As I left

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When I Left is a song by the group Carousel that was released in 1987. The composer and singer of the song is Dirk Michaelis , the text is by Gisela Steineckert . The song is considered a classic of GDR rock music .

history

Dirk Michaelis invented the melody of the song as a child. It was first published in 1987 in the GDR by the Amiga record label . It was the ninth and final song on the LP Café Anonymous GDR band carousel and was designed by Luise Mirsch produced . It was not originally intended for the album, especially since the song had no lyrics yet. While listening to the demo tape, the band decided to ask Gisela Steineckert to write a suitable text. When I left it became the most successful song on the album and in 1987 came second in the GDR annual hit parade . It became jealous as a resultof the series Polizeiruf 110 of the German television station on August 28, 1988 used as film music. The director Bernd Böhlich liked the song so much that he commissioned Karussell to compose the main part of the film music.

The subsequently produced carousel album Such wie du was rejected by Amiga and was released in 1989 by Monopol , a German record label. The eighth song is also when I went away . In addition, a single of the title was released in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1989. As a result, the original version of the piece appeared on numerous compilations and was often covered.

description

When I left it lasts four minutes and eleven seconds in the original version. The version on Like You lasts four minutes and eight seconds.

The original song is a sparsely orchestrated rock ballad in E minor , which is played in three-quarter time with syncopation . The original was sung by Dirk Michaelis and accompanied by keyboardist Wolf-Rüdiger Raschke, guitarist Jürgen Hofmeister and bass guitarist Claus Winter. In the foreground of the instrumental accompaniment is an electric piano , which usually plays runs made up of individual notes that are repeated frequently during the song, including the notes of the melody sung at the same time and an ostinat bar at the end of each verse. In addition, an acoustic guitar is also used as a melody instrument, but it remains in the background except for a few accents. A bass guitar also remains in the background . Sometimes the accompanying music is joint-like and thus shows a baroque character. The prelude and postponement each last around a minute and are almost the same. Here, too, the electric piano plays the notes of the melody sung. The singing is expressive but in keeping with the restrained character of the piece.

The text consists of six stanzas with four, four, eight and again four, four and eight lines, some of which are very short. Alternatively, the text is presented in four stanzas, each with four longer lines. It is about a man who, as a first-person narrator, describes the separation from a woman. The woman is reluctant to accept the separation; the man is also unsure and returns. He justifies the need for separation, but also knows about the emotional pain of women.

Versions

The song was performed by the Puhdys , Katrin Sass , Rosenstolz , Tokio Hotel , Staubkind , Adoro , Angelo Kelly , Haris Alexiou , Forseti , Elif Demirezer , Heinz Rudolf Kunze and Hans Hartz as well as in a duet by Dirk Michaelis with Matthias Reim , Jose Carreras , Kyau vs. Albert and Sarah Connor interpreted. Axel Kurth, member of the band WIZO , sang the song in a punk version .

miscellaneous

  • The text composed by Gisela Steineckert was extended and slightly changed for the recording.
  • In the original version, Dirk Michaelis sings the line “When I left a wind came so weak”, but it actually means “a wind so awake” and was sung that way later.
  • Occasionally the song is referred to as a "turning hymn" because its title and the line "Nothing is infinite, just see it" was related to the escape movement from the GDR in the summer and autumn of 1989 and the collapse of the GDR. Michaelis sang the song in three concerts from November 8th to 10th, 1989 in the Palace of the Republic and was celebrated for his song, which was appropriate for the fall of the Berlin Wall .
  • In 2005, the song was voted 15th in the vote for the ZDF broadcast Our Best - Hits of the Century . It was ranked 4th among the pieces from the former GDR.
  • The 2007 book When I went away - The great GDR rock book was named after the song.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Christian Hentschel : You forgot the color film and other Ostrock stories. Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-317-9 , p. 66
  2. ^ Lexicon Polizeiruf110 ( Memento from October 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Christian Hentschel: You forgot the color film and other Ostrock stories. Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-317-9 , p. 68
  4. ↑ Guitar school for adults with examples (PDF file, p. 74; 612 kB), accessed on January 30, 2011
  5. ↑ Discogs : Kyau vs. Albert - When I Went Away , accessed on September 5, 2020
  6. ↑ When I left. gisela-steineckert.de, accessed on October 2, 2019
  7. ↑ Original text and deviation
  8. ↑ Robert Ide : "When I went away": From the separation song to the turning hymn. Der Tagesspiegel from February 5, 2018, accessed on October 3, 2019
  9. ↑ Review of the book , accessed January 29, 2011