldiers goose-stepping at the changing of the guard
In Berlin, my Berlin, my Berlin
But in the Alexplatz the young played music on their radios
In my Berlin
I lived there for just one year but its impact was not small,
It left a deep, enduring mark engraved upon my soul.
And in the years that followed I never could forget
The island city of my past and the people that I met:
A place where I first heard and liked the songs of Reinhard Mey,
A place where I felt lonely and just wanted to cry,
A place of mixed experiences, and some of them were tough,
A place I found annoying, a place where I found love-
That was Berlin, my Berlin, my Berlin,
Then in eighty-nine the wall fell, plus the old status quo,
In my Berlin
I was only ten years old when they first built that wall,
It stood for nearly thirty years before I saw it fall.
And before I could return another sixteen years went by,
Though if you were to ask me, I could not tell you why.
The school's become a centre for the old now to attend,
The Cathedral's been restored, and the Reichstag built again,
In the suburbs walls are covered in graffiti, which feels strange
But in the midst of all the differences, some things haven't changed
In Berlin, my Berlin, my Berlin.
In the Alexplatz the Goths played music on their stereos
That's my Berlin!
And what the future holds in store, no-one can ever know
For my Berlin.
And to my German friends, happy anniversary! Zum Wohl!
Tags: berlin, filk
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