2024-10-06 06:00:37
Son of the Ruhr region, stage man, exceptional artist: a new book tells the story of what shapes Grönemeyer and defines his work.
Essen.
What is the secret of Herbert Grönemeyer‘s success? Michael Lentz tackles this question in a new book. According to S. Fischer Verlag “Grönemeyer” is the “first comprehensive portrait of the pop star’s life and work” written by the writer and poet Lentz.
He dealt intensively with Grönemeyer’s entire oeuvre, with the phases of his life from Bochum, Cologne to London and Berlin. With his work in theatre, in cinema – and above all as a thoroughbred musician. His comments are also based on long conversations: Grönemeyer and Lentz have been friends for about twenty years, as the blurb says.
Working on “Mensch” gave him back the joy of living
Grönemeyer, who likes to tell anecdotes about his life but is always careful to protect his privacy, allows for some personal insights. Lentz speaks for example of the home of educated middle-class parents in Bochum, which was in contrast to the Malocher environment, which Grönemeyer later recalled with his hymn “Bochum”. However, personal issues creep into Lentz’s story especially when he sees it as a key to Grönemeyer’s work.
Lentz writes about the genesis of Grönemeyer’s most successful studio album to date: “In the background of “Man” was the great fear of no longer being able to make music after the deaths of his brother and his wife.”
The concern would prove unfounded. The record had a therapeutic effect, says Lentz Grönemeyer, “working on it gave him back the joy of living”.
Meticulous analyzes instead of gossip
Instead of piecing together individual biographical phases, Lentz spends much more time exegesis of Grönemeyer’s entire oeuvre. The goal: to answer the question posed at the beginning: “What exactly is the “secret” of Grönemeyer’s success”?
Like an archaeologist, Lentz uncovers his work layer by layer: he examines the lyrics for rhyme scheme, intonation, motifs and analyzes Grönemeyer’s voice and his appearance on stage page by page with the meticulous eye of a scientist. Describes and searches for the traces left by role models such as Bob Dylan and Randy Newman. He is interested in what musical styles Grönemeyer absorbed and, for all his stubbornness, adapted and how the influences of his early childhood continue to shape the way he works today.
From nonsense words to Grönemeyer’s text
There are, for example, “banana lyrics”, a kind of English gibberish that Grönemeyer uses in place of subsequent lyrics when composing his melodies. This technique dates back to the times when the still small Herbert sat in front of the radio and, without knowing the language, listened to English songs on the radio, absorbed them and thus acquired them precisely. This continues to have an impact today, with the music that has long since been mixed obtaining its subsequent artistic lyrics: “Grönemeyer doesn’t set lyrics to music, but puts music to music,” says Lentz describing the process.
Anyone hoping to get closer to Grönemeyer as a person by reading this article or even through revelations about his private life will probably be disappointed. Rather, Lentz allows us to understand how multilayered and complex his art is, and what effort and creative joy it has required over all the decades to be challenging and connectable at the same time.
Reading in Essen at the beginning of the Lit.Ruhr
“The Ruhr area in me does not disappear,” says Grönemeyer in the opening pages. Biographer Lentz naturally begins where the character Grönemeyer still has his roots today and where he experienced his first influences as a musician and man of the theater. It should therefore be something special for the fans, for the author of the book, but also for the musician around whom everything revolves, to present the book in the old homeland.
Lentz and Grönemeyer will give a joint reading next Wednesday. The sold-out event in Essen opens the Lit.Ruhr and will probably be one of the highlights of the literary festival, which will bring guests such as Hape Kerkeling, Donna Leon, Andrea Petković and Caroline Wahl to the Revier until Sunday. (dpa)
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