I be never been the one to study lyrics and I suspect this his got political overtones. I first got into this band when I heard this track and then bought a cd of there rock ballads . I think they are the masters of rock ballads but I like their live albums , some a bit too heavy for me but some tracks like living for tomorrow and rock like a hurricane are brilliant. I'm not very good with technology so I don't know how to order a t-shirt because I'm 65 and live in a care home. Keep on Rockin🤩😁❤️😚😃
November 9th, 1989, I came home from work to my father, a ww2 vet, calling me. He said "turn on the TV, now!, the wall is coming down!" I could tell he was crying. I will never forget that
It was something else. I was living in Berlin at the time, about 300 meters from the Brandenburg Gate. I was born and raised in Wyoming, but most of my family lived in East Germany - my mother was the only one who got out, mere weeks before the wall went up. She was also one of the last to come into the US through Ellis Island, which closed about 6 weeks after she came through.
I remember exactly where I was at that moment. My brother and me went up the Heidelberg castle and simply celebrated with everyone else who was there. Some alcohol might have been consumed (😉) and life was fantastic. Everyone in both the East and West were on the same page.
As a person born in the USSR, this song really did signify so much for all of us. Now, looking at what is going in the world, makes me think all that was for nothing. Instead of getting closer, we are drifting farther apart…
in order to fully appreciate the LIGHT of UNITY and brotherhood....we must 1st feel what it's like to be in the DARKNESS of separation and division...we live in a World of Duality....when people finally wise up and realize we are all part of one life/ one consciousness/one family...there will be peace
we are closing in with each other these days. like the brothers we were always supposed to be. A lot of things have begun to move in europe we move again, in the wind of change
Oh well, because the same very specific people who created bolshevism are now running the US and EU. Doing the same thing over and over again. We were tricked a little bit at least. We got rid of (some of) the darkness but naively embraced the West like an angel of light. If only we had known it was the father of lies in disguise.
I've always loved this song. But 13 years ago I married a Bulgarian girl, who was 12 when the wall came down and 13 when communism fell in her country. This song carries so much more weight with her, than I could ever fathom. She cries tears of joy every time she hears it, regardless of the version. It wasn't just an anthem of German reunification. It was an anthem for an entire generation of kids, teens and young adults who emerged from behind the iron curtain to join the rest of their generation. We in the west have always had the view that we won the cold war, when in fact it was the people living behind the iron curtain who won. And this is their most cherished victory song. I work with 2 German ladies (they didn't know each other before meeting here in Canada 10 years ago) who were in their late teens/early 20s when the wall came down. One grew up in East Germany and the other in West Germany, and they both said they're just like my wife. They can never get to the end of the song without tears. And neither can their husbands.
I spent the first 14ish year's of my life as an Army Bratt who traveled the world 🌎 living on 🪖 Army bases, on the Uncle Sam travel plan until 1986ish. And I remember being in west Germany and looking at checkpoint Charlie, from 2 blocks away. We couldn't get any closer because of the security risks/issues. I stared at it and the wall for what seemed like hour's. Then in my head I started concocting different ways to defeat this THING that was keeping families 👪 apart 💔! I remember the graphity on part's of the western side, and how part's went almost through buildings, then partly torn down to create a dead zone. Which is exactly what it sounds like... then watching 👀 the unification on live television 📺 was tearfully great...from Wyoming USA 🇺🇸 🤠
@@KlockoFett to deface an artifact like a piece of the Berlin wall. Should be a crime like burning a church or something like that....smh...from Wyoming USA 🇺🇸 🤠 as a side note, whoever set the wall up as a display, should have built a top type thing to keep it in the shade to protect it from the sun 🌞....
@@billallen4793 I agree. They should have made some sort of shelter from the sun and rain. I also agree it should be a crime. I suppose it is vandalism. It should carry "enhancements" based on what is vandalized, like how a speeding ticket carries "enhancements" when in a school zone.
Klaus Meine of the Scorpions is hands-down one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time. Such a beautiful tone and vibrato. His ballads are priceless
For us (Hungarians) this song means so much. And I think for all the people who lived behind the iron courtain.... (East germans,Czechs,Slovaks,Polish,Romanians,Bulgarians,etc...)
I'm a Cold War Vet that was stationed on the E/W German Border in the mid 80's. This song hit me the first time I heard it when the Wall fell. It's personal.
i spent three years in Germany as a 4th through 6th grader in Fuerth in the mid 70's. Step dad was stationed at W.O. Darby Kaserne. We went to the border several times. Went back to visit in 90. Such a trip to see all the changes.
As a retired vet it is personal to me especially all the research that reveals that the 'Cold War' was a hoax to make the MIC all the money they could happily absorb. Deception is the way.
This song lacks the C part "and let your balalaika sing what my guitar wants to say" which for me is one of the most striking lines in the song. I still remember when the wall came down and how it felt here in the west of Germany. My dad had this song on cassette tape in the car!
I went back through the video several times searching for that part and the solo after that. Annoying that there is this incomplete version after all, probably a kind of a radio edit version. Elizabeth should really give the longer version a chance as she was really disappointed that this one was so short, it really lacked that climax, and she sensed that despite not knowing.
Elizabeth: "...I'd like this song to be longer." Well, it actually IS longer. The solo is missing in this version. And it is very much worth listening to! This is the full version of the song: ruclips.net/video/n4RjJKxsamQ/видео.html
I noticed that the extra verse (and guitar solo) was missing as well. I'm really curious what her reaction to those lyrics would have been: "The wind of change Blows straight into the face of time Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell For peace of mind Let your balalaika sing What my guitar wants to say"
I think this is one of those lip synching, air guitar playing, made for TV pretend LIVE performances. It sounds exactly as you said, like the shorter, cut radio version of the song.
I had the good luck to be stationed in Berlin in 1989 during the time when the Wall came down. This song evokes very strong emotions for many of us who experienced the collapse of the East German regime and joy of the people as friends and relatives from the East poured through the sudden new openings in the Wall. An amazing time and this is an amazing song that captures the mood perfectly. The two songs I always will equate to the Fall of the Wall are this, Wind of Change, and Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" which seemed to be playing everywhere in the city at times. Amazing time in history! Thank you for visiting this song!
I completely agree. I was in the Marines during the Cold War and this felt like our anthem for what we thought would be the end to the tensions. This sone with so many others reflected the mood of the times. Still takes me back to when we found out. After years on ship and being shadowed and buzzed by the Soviets, it felt like we had won the Cold War.
Absolutely brings me back there. I was stationed there as well when the wall fell and this song is definitely the anthem for that historical event and time!
I was in college when the fall of the iron curtain occurred. I visited Berlin and some of the countries of the former Warsaw Pact a year later. This song and Jesus Jones, "Right Here, Right Now" are the 2 songs that bring me back to this wonderful time. Though "Wind of Change" is clearly the better song.
As Gen X, this song hits me so hard in the feels. You had to grow up in the cold war to really comprehend how unbelievably powerful this song was and how much hope there was at the time.
I was born in 76, and seeing the wall fall on tv was a moment till this day I didn’t think I would see let alone Klaus. Every child that was born after the wall fell would no longer live under a surveillance state. This song meant everything to the scorpions.
There was the Moscow Music Peace Festival in August of 1989, which is where Klaus literally followed the Moskva. In November, the Wall fell. Then the Scorpions released this tune, and then the USSR split up. It was all so fast. To quote another song- "I saw a decade end where it seemed the world could change in the blink of an eye".
“Wind of Change” definitely captures a moment in time. I was stationed in W. Germany during reunification, and hearing this song again puts me right back there. Can’t wait to hear the full reaction.
I'm of the opinion that the CIA had written this and helped it take off. Just a conspiracy theory that I read and certainly sounds plausible enough. It would be one of the less dirty tricks the CIA pulled
@@xxHazzardousxx if the CIA did that I could forgive them. But seems highly unlikely. Seems too smart for them, I don't think they know anything other than assassination and plain, old sabotage... :D
Klaus Meine and Steve Walsh of Kansas should be considered to be amongst the 10-15 best male rock singers of all time - and yet almost no one ever mentions either of them in those lists. It baffles me
@@tomfabozzi6309 I don't like "competition" in Music or other arts! It's always a question of taste as well and there are SO many extremely gifted and exceptional singers in rock that you can only do a personal ranking (if ever - and I bet you'll have a huge pain to decide who you want to drop out of your top ten!). Anyway Klaus is and always was a perfect and charismatic singer, no doubt. But - I mean Gillan, Dickinson, Halford, Coverdale, Plant, Byron.... and your list is almost full already with just a couple of classic hardrock/metal bands. There were many more in rock (like Freddie Mercury, Steven Tyler or even Peter Gabriel) and dozens others to mention that emerged in the 90's or 2000's....
@@wesbates1143 You said it right there, with Uli they were magnificent, in the 80´s they played anthems and sold out arenas, which was fantastic. I loved them in the 70´s 😊
Most underappreciated band ever. A career spanning over 5 decades, almost as long as the Stones. Klaus can sing sweetly or they can blast you and NOT in their native language.........And still not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?????
@nancy ferguson The RRHoF is very US centric. Of course, it's a huge market, but there were quote some questionable inductees the last years. It's not that important.
This is definitely a shortened version. There’s normally another section and a guitar solo. I recommend searching out the full version if you haven’t heard it.
For me as a german a really important song. My mother has fled the GDR and was separeted from her friends and family for 30 years. This song expresses the emotions I had with the reunification. Thank you for doing this reaction. I know it will be great.
Another piece of music was more important to me: Beethoven's setting of Friedrich Schiller's "An die Freude" in his 9th symphony ... In a TV documentary, it was used to highlight the opening of the border between Hungary and Austria ... very moving, very impressive!
I was in the US Navy when the wall came down. I cannot overstate the effect it had on me. All of a sudden, we could go to bed not wondering if the world would be there in the morning. A few years later I was in Europe, everyone was just filled with so much hope for the future, a weight had been lifted and everything was possible. It was amazing. This song brings me right to that moment, where the world was OK for a minute, and we were all one people, filled with the hope of Freedom.
It's weird that some people were german soldiers back then, absolutely certain that they wouldn't survive a war and still say the 80s were a better time than the 2010s.
Klaus is/was a great friend of both Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillan. One of those voices that keeps on giving. To capture the mood of Europe in the space of a few minutes was an incredible feat.
I cried when I listened to your reaction to that particular song. I was 25 when Scorpions performed this song. I am from Poland, my country became free after the collapse of the USSR and communism. Now, when I remember those times when you reminded me of them, I cried like a kid, so many years have passed and there are still emotions of those times in me. It is a pity that you did not choose a video clip that shows documentary photos of that time. And everywhere during this period of time it was "interesting". Best regards and thank you ... also for the emotions Sorry for the English language ... I learn it all the time and I am from a generation that was forced to learn Russian, I apologize again
They left out the Solo for Some reason, there is actually around a minute of the song that you didn't hear, with one of the best and most emotional guitar solos I have ever heard, so I suggest listening to the Non Live version as well
This version isn’t live like most Pop TV shows :-( - at least here in Germany. It’s a shame for great bands like the Scorpions, that clearly don’t need it, but a forced by the TV station
Not only the guitar solo gut also the beautiful bridge is missing: "The wind of change blows straight into the face of time Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell for peace of mind Let your balalaika sing what my guitar wants to say." => guitar solo taking This bridge plus guitar solo is THE goosebumps moment of the entire song. The song is just incomplete without. This must have been a radio mix here...
@@BruderTux There are two sides to it. Also the band has to accept to only lip sync and to pretend they are playing live to a tape recording... Probably the most legendary case, where a TV station invited a band and had to regret to have asked them to not play live, was Iron Maiden on a German live TV show back in 1986: The band appeared on stage but they made a lot of fun out of pretending playing live - so it was too clear to everyone that this was NOT played live. Very funny - but not for the TV station 😂: ruclips.net/video/lQnv7-roVbQ/видео.html (EDIT: have found a higher quality recording)
Right!?! My father told me growing up that they were the best band to see live when it came to their sound compared to the album. As good quality, if not better. Made sure i took him and my bro to see them when they toured for Humanity
I think younger folks have a hard time appreciating how deeply the meaning here runs. Those of us raised during the Cold War witnessed a pivotal moment in history when Eastern Europeans, long trapped underneath the weight of these nightmare political systems, began to feel hopeful for the future for the first time in 60 years. I can imagine Klaus walking through late Soviet era Moscow sensing the changes and the hope in the people around him and being inspired to write this.
Growing up as a Cold War kid, the 90's were such a hopeful time. As I've gotten older I feel like that hope has evaporated. This song was definitely a sign post pointing toward a post-Cold War world and the possibilities it held.
9/11 was probably the threshold that forced us all into a nosedive. its sad because I remember the 90's as a very young child and i remember it being a very happy time. everyone seemed almost content with life and where it was going. but of course we as humans can never let a good thing go on for too long. I'm disappointed in what we as humans are doing to each other everywhere. we live in the information age where we have anything we want to know at our fingertips, yet we are too stupid to learn from our past. I think some see it as a game, while many of us know exactly where we are headed if we maintain the status quo and there is legitimately no reason for us to go there. there's no reason to take this walk through hell. I sincerely wish for a time where the overwhelming sentiment is hope. the world needs that now.
I really feel you. Did "we" blow it? 30 years on it's hard for me to let myself off the hook. The whole world opened up for us all, east and west, but it proved all too easy to retreat to decades-old adversarial positions. We have to share this song with our kids and beg them to do what we could not.
His voice in “ No One Like You” is incredible as well. I feel Klaus is often underrated -his tone/clarity I feel because English isn’t his first language benefits. Please give it a listen-
For me as a German who has spent his childhood in the GDR and was personally involved in the events even if not as much as some others of course this song is so very special. I always get shivers and goosebumps when i hear this song thinking of the iconic pictures and scenes from the 9th November 1989 and the 3rd October 1990 and how my personal life has changed so drastically moving from Chemnitz in Saxony to Cologne in August 1990 and how this has shaped my current situation. This song will be dear to my heart til my last breath. I really love how you get a hunch of that just by listening to this song and you can see that it has a very special power.
The song is an anthem for the fall of the Berlin wall and the fall of USSR and you can feel it in the lyrics and the muisic in general, it is full of hope. When i was a child i have listened to this song again and again hundreds of times and the zeitgeist, you could feel it everywhere and was really optimistic. The beginning of the nineties was such a great time! And this is from a person living to the east of the iron curtain!
When I was 19 I was in Moscow in the winter of 1991/92 on a student exchange from half way around the world and it's hard to explain just how much this song expresses both the hope and the trepidation of an entire generation facing a moment of immense historic change sweeping Russia and Easter Europe. I can't think of another song in my lifetime that is so wrapped up, defined by and defining of the personal , the hope and the nostalgia that so many were feeling at that moment in time. Every time I hear it feels like I'm there again.
I was serving in the Army when "The Wall" came down and the song soon released after. So much promise of hope for a unified world... look at us now, really heartbreaking at where we could have gone and where we ended up.
I was a reservist when that abomination came down. This song has always brought me to tears of joy, remembering that moment when the awful poison of communism was (we thought) ended forever..... but now it saddens me to know we were wrong. It's back, and it's on the march through the free world. So now this song just makes me depressed.
I was in ROTC in the States at the time, but had gone in expecting to spend time in Europe. I'd been learning about NBC gear and how to don and doff it around the time when the Wall came down. Now, I have a friend who lives in Germany, who turned 5 on the day it happened, and he's given me a healthy respect for how a western German, even as a child, was so moved by the changes of the time. I had entered 1989 expecting that the threats of the Cold War were just going to be a fact of my adult life, at least for a significant portion of it. In the decade that followed, particularly after the Dayton Accords ended the Balkans Wars, it really did feel like we'd risen to the moment and removed the threats and could move forwards as a united human race. But it wasn't long after that those hopes and illusions were shattered, most starkly on 9/11/2001. Listening to this song always makes me emotional because it takes me back to that moment, as an idealistic 18 year old, when I thought that maybe we'd all gotten it right, finally.
I was 21, sitting at the tv when people from east and west berlin climbed the wall, something they would have been shot for weeks ago. I saw the german foreign minister stand on the balcony of the german embassy in Prague, speaking to thousands of refugees from the GDR, telling them they would be allowed to go to west germany. All of west germany was watching this, listening to "wind of change" on continuous loop.
Just one of those songs that tears at the heart strings right off the bat. All the suffering, all the death, all the loss impassioned in but a whistle. God bless.
The Scorpions are such a great band. They are acompanying my musical journey for 4 decades now. So many brilliant songs, concerts, moments. A proper rock n roll band if ever there is/was any.
I was a kid when the wall came down and this song is forever in my heart the sound of our reunification. This bringts tears to my eyes even now. What a great moment in time!
This is a great, albeit truncated version of the studio recording, missing the whole incredible bridge section. Check out the studio version for the full experience. Let your balalaikas sing!
I was in the Army at Fort Gordon GA. When this song came out. Everything we studied for was the Soviet Union, Changed immediately. To live that moment, was indescribable. Felt like God wanted peace. This song was perfect for the moment.
I grew up listening to this song. The radio/studio version closes with the whistling, which brings it back together, much like how a wind may start off slow, gust, then die down again. I am not sure why this was cut out in the live version. It may be that it was actually in the concert and the editor just cut it. You will definitely need to check out the studio version to get the complete song.
I can't help but shed a tear every time I listen to the song. I mostly grew up in a reunited Germany but still feel like I experienced the reunification myself (I was only 3 when it happened). It's like it became part of our dna and it's such a powerful feeling.
What a hopeful time this was in world history, and this song captures it perfectly. It pains me greatly that the world is on its way to dark times again. Listening to this makes me tear up, remembering better days. Thanks for your always thoughtful and insightful analysis!
WIND OF CHANGE thematizes the end of the Cold War and is so far the only No. 1 chart success of the Scorpions in Germany, although they are the most successful German band internationally. With the turning hymn, the Scorpions created the world's most successful song from Germany to date. The song was written on a night stroll through Moscow in 1989 during the Scorpions tour. The Soviet head of government Mikhail Gorbachev, architect of glasnost and perestroika, even received the Scorpions in 1991 in the Kremlin. On November 6, 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and just under a month before the two parts of Germany were reunified, the Scorpions released their 11th album 'Crazy World' with the song Wind of Change, among other things.
Why is that? Here in philippines since my childhood their songs especially ballads have been mainstays in radios and kara / videokes and boys love to learn them play on guitars
@@gray6071 They didn't release much of their catalog in common German, and in the 80s & 90s English language skills weren't as established in the general population. That likely affected their reach in their home country.
This song is actually longer, they cut it short on this video for some reason. I heard on one interview that he practiced for a long time learning to whistle and that he actually was the one whistling in the song. Early on Klaus learned English so he could hopefully get a bigger audience and following in America. I think it worked really well for him.
Klaus credits drummer Hermann Rarebell for improving the band's English. Rarebell worked in the UK before joining the band - he was really the only one who could speak the language in which they wrote their songs. You can tell if you read the lyrics from their earlier songs before Hermann joined. Eventually they all learned English... except Rudolf. His English is still terrible. I'm looking forward to the new record. With Mickey Dee in the band - and Klaus's voice losing some of its precision and subtlety - it sounds like they might go heavier.
This is my favorite song by The Scorpions. Gives me goosebumps every time. On a historical note, I was there when the Berlin Wall fell, living in a 15th story apartment about 300 meters from the Brandenburg Gate, so this song also has a deep personal meaning for me.
I think, when they wrote it, the chorus: "Follow the Moskva Down to Gorky Park Listening to the wind of change" they did not only anticipate the German unification in specific but it was also about the perception of the change in the Sowijet Union as a whole. This was the time of Glasnost und Perestroika under Michael Gorbatchow and everyone who payed attention to what was happening in the easter block and in Moskau specificly, could percieve that a big change was happening, that an ara came to an end and that the world was on the brink of a new age.
the change never came, the ccp and Marxist have planted a seed long ago that has been sprouting for a long time. the future is not bright and freedom is drifting away from the world.
As someone who is from Germany I couldn't believe you had never heard this song, since it's so iconic here. It's played a lot on the radio, even to this day and every single person I know knows the lyrics by heart, no matter how old or young they are. The Scorpions started their career way before I was born, so I grew up with their music. I commented this already on your first analysis of them, but I think you would LOVE "Moment of Glory", the album they made in 2000 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. It's amazing, one of my biggest musical influences of my early childhood and one of my all time favourite albums to this day. 🖤 I'd love to see you react to the song "Hurricane 2000", the version from the "Moment of Glory" album. One banger of a Symphonic Rock song! 🤘🙌
Agreed. It's my favourite of all their ballads (and that's saying something, given the fantastic ballads this band has created in general) and deserves more recognition.
This song is SO Elizabeth! While I greatly enjoy her trips to the dark side there is something special about watching her gush over something beautiful and positive. Hope everyone has a great new year and remember: the pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist believes it will change. The realist adjusts his sails. The smart realist takes a car.
The real magic of this song is that even those who didn't live through this are able to understand just how important this was to those that were affected. I was young at the time of the reunification, so the full weight of the song didn't hit me until I was a bit older and learned the history. That said this has always been my favorite Scorpions song, it has always hit me different and the hopeful tone always almost brings me to tears.
I was ten or eleven years old when this song came out. Despite not knowing *what* the words meant, I knew intuitively that it must be about something important!
Michail Gorbatschow met with The Scorpions in the Kremlin in 1991 because of this song. Imagine what would happen to a band today in Russia if they sang a song like this 😞
This song is really meaningful for me and my wife since she is from Russia and I am German. I don't think it would've been that easy for us to meet 30+ years ago. Thank you for your insights into the vocals! Yes the Moskva is the river floating through Moscow and Gorki Park is probably the most popular park in the city. In winter they cover it with ice and is the coolest ice skating rig ever!
After seeing your two videos on the scorpions and growing up in that era I want to thank you for helping me realize that Klaus Meine is probably one of the best rock ‘n’ roll singers of all time
You are absolutely correct Elizabeth. I can’t stop myself from whistling when I hear this song. I feel the same way when I hear Dust in the Wind by Kansas, I can’t stop myself from singing along.
This song relays the pain the everyday world exacts upon all of us and through all of it, it yet instills a spirit of hope for the future that things can still get better.
Being a teen in the 80s and living during the Cold War years and then watching that wall come down and seeing the video for this songs just hits hard every time I hear it to this day. Absolutely beautiful song and unfortunately the words and meaning for this song still are relevant today and that’s unfortunate. Those of us that lived during this time truly thought the world would be a much better place by now.
Appropriate song title going into a new year. Happy New Year Elizabeth and Kirk. Big wind of change coming for you in May. Congratulations to you both.
One of their greats! The longer version is very good. It shows Klaus' vocal skills, that aren't used in their more driving songs. And the solo guitar at the end seems to speak.
Yes, this song IS the inofficial anthem of the German reunification, and as a person from Eastern Germany, I've always had strong feelings about it. It's beautiful and will never fail to give me goosebumps - and that despite the fact that I'm too young to actually have real first-hand memories of the GDR. But I know from my family. And I feel it has lost nothing of its meaning - in fact, the lyrics feel so relevant today. Shame that the bridge is missing...And yes, Klaus has an amazing and very unique voice! BTW, this going to the second vowel of the diphthong might actually be a German thing in this case: German focuses on the second part of a diphthong while English tends to focus on the first part.
....and the fall of the Soviet Union of course. All looked very bright for the future at that time. Look where we have come today. And the West has it's fair share of destroying the future for so many people, it is not just the Russians recently...
Fun fact. Rudolf Schenker was a big influence and inspiration in James Hetfields life (lead singer Metallica) when he was learning to play guitar. Its where he got his downpicking style from.
As a band from Germany, they know what it was like being in the crosshairs of the Cold War. It isn't just that Russia was becoming a free nation, it was getting the huge threat of instant annihilation off the German people. They had a whole different perspective than most countries did during the Cold War. They lived it on a daily basis.
Not to mention, RE-UNIFICATION of the two sides of Germany; family who had not seen each other in THIRTY YEARS were brought back together. The humanity of the situation is the REALLY important part. :)
I was at the Scorpions show On July 3rd 1991 in Spokane WA at the Race park, on the drag strip. They did Wind of Change and the karma in the air with everyone signing together was incredible.
Great analysis! Please keep them coming! Being born in 68, growing up in the last 70's and early 80's the threat of nuclear war (Able Archer 83, Korean Air 007 shoot down, etc.) was everywhere. Then Mikhail Gorbachev came alone with glasnost ("openness") and things started to change was something special. The fall of the Berlin Wall was something that was a shock - an amazing shock - to almost everyone. Hopefully, we'll be able to sing Wind of Change once again - soon.
People our age that followed rock knew they were reusing an "old" song when the Berlin wall came down. But who really cared? It was such a surprise and could there have been a better song written with that kind of notice anyway? No, it was perfect as is!
Oh Elizabeth, please, please, _please_ analyze *Nina Hagen's "Naturträne",* the live version from 1979 here on RUclips (from Rockpalast). Barely anyone here will remember, which is why this won't get many upvotes and go unnoticed. Nonetheless, Nina Hagen was and is world famous for her singing and persona, stage antics and mimics. Huge vocal range from classical opera, to gritty rock sound, to nice and warm and childish, and making sounds and noises... You will not be disappointed - in fact, I think you will love her! A very free and open spirit, a true artist at heart! Btw, Nina Hagen is from East Germany and escaped to the West as soon as she could, so this fits the theme of "Wind of Change" very well :)
Ja, Nina Hagen ist 1976 oder 1977 aus der DDR ausgebürgert worden nachdem sie sich für den zuvor ausgebürgerten Wolf Biermann eingesetzt hatte! Anständige Frau mit Rückgrat!!!! 👍👍👍Yes, Nina Hagen was expatriated from the GDR in 1976 or 1977 after campaigning for Wolf Biermann, who had previously been expatriated! Decent woman with a backbone !!!!
@@needfortweed8734 I'm wondering if we would be better to suggest something a little more likely to 'ease' Elizabeth into Nina Hagen? I'm thinking more like 'Zarah' - live from around '88 - or perhaps even the 'Official Music Video'?!
Absolutely love your videos. It’s always great to see people discovering older music for the first time. You are adorable and clearly a beautiful person both inside and out.
Wind of Change is a perfect song to put in a time capsule. This song is a "snapshot of a moment." A very powerful moment, when we, as a species, began to pull our heads out of our bunkers. And dared to imagine that our futures may contain something, besides universal annihilation.
too sad that this was the short version of the song. you should watch the original music video as well. first of all the used pictures add a lot to the song and second it includes an additional verse/bridge and a guitar solo (probably more important than the pictures) The wind of change Blows straight into the face of time Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell For peace of mind Let your balalaika sing What my guitar wants to say this verse going into the guitar solo is basically my favorite part of the song (not saying the rest of the song isnt great as well but i am a sucker for a nice guitar solo)
If this was in '91, keep in mind that the Berlin Wall came down came down in '89 while the breakup of the Soviet Union was in '91. A very freeing and hopeful time.
I was wondering if anyone else thought it was not a live performance. The double Klaus vocals were suspicious. I think the other song she reacted to was also a studio recording. It faded out at the end. I'm a huge Scorpions fan, and have seen them in concert since the Love at First Sting tour. I know they have actual convert footage...
That's true, but I have seen the scorpions in concert along with many many other bands over the years and they, out of ALL of them, sound so good live, just like a CD or something, other bands are not nearly as good live as their studio stuff but the scorpions are...
Like other Cold War vets who have probably commented, this song evokes a lot of emotions. The whistle and lyrics about the soldiers in the park evoke when we were on patrol throughout the world, whether at sea or on land. The range of emotions of when the wall came down and how this song captures those emotions is something that comes back every time I hear it. This song along with a whole host of other late-80s songs are the Cold War veteran's soundtrack.
I was a recent Marine vet and we all knew before this could be where the Cold War goes hot for most of the 1980s, and to see it end peacefully was hugely emotional. We grew up with Nenas 99 Luftballoons and knowing nuclear war could be 45 minutes away.
One of the proudest moments of my life was standing where the wall once was. I have a picture of me with a piece of the wall. Hearing this song brings back so many memories. I got to see them play in Germany, live adds a whole another layer to each song.
I would consider his voice one of those with that haunting quality. That haunting sound you can't quite put your finger on but just seems to resonate as something almost spiritual.
I was around 21 at the time of the fall of the berlin wall, and for us, his voice sounded tired, like we were all at the end of a long hard road. I had always grown up with the acceptance that one day my generation would be at war with the Soviets and that it would all likely end in a nuclear holocaust. We had air-raid drills in grade school and classes on how to seal your basement against nuclear fallout. The town I grew up in was next to an air force base and had an air raid siren that they tested EVERY day at noon. It was an enormous pressure and tension to live under for so many years. So when the Warsaw pact started falling apart, and the wall came down, it was a MONUMENTAL sigh of relief. His voice sounded like we had all just finished a long, exhausting journey. Watching this really takes me back to that moment, and how big it was for my generation, and how important this song was at the time, and still is for many of us.
Klause Meine is such a great vocal presence. His voice has aged extremely well, still sounds incredible today. He just has such a silky smooth tone, it's perfect.
I'm kinda ashamed to admit as an European that I haven't known about the songs meaning for a lot of Europe. Reading the comments it's also interesting to note how different the experiences regarding the same events and time can be. I live in Finland (and I wasn't born back then) and when we think about the beginning of the 90's we don't think of hope or joy, we think of poverty and fear. The fall of communism and the Soviet was one of the factors that lead to the worst depression we've had. So even though I am familiar with what went on in Europe, I haven't really understood the feelings associated until now, when I read these comments.
My cousin in Germany sent me a piece of the Berlin Wall. It has gone to school for Show and Tell through my children and grandchildren. All these years later and still can’t get through this song without getting emotional. A beautiful well crafted tribute to history.
While the Uli Jon Roth era of the Scorpions will always be my favorite, you can't help but to love these later power ballads. Looking forward to watching the reaction tomorrow!
Dear Elizabeth, I am so happy that you have chosen this song for the New-Year theme. It has always been an inspiration for us in Europe, after 60 Years of "Iron Curtain" and "Cold War", that if the fall of a dictatorial country like the USSR was possible, then everything could be done! It would only take honest and strong personalities such as the Great Ronald Reagan and the excellent Mihail Gorbatschow to tear walls down, and not build them. The US have been pioneers in tearing such walls down, not only physically but also in the minds of people, which is even more important. This lesson should be taught to ALL, so that it remains in the minds of Nations for all to come, to learn of, in the same spirit as President Abraham Lincoln wrote his short but very Impacting Gettysburg Address. Our European Nations, now more than ever, need a leading Nation to look up to, an EXAMPLE to live by. We ALL need the United States of America as they one were, a Great Nation under God, with Liberty and Freedom for All leader of DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM! But Who am I? Just a desperate soul crying in the desert (Vox Clamans in deserto, as our Latin forefathers would say!), without hope to ever be heard. But, since wonders do not only happen on Christmas, perhaps there still is hope ... Wishing all people on this small turf of land cal EARTH, a Happy New-Year, Health and joy in the shelter of our Lord's love! Didier from Belgium
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Love It!
I be never been the one to study lyrics and I suspect this his got political overtones. I first got into this band when I heard this track and then bought a cd of there rock ballads . I think they are the masters of rock ballads but I like their live albums , some a bit too heavy for me but some tracks like living for tomorrow and rock like a hurricane are brilliant.
I'm not very good with technology so I don't know how to order a t-shirt because I'm 65 and live in a care home. Keep on Rockin🤩😁❤️😚😃
You gotta react to the singer of At Vance winner takes it all, eye of the tiger , logic song or shout. Super powerful voice
Please please review, Your the voice, john Farnham. Us Aussies believe its “our” anthem.
Please react X Japan Band
November 9th, 1989, I came home from work to my father, a ww2 vet, calling me. He said "turn on the TV, now!, the wall is coming down!" I could tell he was crying. I will never forget that
It was something else. I was living in Berlin at the time, about 300 meters from the Brandenburg Gate. I was born and raised in Wyoming, but most of my family lived in East Germany - my mother was the only one who got out, mere weeks before the wall went up. She was also one of the last to come into the US through Ellis Island, which closed about 6 weeks after she came through.
@thomas ❤
I remember exactly where I was at that moment. My brother and me went up the Heidelberg castle and simply celebrated with everyone else who was there. Some alcohol might have been consumed (😉) and life was fantastic. Everyone in both the East and West were on the same page.
We children of the 80's, we FEEL this song. Makes me sad to think how little further we have come since this brief moment of hope.
Agreed
Absolutely 🥺
100%
It was a magical night.
It actually feels like we took a lot of steps back.
As a person born in the USSR, this song really did signify so much for all of us. Now, looking at what is going in the world, makes me think all that was for nothing. Instead of getting closer, we are drifting farther apart…
Regardless of the actions of the few in power, we are still brothers. 🇷🇴🇦🇺
in order to fully appreciate the LIGHT of UNITY and brotherhood....we must 1st feel what it's like to be in the DARKNESS of separation and division...we live in a World of Duality....when people finally wise up and realize we are all part of one life/ one consciousness/one family...there will be peace
Trust that the pendulum will swing back eventually
we are closing in with each other these days. like the brothers we were always supposed to be.
A lot of things have begun to move in europe
we move again, in the wind of change
Oh well, because the same very specific people who created bolshevism are now running the US and EU. Doing the same thing over and over again. We were tricked a little bit at least. We got rid of (some of) the darkness but naively embraced the West like an angel of light. If only we had known it was the father of lies in disguise.
I've always loved this song. But 13 years ago I married a Bulgarian girl, who was 12 when the wall came down and 13 when communism fell in her country. This song carries so much more weight with her, than I could ever fathom. She cries tears of joy every time she hears it, regardless of the version. It wasn't just an anthem of German reunification. It was an anthem for an entire generation of kids, teens and young adults who emerged from behind the iron curtain to join the rest of their generation. We in the west have always had the view that we won the cold war, when in fact it was the people living behind the iron curtain who won. And this is their most cherished victory song. I work with 2 German ladies (they didn't know each other before meeting here in Canada 10 years ago) who were in their late teens/early 20s when the wall came down. One grew up in East Germany and the other in West Germany, and they both said they're just like my wife. They can never get to the end of the song without tears. And neither can their husbands.
Wish you all the happiness, from Bulgaria.
I spent the first 14ish year's of my life as an Army Bratt who traveled the world 🌎 living on 🪖 Army bases, on the Uncle Sam travel plan until 1986ish. And I remember being in west Germany and looking at checkpoint Charlie, from 2 blocks away. We couldn't get any closer because of the security risks/issues. I stared at it and the wall for what seemed like hour's. Then in my head I started concocting different ways to defeat this THING that was keeping families 👪 apart 💔! I remember the graphity on part's of the western side, and how part's went almost through buildings, then partly torn down to create a dead zone. Which is exactly what it sounds like... then watching 👀 the unification on live television 📺 was tearfully great...from Wyoming USA 🇺🇸 🤠
@@KlockoFett to deface an artifact like a piece of the Berlin wall. Should be a crime like burning a church or something like that....smh...from Wyoming USA 🇺🇸 🤠 as a side note, whoever set the wall up as a display, should have built a top type thing to keep it in the shade to protect it from the sun 🌞....
@@billallen4793 I agree. They should have made some sort of shelter from the sun and rain. I also agree it should be a crime. I suppose it is vandalism. It should carry "enhancements" based on what is vandalized, like how a speeding ticket carries "enhancements" when in a school zone.
That's so awesome God bless everyone.
Klaus Meine of the Scorpions is hands-down one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time. Such a beautiful tone and vibrato. His ballads are priceless
Amen!
The ballads may be priceless but what about Virgin killers and another piece of meat? 🙃
@@Reddog7937 Absolutely! And China White.
And Dynamite
their ballads were always my favorites
For us (Hungarians) this song means so much. And I think for all the people who lived behind the iron courtain.... (East germans,Czechs,Slovaks,Polish,Romanians,Bulgarians,etc...)
I'm a Cold War Vet that was stationed on the E/W German Border in the mid 80's. This song hit me the first time I heard it when the Wall fell. It's personal.
Crazy though, that David Hasselhoff was the one who was singing at the wall when it came down.
Amen brother.
i spent three years in Germany as a 4th through 6th grader in Fuerth in the mid 70's. Step dad was stationed at W.O. Darby Kaserne. We went to the border several times. Went back to visit in 90. Such a trip to see all the changes.
As a retired vet it is personal to me especially all the research that reveals that the 'Cold War' was a hoax to make the MIC all the money they could happily absorb. Deception is the way.
@@Mr196710 Nice Try CHOATE
This song lacks the C part "and let your balalaika sing what my guitar wants to say" which for me is one of the most striking lines in the song. I still remember when the wall came down and how it felt here in the west of Germany. My dad had this song on cassette tape in the car!
I went back through the video several times searching for that part and the solo after that. Annoying that there is this incomplete version after all, probably a kind of a radio edit version. Elizabeth should really give the longer version a chance as she was really disappointed that this one was so short, it really lacked that climax, and she sensed that despite not knowing.
My fav part of the song! Wished she listened to the full version.
I skipped through a second and third time. Because that part is the best for my taste. Never heard it without.
I felt this version was made shorter on purpose as a promotional video. It’s from the studio recording with fake crowd added.
@@j_freed Yeah, it was. I don't even think the instruments are live in this one.
Elizabeth: "...I'd like this song to be longer."
Well, it actually IS longer. The solo is missing in this version. And it is very much worth listening to! This is the full version of the song: ruclips.net/video/n4RjJKxsamQ/видео.html
When his guitar, wants to sing
I noticed that the extra verse (and guitar solo) was missing as well. I'm really curious what her reaction to those lyrics would have been:
"The wind of change
Blows straight into the face of time
Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say"
I think this is one of those lip synching, air guitar playing, made for TV pretend LIVE performances. It sounds exactly as you said, like the shorter, cut radio version of the song.
lol, she missed the best part! Calls for a remake of the video! :)
Legend
I had the good luck to be stationed in Berlin in 1989 during the time when the Wall came down. This song evokes very strong emotions for many of us who experienced the collapse of the East German regime and joy of the people as friends and relatives from the East poured through the sudden new openings in the Wall. An amazing time and this is an amazing song that captures the mood perfectly. The two songs I always will equate to the Fall of the Wall are this, Wind of Change, and Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" which seemed to be playing everywhere in the city at times. Amazing time in history! Thank you for visiting this song!
That must have been amazing.
I completely agree. I was in the Marines during the Cold War and this felt like our anthem for what we thought would be the end to the tensions. This sone with so many others reflected the mood of the times. Still takes me back to when we found out. After years on ship and being shadowed and buzzed by the Soviets, it felt like we had won the Cold War.
Absolutely brings me back there. I was stationed there as well when the wall fell and this song is definitely the anthem for that historical event and time!
I was in 7th grade in my History class lol nov 1989 when they broke the news to us. We were like "wut"? We're into the Cold War era funnily.
I was in college when the fall of the iron curtain occurred. I visited Berlin and some of the countries of the former Warsaw Pact a year later. This song and Jesus Jones, "Right Here, Right Now" are the 2 songs that bring me back to this wonderful time. Though "Wind of Change" is clearly the better song.
As Gen X, this song hits me so hard in the feels. You had to grow up in the cold war to really comprehend how unbelievably powerful this song was and how much hope there was at the time.
I was born in 76, and seeing the wall fall on tv was a moment till this day I didn’t think I would see let alone Klaus. Every child that was born after the wall fell would no longer live under a surveillance state. This song meant everything to the scorpions.
@@MrDeengels '77 for me, but I remember seeing it on the news and thinking of how many families were being reunited in while the world watched.
Absolutely.
There was the Moscow Music Peace Festival in August of 1989, which is where Klaus literally followed the Moskva. In November, the Wall fell. Then the Scorpions released this tune, and then the USSR split up. It was all so fast. To quote another song- "I saw a decade end where it seemed the world could change in the blink of an eye".
@@darylsonnier658 Absolutely
For those of us that were alive in this era and understand the meaning of this song.. it is very powerful.
“Wind of Change” definitely captures a moment in time. I was stationed in W. Germany during reunification, and hearing this song again puts me right back there. Can’t wait to hear the full reaction.
I'm of the opinion that the CIA had written this and helped it take off. Just a conspiracy theory that I read and certainly sounds plausible enough. It would be one of the less dirty tricks the CIA pulled
@@xxHazzardousxx if the CIA did that I could forgive them. But seems highly unlikely. Seems too smart for them, I don't think they know anything other than assassination and plain, old sabotage... :D
@@xxHazzardousxx There's a podcast called Wind of Change that investigated the theory. It's intriguing and entertaining and I highly recommend it.
The song is kinda even further prophetic - Wind of Change - Fall of the USSR.
Americans do not manipulate us, they are our friends goddammit!
Klaus is one of the most underrated rock vocalist of all time here in the USA IMO. Rock god angel voice.
Klaus Meine and Steve Walsh of Kansas should be considered to be amongst the 10-15 best male rock singers of all time - and yet almost no one ever mentions either of them in those lists. It baffles me
@@tomfabozzi6309 I don't like "competition" in Music or other arts! It's always a question of taste as well and there are SO many extremely gifted and exceptional singers in rock that you can only do a personal ranking (if ever - and I bet you'll have a huge pain to decide who you want to drop out of your top ten!). Anyway Klaus is and always was a perfect and charismatic singer, no doubt. But - I mean Gillan, Dickinson, Halford, Coverdale, Plant, Byron.... and your list is almost full already with just a couple of classic hardrock/metal bands. There were many more in rock (like Freddie Mercury, Steven Tyler or even Peter Gabriel) and dozens others to mention that emerged in the 90's or 2000's....
The entire band is. Most people only know their popular 80’s stuff but their 70’s out put is phenomenal.
@@wesbates1143 You said it right there, with Uli they were magnificent, in the 80´s they played anthems and sold out arenas, which was fantastic. I loved them in the 70´s 😊
The Scorpions were underated during their first years in Germany. I saw them live the first time in 1979 in Cologne. Just becoming popular.
The Scorpions are masters of the power ballad. This track has such a deep message and deserves much more recognition than it gets.
Absolutely
Most underappreciated band ever. A career spanning over 5 decades, almost as long as the Stones. Klaus can sing sweetly or they can blast you and NOT in their native language.........And still not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?????
@nancy ferguson The RRHoF is very US centric. Of course, it's a huge market, but there were quote some questionable inductees the last years. It's not that important.
It gets its due recognition, so you should just relax. :'D
You are not wrong.
This is definitely a shortened version. There’s normally another section and a guitar solo. I recommend searching out the full version if you haven’t heard it.
yes she missed that part.
For me as a german a really important song. My mother has fled the GDR and was separeted from her friends and family for 30 years. This song expresses the emotions I had with the reunification. Thank you for doing this reaction. I know it will be great.
Another piece of music was more important to me: Beethoven's setting of Friedrich Schiller's "An die Freude" in his 9th symphony ... In a TV documentary, it was used to highlight the opening of the border between Hungary and Austria ... very moving, very impressive!
Неправильно GRD. Что это такое? DDR.
Понял! Это у Вас вместо немецкого так заставляют называть Родину.
@@alexanderstroganov8989 German Democratic Republic = GDR. DDR ist only the german version. GDR is international
@@christianbrecht4680 "Only the German version" is a bit strange when a German state is concerned.
I was in the US Navy when the wall came down. I cannot overstate the effect it had on me. All of a sudden, we could go to bed not wondering if the world would be there in the morning. A few years later I was in Europe, everyone was just filled with so much hope for the future, a weight had been lifted and everything was possible. It was amazing. This song brings me right to that moment, where the world was OK for a minute, and we were all one people, filled with the hope of Freedom.
It's weird that some people were german soldiers back then, absolutely certain that they wouldn't survive a war and still say the 80s were a better time than the 2010s.
Klaus is/was a great friend of both Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillan. One of those voices that keeps on giving. To capture the mood of Europe in the space of a few minutes was an incredible feat.
I cried when I listened to your reaction to that particular song.
I was 25 when Scorpions performed this song. I am from Poland, my country became free after the collapse of the USSR and communism. Now, when I remember those times when you reminded me of them, I cried like a kid, so many years have passed and there are still emotions of those times in me. It is a pity that you did not choose a video clip that shows documentary photos of that time. And everywhere during this period of time it was "interesting". Best regards and thank you ... also for the emotions
Sorry for the English language ... I learn it all the time and I am from a generation that was forced to learn Russian, I apologize again
You're doing fine. We understand❤
Watching her fall in love with this band makes me teary eyed. I love watching the thrill. Thank you for this!
As a guy who grew up in the 80's every day the radio brought new gold to our ears. I feel so lucky to have lived through that time!
I felt the same way born in the '60s grew up in the 70s 80s and when the song came out it was such an inspiration
We were spoiled, for me everything about 1989 on has been absolute crap.
They left out the Solo for Some reason, there is actually around a minute of the song that you didn't hear, with one of the best and most emotional guitar solos I have ever heard, so I suggest listening to the Non Live version as well
This version isn’t live like most Pop TV shows :-( - at least here in Germany. It’s a shame for great bands like the Scorpions, that clearly don’t need it, but a forced by the TV station
@@BruderTux I was going to say the same thing. This isn't live. Klause is singing his own back-ups and adlibs.
I still love the Scorps!
Not only the guitar solo gut also the beautiful bridge is missing:
"The wind of change blows straight into the face of time
Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell for peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing what my guitar wants to say." => guitar solo taking
This bridge plus guitar solo is THE goosebumps moment of the entire song.
The song is just incomplete without. This must have been a radio mix here...
@@BruderTux There are two sides to it. Also the band has to accept to only lip sync and to pretend they are playing live to a tape recording... Probably the most legendary case, where a TV station invited a band and had to regret to have asked them to not play live, was Iron Maiden on a German live TV show back in 1986: The band appeared on stage but they made a lot of fun out of pretending playing live - so it was too clear to everyone that this was NOT played live. Very funny - but not for the TV station 😂: ruclips.net/video/lQnv7-roVbQ/видео.html (EDIT: have found a higher quality recording)
Yes, TV performance-they record a shorter version often for things like that.
Klaus Meine's voice is just unbelievable, saw them live a few years ago and he sounded fantastic through the whole show. Just a beautiful voice.
One of the few beautiful and melodic voices in heavy metal. I'm 51 and Scorpions hit hard in my teens and their hold on me is indelible.
Right!?! My father told me growing up that they were the best band to see live when it came to their sound compared to the album. As good quality, if not better.
Made sure i took him and my bro to see them when they toured for Humanity
I think younger folks have a hard time appreciating how deeply the meaning here runs. Those of us raised during the Cold War witnessed a pivotal moment in history when Eastern Europeans, long trapped underneath the weight of these nightmare political systems, began to feel hopeful for the future for the first time in 60 years. I can imagine Klaus walking through late Soviet era Moscow sensing the changes and the hope in the people around him and being inspired to write this.
Growing up as a Cold War kid, the 90's were such a hopeful time. As I've gotten older I feel like that hope has evaporated. This song was definitely a sign post pointing toward a post-Cold War world and the possibilities it held.
9/11 was probably the threshold that forced us all into a nosedive. its sad because I remember the 90's as a very young child and i remember it being a very happy time. everyone seemed almost content with life and where it was going. but of course we as humans can never let a good thing go on for too long. I'm disappointed in what we as humans are doing to each other everywhere. we live in the information age where we have anything we want to know at our fingertips, yet we are too stupid to learn from our past. I think some see it as a game, while many of us know exactly where we are headed if we maintain the status quo and there is legitimately no reason for us to go there. there's no reason to take this walk through hell. I sincerely wish for a time where the overwhelming sentiment is hope. the world needs that now.
And my my how the world has changed
I really feel you. Did "we" blow it? 30 years on it's hard for me to let myself off the hook. The whole world opened up for us all, east and west, but it proved all too easy to retreat to decades-old adversarial positions.
We have to share this song with our kids and beg them to do what we could not.
@@fireball676I'm so sad about the returning of the fascism all over the world. (he never has gone)
Greetings from Munich‼️😘
The falling of what is, is was for the future, and a free from was and what is!!!
His voice in “ No One Like You” is incredible as well. I feel Klaus is often underrated -his tone/clarity I feel because English isn’t his first language benefits.
Please give it a listen-
Also Klaus has maintained such a consistent quality for over 50yrs now.
You definitely need to hear the full album version. The song IS in fact longer, with additional lyrics.
For me as a German who has spent his childhood in the GDR and was personally involved in the events even if not as much as some others of course this song is so very special. I always get shivers and goosebumps when i hear this song thinking of the iconic pictures and scenes from the 9th November 1989 and the 3rd October 1990 and how my personal life has changed so drastically moving from Chemnitz in Saxony to Cologne in August 1990 and how this has shaped my current situation. This song will be dear to my heart til my last breath. I really love how you get a hunch of that just by listening to this song and you can see that it has a very special power.
The Scorpions are true master's of rock ballads. I saw them live in the early 90's and they were outstanding. A precious memory I'll always cherish.
The song is an anthem for the fall of the Berlin wall and the fall of USSR and you can feel it in the lyrics and the muisic in general, it is full of hope. When i was a child i have listened to this song again and again hundreds of times and the zeitgeist, you could feel it everywhere and was really optimistic. The beginning of the nineties was such a great time! And this is from a person living to the east of the iron curtain!
When I was 19 I was in Moscow in the winter of 1991/92 on a student exchange from half way around the world and it's hard to explain just how much this song expresses both the hope and the trepidation of an entire generation facing a moment of immense historic change sweeping Russia and Easter Europe. I can't think of another song in my lifetime that is so wrapped up, defined by and defining of the personal , the hope and the nostalgia that so many were feeling at that moment in time. Every time I hear it feels like I'm there again.
I was serving in the Army when "The Wall" came down and the song soon released after. So much promise of hope for a unified world... look at us now, really heartbreaking at where we could have gone and where we ended up.
Thanks for your service. I myself was stationed in Baumholder Germany on November 9th, 1989. The day the wall fell
I was a reservist when that abomination came down. This song has always brought me to tears of joy, remembering that moment when the awful poison of communism was (we thought) ended forever..... but now it saddens me to know we were wrong. It's back, and it's on the march through the free world. So now this song just makes me depressed.
Yeah, makes me happy and sad and regretful all at once.
I was in ROTC in the States at the time, but had gone in expecting to spend time in Europe. I'd been learning about NBC gear and how to don and doff it around the time when the Wall came down. Now, I have a friend who lives in Germany, who turned 5 on the day it happened, and he's given me a healthy respect for how a western German, even as a child, was so moved by the changes of the time. I had entered 1989 expecting that the threats of the Cold War were just going to be a fact of my adult life, at least for a significant portion of it. In the decade that followed, particularly after the Dayton Accords ended the Balkans Wars, it really did feel like we'd risen to the moment and removed the threats and could move forwards as a united human race. But it wasn't long after that those hopes and illusions were shattered, most starkly on 9/11/2001. Listening to this song always makes me emotional because it takes me back to that moment, as an idealistic 18 year old, when I thought that maybe we'd all gotten it right, finally.
@@BC-ui9yt It ain't communism who want's to build wall nowadays though...
I was 21, sitting at the tv when people from east and west berlin climbed the wall, something they would have been shot for weeks ago. I saw the german foreign minister stand on the balcony of the german embassy in Prague, speaking to thousands of refugees from the GDR, telling them they would be allowed to go to west germany. All of west germany was watching this, listening to "wind of change" on continuous loop.
Just one of those songs that tears at the heart strings right off the bat. All the suffering, all the death, all the loss impassioned in but a whistle. God bless.
The Scorpions are such a great band. They are acompanying my musical journey for 4 decades now. So many brilliant songs, concerts, moments. A proper rock n roll band if ever there is/was any.
The whistling at the beginning always gives me goosebumps.
Me too, as does the answer-vocal behind Klaus, in the background ("take me e e"). Not sure who it is, either Matthias or Rudolf, i'd imagine.
I was a kid when the wall came down and this song is forever in my heart the sound of our reunification. This bringts tears to my eyes even now. What a great moment in time!
This song is an anthem of my generation here in Poland...... I'm all in tears......Thank you, Elizabeth.
Because it started in Poland in June 1989
This is a great, albeit truncated version of the studio recording, missing the whole incredible bridge section. Check out the studio version for the full experience. Let your balalaikas sing!
This is overdubbed
@@RoverWaters this is lip synced.
@@bluecheetah67 yes
Yeah, the bridge is awesome, and leading into the great guitar solo. One should listen to a live version.
Like your excitedness while listening and reacting to both music and lyrics! I bet they would get a kick watching this as well 👍
I was in the Army at Fort Gordon GA. When this song came out. Everything we studied for was the Soviet Union, Changed immediately. To live that moment, was indescribable. Felt like God wanted peace. This song was perfect for the moment.
Thanks for your service. I was stationed at Baumholder when the wall fell. November 9th, 1989. It was 20 days before my 20th birthday
I grew up listening to this song. The radio/studio version closes with the whistling, which brings it back together, much like how a wind may start off slow, gust, then die down again. I am not sure why this was cut out in the live version. It may be that it was actually in the concert and the editor just cut it. You will definitely need to check out the studio version to get the complete song.
I'm going to guess it was cut on a commercial break
This song still makes me hope that one day we can have the peace that he's singing about.
I never get tired of hearing this song, it brings hope for change in a broken world.
I can't help but shed a tear every time I listen to the song. I mostly grew up in a reunited Germany but still feel like I experienced the reunification myself (I was only 3 when it happened). It's like it became part of our dna and it's such a powerful feeling.
0:34 . the eye flutter
She feels the magic and energy ❤
What a hopeful time this was in world history, and this song captures it perfectly. It pains me greatly that the world is on its way to dark times again. Listening to this makes me tear up, remembering better days. Thanks for your always thoughtful and insightful analysis!
WIND OF CHANGE thematizes the end of the Cold War and is so far the only No. 1 chart success of the Scorpions in Germany, although they are the most successful German band internationally.
With the turning hymn, the Scorpions created the world's most successful song from Germany to date.
The song was written on a night stroll through Moscow in 1989 during the Scorpions tour. The Soviet head of government Mikhail Gorbachev, architect of glasnost and perestroika, even received the Scorpions in 1991 in the Kremlin.
On November 6, 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and just under a month before the two parts of Germany were reunified, the Scorpions released their 11th album 'Crazy World' with the song Wind of Change, among other things.
The wall fell down in nov 1989 you're correct. I was in my history class when they broke the news to us. We were into the Cold War era funnily.
Why is that? Here in philippines since my childhood their songs especially ballads have been mainstays in radios and kara / videokes and boys love to learn them play on guitars
@@gray6071 They didn't release much of their catalog in common German, and in the 80s & 90s English language skills weren't as established in the general population. That likely affected their reach in their home country.
@@DrewNorthup tnx for info we filipinos benefited from them musically btw your english is very good happy new year
Honestly you can listen to 100 great songs and singers from the 80s. Probably the best showcase of vocals ever.
This song is actually longer, they cut it short on this video for some reason. I heard on one interview that he practiced for a long time learning to whistle and that he actually was the one whistling in the song. Early on Klaus learned English so he could hopefully get a bigger audience and following in America. I think it worked really well for him.
Klaus credits drummer Hermann Rarebell for improving the band's English. Rarebell worked in the UK before joining the band - he was really the only one who could speak the language in which they wrote their songs. You can tell if you read the lyrics from their earlier songs before Hermann joined.
Eventually they all learned English... except Rudolf. His English is still terrible.
I'm looking forward to the new record. With Mickey Dee in the band - and Klaus's voice losing some of its precision and subtlety - it sounds like they might go heavier.
As a German, I get goosebumps every time hearing this song. I was 24 when the fall of the wall happend.
This is my favorite song by The Scorpions. Gives me goosebumps every time.
On a historical note, I was there when the Berlin Wall fell, living in a 15th story apartment about 300 meters from the Brandenburg Gate, so this song also has a deep personal meaning for me.
I think, when they wrote it, the chorus:
"Follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change"
they did not only anticipate the German unification in specific but it was also about the perception of the change in the Sowijet Union as a whole. This was the time of Glasnost und Perestroika under Michael Gorbatchow and everyone who payed attention to what was happening in the easter block and in Moskau specificly, could percieve that a big change was happening, that an ara came to an end and that the world was on the brink of a new age.
the change never came, the ccp and Marxist have planted a seed long ago that has been sprouting for a long time. the future is not bright and freedom is drifting away from the world.
@@kdbutter23 But at least hope was given to us, also in this song. Stand strong.
it did change maybe not in the degree most wanted it too but the change was in a positive direction
This is an excellent song to close 2021.Hopefully these winds of change will reach everyone who needs them and we'll have a better new year!
As someone who is from Germany I couldn't believe you had never heard this song, since it's so iconic here. It's played a lot on the radio, even to this day and every single person I know knows the lyrics by heart, no matter how old or young they are. The Scorpions started their career way before I was born, so I grew up with their music. I commented this already on your first analysis of them, but I think you would LOVE "Moment of Glory", the album they made in 2000 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. It's amazing, one of my biggest musical influences of my early childhood and one of my all time favourite albums to this day. 🖤
I'd love to see you react to the song "Hurricane 2000", the version from the "Moment of Glory" album. One banger of a Symphonic Rock song! 🤘🙌
I'm from Munich an never listened to this song (but I knew the title)...
@@hendrixxxm637 Once again proof that Bavaria doesn't really belong to Germany
@@thorzyllathat's true 😅
I repeat myself... but "Send me an Angel" is the better and much more beautiful song!
Agreed. It's my favourite of all their ballads (and that's saying something, given the fantastic ballads this band has created in general) and deserves more recognition.
But not more inspirational, and not more relevant in the week where we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union
They're both amazing. I don't think I can pick a favorite between the two.
This is nowhere near being one of their best songs.
There best song hands down!
This song is SO Elizabeth! While I greatly enjoy her trips to the dark side there is something special about watching her gush over something beautiful and positive. Hope everyone has a great new year and remember: the pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist believes it will change. The realist adjusts his sails. The smart realist takes a car.
I remember the wall coming down. People meeting each other who had been separated for decades. I always tear up.
The real magic of this song is that even those who didn't live through this are able to understand just how important this was to those that were affected. I was young at the time of the reunification, so the full weight of the song didn't hit me until I was a bit older and learned the history. That said this has always been my favorite Scorpions song, it has always hit me different and the hopeful tone always almost brings me to tears.
I was ten or eleven years old when this song came out. Despite not knowing *what* the words meant, I knew intuitively that it must be about something important!
I remember watching the Berlin Wall come down, in tears, it was just surreal. Now I cry to this song remembering that moment
Same. Hello, fellow Gen Xer! 👋
Michail Gorbatschow met with The Scorpions in the Kremlin in 1991 because of this song. Imagine what would happen to a band today in Russia if they sang a song like this 😞
Nobody sounds better live than the Scorpions. I've been to over 100 concerts since '84.
damn i got you beat and my first show was 98. over 500 shows
@@travisprugh6347 You win. It wasn't the point, but that's a lot.
This song is really meaningful for me and my wife since she is from Russia and I am German. I don't think it would've been that easy for us to meet 30+ years ago. Thank you for your insights into the vocals!
Yes the Moskva is the river floating through Moscow and Gorki Park is probably the most popular park in the city. In winter they cover it with ice and is the coolest ice skating rig ever!
After seeing your two videos on the scorpions and growing up in that era I want to thank you for helping me realize that Klaus Meine is probably one of the best rock ‘n’ roll singers of all time
You are absolutely correct Elizabeth. I can’t stop myself from whistling when I hear this song.
I feel the same way when I hear Dust in the Wind by Kansas, I can’t stop myself from singing along.
Love that one, too. Dust in the Wind was the first song I learned on guitar.
The other song that makes me whistle is “Patience “ by Guns and Roses
Scorpions even did a cover of Dust in the wind lol
This song relays the pain the everyday world exacts upon all of us and through all of it, it yet instills a spirit of hope for the future that things can still get better.
Being a teen in the 80s and living during the Cold War years and then watching that wall come down and seeing the video for this songs just hits hard every time I hear it to this day. Absolutely beautiful song and unfortunately the words and meaning for this song still are relevant today and that’s unfortunate. Those of us that lived during this time truly thought the world would be a much better place by now.
Appropriate song title going into a new year. Happy New Year Elizabeth and Kirk. Big wind of change coming for you in May. Congratulations to you both.
You should do the song “Holiday” such a great vocal and harmony performance from way back.
Holiday - Live at Karaiskaki (Athens, 2005) Great performance
The Acoustica version is amazing too
Lovedrive is a great album
Holiday is such an uplifting song.. very simple lyrics, but you never tire of hearing it.
One of their greats! The longer version is very good. It shows Klaus' vocal skills, that aren't used in their more driving songs. And the solo guitar at the end seems to speak.
Yes, this song IS the inofficial anthem of the German reunification, and as a person from Eastern Germany, I've always had strong feelings about it. It's beautiful and will never fail to give me goosebumps - and that despite the fact that I'm too young to actually have real first-hand memories of the GDR. But I know from my family. And I feel it has lost nothing of its meaning - in fact, the lyrics feel so relevant today. Shame that the bridge is missing...And yes, Klaus has an amazing and very unique voice! BTW, this going to the second vowel of the diphthong might actually be a German thing in this case: German focuses on the second part of a diphthong while English tends to focus on the first part.
....and the fall of the Soviet Union of course. All looked very bright for the future at that time. Look where we have come today. And the West has it's fair share of destroying the future for so many people, it is not just the Russians recently...
Fun fact. Rudolf Schenker was a big influence and inspiration in James Hetfields life (lead singer Metallica) when he was learning to play guitar. Its where he got his downpicking style from.
Klaus Meine + Tobías Sammet = dying for an angel. Spectacular song
This is the ONLY channel I tolerate ads to watch the whole thing. Have an Awesome Day! 👍
As a band from Germany, they know what it was like being in the crosshairs of the Cold War. It isn't just that Russia was becoming a free nation, it was getting the huge threat of instant annihilation off the German people. They had a whole different perspective than most countries did during the Cold War. They lived it on a daily basis.
Not to mention, RE-UNIFICATION of the two sides of Germany; family who had not seen each other in THIRTY YEARS were brought back together. The humanity of the situation is the REALLY important part. :)
@@jamescurfman3284 Exactly.
This is such a great tune about an epic moment in European history.
Always brings a tear to my eye. Just such a beautiful song.
I was at the Scorpions show On July 3rd 1991 in Spokane WA at the Race park, on the drag strip. They did Wind of Change and the karma in the air with everyone signing together was incredible.
Great analysis! Please keep them coming!
Being born in 68, growing up in the last 70's and early 80's the threat of nuclear war (Able Archer 83, Korean Air 007 shoot down, etc.) was everywhere. Then Mikhail Gorbachev came alone with glasnost ("openness") and things started to change was something special. The fall of the Berlin Wall was something that was a shock - an amazing shock - to almost everyone. Hopefully, we'll be able to sing Wind of Change once again - soon.
People our age that followed rock knew they were reusing an "old" song when the Berlin wall came down. But who really cared? It was such a surprise and could there have been a better song written with that kind of notice anyway? No, it was perfect as is!
The fall of the Berlin Wall and the Fall of the CCCP together is the magic moment.
Oh Elizabeth, please, please, _please_ analyze *Nina Hagen's "Naturträne",* the live version from 1979 here on RUclips (from Rockpalast). Barely anyone here will remember, which is why this won't get many upvotes and go unnoticed. Nonetheless, Nina Hagen was and is world famous for her singing and persona, stage antics and mimics. Huge vocal range from classical opera, to gritty rock sound, to nice and warm and childish, and making sounds and noises... You will not be disappointed - in fact, I think you will love her! A very free and open spirit, a true artist at heart!
Btw, Nina Hagen is from East Germany and escaped to the West as soon as she could, so this fits the theme of "Wind of Change" very well :)
Ja, Nina Hagen ist 1976 oder 1977 aus der DDR ausgebürgert worden nachdem sie sich für den zuvor ausgebürgerten Wolf Biermann eingesetzt hatte! Anständige Frau mit Rückgrat!!!! 👍👍👍Yes, Nina Hagen was expatriated from the GDR in 1976 or 1977 after campaigning for Wolf Biermann, who had previously been expatriated! Decent woman with a backbone !!!!
I'll up-vote Nina Hagen all night long! xD
Great suggestion! 👍👍 Though, I guess, it's 1978. 🙂
Oh that would be excellent!
@@needfortweed8734 I'm wondering if we would be better to suggest something a little more likely to 'ease' Elizabeth into Nina Hagen?
I'm thinking more like 'Zarah' - live from around '88 - or perhaps even the 'Official Music Video'?!
Absolutely love your videos. It’s always great to see people discovering older music for the first time. You are adorable and clearly a beautiful person both inside and out.
Wind of Change is a perfect song to put in a time capsule.
This song is a "snapshot of a moment."
A very powerful moment, when we, as a species, began to pull our heads out of our bunkers. And dared to imagine that our futures may contain something, besides universal annihilation.
too sad that this was the short version of the song. you should watch the original music video as well. first of all the used pictures add a lot to the song and second it includes an additional verse/bridge and a guitar solo (probably more important than the pictures)
The wind of change
Blows straight into the face of time
Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say
this verse going into the guitar solo is basically my favorite part of the song (not saying the rest of the song isnt great as well but i am a sucker for a nice guitar solo)
Thanks for saying this for me. Plus the great solo!
@@Hildepedia yeah i remembered the solo as well and edited my comment already ;) almost forgot about the solo ^^
Exactly. Almost half of the song is missing in this version!
As a HUGE metal fan, I will always appreciate Klaus and the Scorpions!! Unbelievable band!!🔥🔥
If this was in '91, keep in mind that the Berlin Wall came down came down in '89 while the breakup of the Soviet Union was in '91. A very freeing and hopeful time.
This is a studio recording with a live crowd dubbed over…but nevertheless a beautiful song
❤️❤️SCORPIONS❤️❤️
Yeah, the background vocals are just overdubs of Klaus.
But the bridge is missing.
I was wondering if anyone else thought it was not a live performance. The double Klaus vocals were suspicious. I think the other song she reacted to was also a studio recording. It faded out at the end. I'm a huge Scorpions fan, and have seen them in concert since the Love at First Sting tour. I know they have actual convert footage...
That's true, but I have seen the scorpions in concert along with many many other bands over the years and they, out of ALL of them, sound so good live, just like a CD or something, other bands are not nearly as good live as their studio stuff but the scorpions are...
I believe it was also the 'radio edit' which was shortened for radio play (still a thing at the time I believe).
Like other Cold War vets who have probably commented, this song evokes a lot of emotions. The whistle and lyrics about the soldiers in the park evoke when we were on patrol throughout the world, whether at sea or on land. The range of emotions of when the wall came down and how this song captures those emotions is something that comes back every time I hear it. This song along with a whole host of other late-80s songs are the Cold War veteran's soundtrack.
I was a recent Marine vet and we all knew before this could be where the Cold War goes hot for most of the 1980s, and to see it end peacefully was hugely emotional. We grew up with Nenas 99 Luftballoons and knowing nuclear war could be 45 minutes away.
@@epistte Semper Fi Jarhead. I'm a retired Marine. 44 years ago as of yesterday stood on the yellow footprints.
One of the proudest moments of my life was standing where the wall once was. I have a picture of me with a piece of the wall. Hearing this song brings back so many memories.
I got to see them play in Germany, live adds a whole another layer to each song.
Very great version! Thank you from Germany 🇩🇪✌😘
I would consider his voice one of those with that haunting quality.
That haunting sound you can't quite put your finger on but just seems to resonate as something almost spiritual.
I was around 21 at the time of the fall of the berlin wall, and for us, his voice sounded tired, like we were all at the end of a long hard road. I had always grown up with the acceptance that one day my generation would be at war with the Soviets and that it would all likely end in a nuclear holocaust. We had air-raid drills in grade school and classes on how to seal your basement against nuclear fallout. The town I grew up in was next to an air force base and had an air raid siren that they tested EVERY day at noon. It was an enormous pressure and tension to live under for so many years. So when the Warsaw pact started falling apart, and the wall came down, it was a MONUMENTAL sigh of relief. His voice sounded like we had all just finished a long, exhausting journey.
Watching this really takes me back to that moment, and how big it was for my generation, and how important this song was at the time, and still is for many of us.
Klause Meine is such a great vocal presence. His voice has aged extremely well, still sounds incredible today. He just has such a silky smooth tone, it's perfect.
I'm kinda ashamed to admit as an European that I haven't known about the songs meaning for a lot of Europe. Reading the comments it's also interesting to note how different the experiences regarding the same events and time can be. I live in Finland (and I wasn't born back then) and when we think about the beginning of the 90's we don't think of hope or joy, we think of poverty and fear. The fall of communism and the Soviet was one of the factors that lead to the worst depression we've had. So even though I am familiar with what went on in Europe, I haven't really understood the feelings associated until now, when I read these comments.
My cousin in Germany sent me a piece of the Berlin Wall. It has gone to school for Show and Tell through my children and grandchildren. All these years later and still can’t get through this song without getting emotional. A beautiful well crafted tribute to history.
While the Uli Jon Roth era of the Scorpions will always be my favorite, you can't help but to love these later power ballads. Looking forward to watching the reaction tomorrow!
DARK NIGHT
THERE IS NO LIGHT
Dear Elizabeth,
I am so happy that you have chosen this song for the New-Year theme. It has always been an inspiration for us in Europe, after 60 Years of "Iron Curtain" and "Cold War", that if the fall of a dictatorial country like the USSR was possible, then everything could be done! It would only take honest and strong personalities such as the Great Ronald Reagan and the excellent Mihail Gorbatschow to tear walls down, and not build them. The US have been pioneers in tearing such walls down, not only physically but also in the minds of people, which is even more important.
This lesson should be taught to ALL, so that it remains in the minds of Nations for all to come, to learn of, in the same spirit as President Abraham Lincoln wrote his short but very Impacting Gettysburg Address. Our European Nations, now more than ever, need a leading Nation to look up to, an EXAMPLE to live by. We ALL need the United States of America as they one were, a Great Nation under God, with Liberty and Freedom for All leader of DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM!
But Who am I? Just a desperate soul crying in the desert (Vox Clamans in deserto, as our Latin forefathers would say!), without hope to ever be heard. But, since wonders do not only happen on Christmas, perhaps there still is hope ...
Wishing all people on this small turf of land cal EARTH, a Happy New-Year, Health and joy in the shelter of our Lord's love!
Didier from Belgium
Thats one best song of the world it have all what good song needs.