2024-10-20 13:44:00
A specter is once again haunting the country: the specter of the grand coalition. In 2007, when the Merkel I government of CDU and SPD had been in office for two years, Herbert Grönemeyer sang: “The summer was beautiful / The time was too ripe / But you, without an idea, on the sidelines / You just play for appearances / Leave us alone in the rear”. “The Time of Whispers” As the first and only protest song against all subsequent GroKos, against Merkel III and Merkel IV, it is a classic of postmodern German pop song.
The music guides Grönemeyer between krautrock and flamenco. When, like a football coach, he criticizes the popular parties for their complacent, casual and unworthy game and must expressly warn them that the opponent comes “from the right”, “The Time of Whispers” miraculously appears even more current than 17 years ago , when attacks were spreading to the far right they were even easier to defend and the Greens were still an option for the CDU as a coalition partner.
Grönemeyer honed his football metaphors the year before. In 2006 he sang the anthem “Time for Something to Turn Around” for his country’s World Cup, a summer fairytale. And he finally submitted his membership application to VfL Bochum, who has since called him by the number 4630, the old postcode which also appeared on his hometown album “4630 Bochum” in 1984. The song is played before every home match in the Castroper Straße stadium “Bochum” he intoned: “Make every opponent wet with the one-two / you and your VfL!”
“Whispering Time” is also a classic of football imagery. After all, politicians love them too. The offside and the players from the bench, the back pass, the communication problems and the clearance, the attack and the brawl play. In his breathlessly sung tirade against every GroKo in black and red, Grönemeyer leaves little out of the sentences. But he also uses words that are more reminiscent of the zeitgeist of 2024/25 and Merz than of 2007 and Merkel. When he sings, “We don’t want a tear across our country.” Or: “We don’t want an us and them.” Or even: “You are slowing down / We want a turning point”.
#Ghost #GroKo #Herbert #Grönemeyer #sang #Grand #Coalition