Tooting My Own Horn: I'm Published in a Book.....only....it's in German

alex in mainhattan to thread, of course.

Congrats!

What is actually so innovative at Miles Davis, more visionaer at Bob Dylan, original at Patti Smith, Norah Jones or Coldplay? Everywhere the same albums are always and praised. That is boring and often pure taste thing. Sky Nonhoff brushes Pop history enormously against the line. Funny to hardly exceed intelligently and to luzider maliciousness!

today german, tomorrow czech (which is even HARSHER than german)!!

Alexander Smith, *1967, schreibt für das TIME Magazine und den New Yorker. Er lept mit Frau und Tochter in New York.
"Meine erste Platte habe ich 1976 im Music Mart in Westhampton, NY, gekauft: Dressed to Kill von Kiss. Meiner Mutter gefror die Schminke im Gesicht, als ich die LP im Auto aus der Tüte zog. Mein All-Time-Fave bleibt Killing Joke, Night Time."
"Alles von der Stange," Mutter, mir gradut vor dir."

Alexander Smith, * 1967, writes for the TIME magazines and the New Yorker one. It lept with woman and daughter in New York. "my first plate I bought 1976 in the Music Mart in Westhampton, NY,: Dressed ton of Kill of Kiss. My nut/mother gefror the make-up in the face, when I pulled the LP in the car from the bag. My universe time Fave remains Killing Joke, Night time." "everything of the bar," nut/mother, me gradut before you.

Smith Alexander, *1967, writes magazines for the TIME and that New York. It lept with woman and daughter in New York. "My first disk I have 1976 in the Music Mart in Westhampton, NY, bought: that Sed to kill of Kiss. The make-up in the face froze my mother when I pulled the LP in the car out of the paper bag. My all-Time-Fave remains Killing Joke, Night Time." "All of the pole," mother, me gradut before you."

This is a beautiful phrase.

lept=typo for lebt meaning "(he) lives" so "He lives with (his) wife and daughter in New York."

Alles von der Stange seems to mean "all (everything?) off the rack." I don't quite get it. Are you sure it really says "gradut"?

My attempt:

Alex Smith (1967 - ) writes for Time magazine and the New Yorker. he lives with his wife and daughter in New York. "I bought my first record at the Music Mart in Westhampton NY: Dressed To Kill by Kiss. My mother's face froze when I took the LP from the bag. My all-time fave is still Night Time by Killing Joke. Mother, you've outdone yourself, you're making me grey*

* as in, making my hair go grey

I'm quite sure about the rest, though.

I think "mir graut vor dir" means "I'm scared of you." (das) Grauen= horror
So it is Alex who is saying "Mother, I'm scared of you."

We're gonna need a native for that Off the Rack part.

There was never the risk of this happening.

But congratulations, anyway. I want one.

Germans intellectuals allude like nobody's business, and are more than willing to sacrifice meaning and clarity to fire off a couple of way-too-clever allusions and tortured wordplay based on famous (or obscure) quotes. That's what's happened here, I think -- the make-up freezing on Alex's mom's face is a good line in English or German, though (and I bet Alex came up with it first).

The only stuff I've had published in German is some film criticism.

der Spiegel has much to answer for!

"Alles von der Stange, Mutter, mir graut vor dir."

"it's all ready-made, mother i am scared of you." ("stange" in this context = clothes hanger)

amazon.de has the book. i put it on my wishlist. one of 400 items there. but somehow i am not too keen on this. music being slagged off is not exactly what i (and the world) is looking for, i guess. probably i even prefer to listen to bloody coldplay than to read something about them which tells me they are crap. i know that already...

i just realize that ken has explained the translation in the last post.

If I could read more than German, English, and French, I could answer that.

You're absolutely right that lots of intellectuals substitute meaning for wordplay -- but I've noticed a specifically German kind of wordplay that relies on allusion, so that there's a guessing game of "see if you can guess who said that first, and then you'll know how smart I am!" See, for example, any Blumfeld lyrics.

"I'm in a sexually transmitted diseases clinic in London. Yes, thanks to my plethora of partners I am here again for a check-up. The good news is that, thanks to the National Health Service, it's free. The bad news is that it takes up to two hours to be seen by a doctor, and they play Capital Gold in the waiting room.

"During those dreadful hours I am subjected to 'Heard It Through The Grapevine', 'Losing My Religion', 'You Wear It Well', 'All The Young Dudes', 'Knights In White Satin', 'California Girls', 'House of the Rising Sun', 'All You Need Is Love' and many other 'classic songs from timeless artists'. I am unable to close my ears, not only because nature has provided me with eyelids but no earlids, but also because I love music and I fear that, in becoming oblivious to one kind of music, I would surely risk becoming oblivious to all music...

"What was once a liberating burst of freshness has become an oppressive blast of repetition. What once was LSD has become valium. What once soundtracked a countercultural revolution and was played to the consternation of the authorities is now piped into public places by these same authorities: played in planes before take-off and after landing, in public toilets, banks, STD clinics, taxis. The music which was meant to change the world ended up re-inforcing it...

"No more masterpieces!

And perhaps we could add some slogans of our own:

No repetition!

We repeat, no repetition!

Give us fresh information!

An end to redundancy and tautology!

Diverge, don't converge!

Narrowcast, don't broadcast!

Flow is sacred, objects aren't!

Speak for yourself!

Turn and face the strange!

Don't let me put words in your mouth!

(Let's go) down with the ephemeral!

Kill all gatekeepers!

(Except me!)

Cognition, not recognition!

A return to listening and to surprise!

If you think you've understood, you're not paying attention!

Make up your own slogans!"

how lucky you are, colin! trading in profane frankfurt for romantic vienna, the city of morbidity (a cliché but don't carry all clichés a grain of truth in them?). early blumfeld i always liked. their lyrics were totally over the top. philosophical but i could never take them seriously. they tried to be smartass but it was always ridiculuos. in an adolescent pseudo-intellectual way. einstürzende neubauten on the other hand. "nagel mein herz ans fensterkreuz" were the kind of lyrics i really did love.

is this true? Odd.

Not Faust the band, mind you.