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"99 Luftballons" (German: Neunundneunzig Luftballons, "99 balloons") is a song by the West German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons"(German: Neunundneunzig Rote Luftballons), with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also released by Nena on the album 99 Luftballons in 1984 after widespread success of the original in Europe and Japan.
Nena was a West German Neue Deutsche Welle band formed in West Berlin in 1981. In 1983 and 1984, their German-language song "99 Luftballons" (and its English version, "99 Red Balloons") reached number one in the singles charts of countries around the world.
The most widely known cover of this album is identical to the one used for most versions of the single "99 Luftballons" or "99 Red Balloons". [4]The album was also released as Nena or International Album; this version used the same cover, but with "99 Luftballons" removed, and sometimes with additional sticker at upper left that says "International Album incl. Club-Mix - 99 Red Balloons". [5]
"In the Air Tonite" is a reworking of Phil Collins' 1981 single "In the Air Tonight" recorded by American rapper Lil' Kim for the R&B/hip hop Phil Collins tribute album Urban Renewal. The song, promoted as a duet between Collins and Lil' Kim, was released in 2001 as the second single from the album.
The three singles released from the Nena album have enjoyed particular prominence in lead singer Nena's career. Although "99 Luftballons" is by far the most well known globally, the other two ("Nur geträumt" and "Leuchtturm") have for more than 30 years been ever-present features of the live concerts of firstly the band and then Nena in her subsequent solo career.
The first single from the album, "Liebe ist", reached No. 1 on the German charts in early 2005, and was the theme song for a German telenovela, Verliebt in Berlin. [12] It reached the top position 22 years after "99 Luftballons", the longest span between first and last number one in German chart history.
If it were meant to be as others state, the song would have been titled 99 Balloons. There is nothing to say the balloons are red anywhere in the songs title. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.194.89.166 01:05, 23 June 2008 (UTC) Strictly speaking, the song relies on them not being air balloons at all, but helium-filled balloons.
Prompted by the success of 99 Luftballons (1984), which included English-language versions of songs from the band's first two albums, Nena recreated Feuer und Flamme in English as It's All in the Game (1985), with lyrics by Canadian singer Lisa Dalbello. [3] The experiment failed commercially and was not repeated with the band's next album.