From: petertrei@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/17/2026 9:33 AM, scole wrote:   
   > In article <10n1ude$bou$1@panix2.panix.com>, kludge@panix.com (Scott   
   > Dorsey) wrote:   
   >   
   >> scole  wrote:   
   >>> In article <10ml8tl$1nb3i$1@dont-email.me>, quadi   
   >  wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> This news item reminded me of the famous German song about how a young   
   >>>> couple's release of ninety-nine helium balloons to celebrate their love   
   >>>> accidentally triggered a global thermonuclear war.   
   >>>   
   >>> Holy shit! I've listened to that song many times (both German and English   
   >>> versions, although I don't barely understand any German at all the   
   >>> original language version does have more of a bop to it!) and clearly have   
   >>> never listened to it remotely hard enough to pick up on that - I've always   
   >>> just thought it was a lovely bouncy party song!   
   >>   
   >> In the English version we have the young couple releasing balloons that sets   
   >> off the alarm.   
   >>   
   >> In the German version it's not clear where the balloons came from, and the   
   >> word "luftballoon" would indicate a military balloon and not a party balloon   
   >> according to my German roomate-at-the-time-that-song-came-out.  The German   
   >> lyrics are very much more dark than the English ones.   
   >>   
   >   
   > Right, I'm going to hit Google up for some translated lyrics - I need to   
   > get to the bottom of this, it sounds absolutely fascinating and,   
   > understandably given Germany's mid-80s Cold War status, dark as pitch!   
   > Still an absolute banger of a song, though!   
      
      
   99 Red Balloons (Album Version)   
   Song by Nena   
   You and I in a little toy shop   
   Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got   
   Set them free at the break of dawn   
   'Til one by one, they were gone   
   Back at base, sparks in the software   
   Flash the message "something's out there"   
   Floating in the summer sky   
   99 red balloons go by   
      
   99 red balloons   
   Floating in the summer sky   
   Panic bells, it's red alert   
   There's something here from somewhere else   
   The war machine springs to life   
   Opens up one eager eye   
   Focusing it on the sky   
   The 99 red balloons go by   
      
   99 Decision Street   
   99 ministers meet   
   To worry, worry, super scurry   
   Call the troops out in a hurry   
   This is what we've waited for   
   This is it boys, this is war   
   The President is on the line   
   As 99 red balloons go by   
      
   99 knights of the air   
   Ride super high-tech jet fighters   
   Everyone's a superhero   
   Everyone's a Captain Kirk   
   With orders to identify   
   To clarify and classify   
   Scrambling the summer sky   
   99 red balloons go by   
      
   As 99 red balloons go by   
   99 dreams I have had   
   In every one, a red balloon   
   It's all over, and I'm standing pretty   
   In this dust that was a city   
   If I could find a souvenir   
   Just the prove the world was here   
   And here is a red balloon   
   I think of you, and let it go.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)