Poetry: Of all thoughts, he values ​​the interesting ones the most

As is well known, poetry is derived from lyre, which means that its origin lies in texts that are accompanied by music. So in songs! But how do they read without this acoustic integration? Can this even work? Or are lyrics always subordinate to the music anyway? So is the singing voice just another instrument that makes the music sound more “human”? The anthology “I shit on German texts,” published by Ventil-Verlag, presents selected song lyrics by Frank Spilker. He became known as the singer and guitarist of the band Die Sternen, which, alongside Tocotronic and Blumfeld, was one of the most successful bands of the so-called Hamburg School, whose “discourse rock” in turn had a reputation for having particularly good and important lyrics and statements. So he actually has to know how to write good texts.

And of course he can actually do that: “Weren’t you fat and rosy / Weren’t you happy / Except for the difficulties / Arguing with the other children / With dad and mom.” That’s what it says in “What has ruined you so much?” . And these famous lines actually work even without instrumental accompaniment. They are therefore definitely condensed language. But are they also part of a poem?

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Even with other texts – and there are a hell of a lot of them – you notice immediately (or at least after reading them twice) how good they actually are. The language images used, the choice of words, the hints, the repetitions, the omissions, the reference to spoken language (but without cheaply copying it) – all of these also characterize good poems.

As I said: This collection is called “I shit on German texts”, which is, as we know, the title of one of the best-known Sterne songs, but also a provocative and programmatic statement – and ultimately, above all, a rejection of the patriotism that was rampant at the time and still is. who would like to see the German language as the dominant culture here (as if it wasn’t already that way, through its use in everyday life and as an official language). However, this cannot be understood literally, because all but one of the texts are in this language.

Otherwise they are as good texts can be. So diverse – they cover both political and personal topics. And sometimes both at the same time, because the private is often enough political and affects life in society. “Pop music must not be patronizing or dull pedagogical,” writes Spilker warningly in the outro. »Calls for more participation, politicization and righteous action and thinking must be urgently avoided. All of this content can be conveyed more intelligently using the means of seduction.«

But the anthology does even more, because Spilker provides interesting additional information in the notes to the individual texts, reports on their creation, their temporal context, and places them in the contemporary and band history. He reveals a lot about his musical preferences and role models (which range from country and folk to funk and disco to hip-hop), his intentions, and what is important to him about his lyrics. And even though I generally believe that good works of art should always be self-explanatory, this still increases the reading pleasure.

Some of the lyrics are clever, others are simple. The best are both at the same time. And some are actually finished poems. Or could easily become one with small changes in words and sentences: “All you know is when you wake up / You’ll be begging to dream again.” That’s actually poetry. But is that perhaps simply because of the key term “dream,” which is also used elsewhere? “We had sex in the rubble and dreamed / We thought we were pretty important.”

Spilker’s fundamental thoughts on writing texts are also particularly insightful: Is it allowed to subject the word stress to the rhythm of the music? And what about gender pronouns?

Anyone who wants to get involved in writing songs would be well advised to read this anthology, even if he or she doesn’t appreciate the music of Spilker and the stars.

Frank Spilker: I don’t give a shit about German lyrics. Selected song lyrics. Ventil Verlag, 229 pages, br., 18 €.

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