Here's what the band has to say about the translation (which was done by Kevin McAlea, one of Kate Bush's songwriters, hired by the label) back at the time.
Carlo (who wrote most of the original lyrics): "It's a completely different story, not my song".
Uwe (who wrote the music and helped with the lyrics): "It was a mistake: The song loses something in translation and even sounds silly". However, after hearing Seven Seconds' punk cover: "This is the band that was meant to perform this version, not us. We couldn't be that super-earnest. We're not 16."
Nena: "It's far too blatant and strident. We're not a protest band". She also doesn't like her own performance on the English version, saying it was too cute and not rock & roll enough.
So, they don't actually hate it, but they don't think it's really the same song, and they don't think it fits them. Which is why they've never played it live (nor has Nena as a solo artist), even in the UK, even when they translate do the English versions of other songs, like "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann".
Here's what the band has to say about the translation (which was done by Kevin McAlea, one of Kate Bush's songwriters, hired by the label) back at the time.
Carlo (who wrote most of the original lyrics): "It's a completely different story, not my song".
Uwe (who wrote the music and helped with the lyrics): "It was a mistake: The song loses something in translation and even sounds silly". However, after hearing Seven Seconds' punk cover: "This is the band that was meant to perform this version, not us. We couldn't be that super-earnest. We're not 16."
Nena: "It's far too blatant and strident. We're not a protest band". She also doesn't like her own performance on the English version, saying it was too cute and not rock & roll enough.
So, they don't actually hate it, but they don't think it's really the same song, and they don't think it fits them. Which is why they've never played it live (nor has Nena as a solo artist), even in the UK, even when they translate do the English versions of other songs, like "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann".