After Berlin - 50th Anniversary Of The Berlin Wall from Roland Schaller on Vimeo.
It's been 50 years since the Berlin Wall went up. And 22 years since the Berlin Wall went down.
So here's a cover of one of Neil Young's more obscure songs -- "After Berlin". "After Berlin" was only performed once in 1982, in what was West Berlin, with The Trans Band. The video is set to historic footage from during the Wall's construction in 1961 and it's destruction in 1989.
From Bad News Beat:
Some impressions of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and 1989.
These pics should never be forgotten! I hope such political madness will never come back to Europe. The song “After Berlin” is an old Neil-Young-Song, interpreted by Bozz Rockband in 2010 live at the Rock-The-Garden-Festival. bozzrockband.de ”
It’s a stunning documentary. Never to forget that we have to stand up and fight against dogmatic willpower, tyranny, dictatorship and the like.
Thankfully, the wall has been torn down since and people could reunite. There should be no more walls forever.
Take me take me take me just the way I am…
AFTER BERLIN
Just like a young boy running down the road
I'm singing out the same old song
Can't go back the way I started from
The road goes on and on
Won't you help me, help me, help me, help me,
Help me, help me, help me, help me,
Make my way on home
Help me make my way on home
After Berlin.
Lights are shining in the German sky
Clouds make walls between the moon and I
Don't know where I started from
So won't you take me, take me, take me, take me,
Take me, take me, take me, take me,
Just the way I am
Ah, take me, just the way I am
After Berlin.
I'll be cruising down the corridor
Seeing things I never seen before
Tomorrow morning in old Berlin
Where they lock you out or lock you in
Won't you save me, save me, save me, save me,
Save me, save me, save me, save me,
From the final day
Save me from the final day
After Berlin.
Just like a young boy running down the road
I'm singing out the same old song
I can't go back the way I used to go
The road goes on and on
Won't you help me, help me, help me, help me,
Help me, help me, help me, help me,
Find my way back home
Won't you help me make my way on home
After Berlin.
Help me, help me, help me, help me.
Help me, help me, help me, help me.
Before the Fall:
Neil Young writes "Love Is All We Need" on the Berlin Wall in 1982
No more walls.
Danke Roland & Baron!
Even after 22 years the wall has not yet disappeared from everyone's mind.
ReplyDeleteBut we're working on it ...
Thanks for posting !!
Greetings from Germany
Bitte Roland.
ReplyDeleteNot just another brick in the wall.
A wonderful song....thank you for posting the lyrics, interesting to think which ones are "Berlin" related or which are related to Neils personal wishes given the alleged pressures within the Trans-Band as the long tour ended
ReplyDeleteThere is something great about the guitar sound on this song. I cant play so excuse my description of the cascading whoosh and fullness to the Neil'n'Nils combo.
The thought that it was worked out in the sound check, the Key changed as per Neils call as the song starts in the evening, and then delivered so well, is a fine tribute to that band. A gem.
... 'Keep On Rockin In The free World'! Nice cover. You sure can hear some 'Neil influence' in the guitar.
ReplyDeleteExcellent cover there. I can feel the wall crumbling under the weight of that guitar.
ReplyDeleteLet freedom ring!
This is really real cover,
ReplyDeleteThank`s so much Roland and Bozz Rockband!
There was a day
ReplyDeleteWe weren't so free
A wall divided
You and Me
I could barely
Hear ya
Much less see
My face
In your mirror
As you looked
for me.
Uhhhh the recording from the TRANS tour sounds awful (i mean, the playing, not the audio quality). The lyrics might be good but the music and the sound used are quite horrible. I think the only think that's worse in Neil Young's catalogue is American Dream.
ReplyDeleteStonking cover, brilliant. The film is so moving, it should be compulsory viewing.
ReplyDeleteNick
Very decent cover of a brilliant song. Jimmy McDonough dismissed it as `a forgettable ditty`, but having watched the DVD of Neil Young in Berlin many times, for me this song is the highlight. The melody is so poignant and beautiful and the words are so moving, from the Berlin point of view and also how they could have applied to Neil`s own situation. And actually even though I would say that Neil wasn`t at his best through a lot of the songs, I agree with Sugars Chauffeur that the whole band really pulled together on this one, even more amazing as it was the first (and only) time they had played it right through, having only learnt it that day. Excellent.
ReplyDelete@Jill - thanks for comment. Yes, not sure what Jimmy McD was thinking. It's only been performed once. So one can only wonder what the song may have been had it been performed regularly on the tour?
ReplyDeleteOne of my traumatic experiences as a child was seeing the gunning down of 18 yr old Peter Fechter in August 1962 on tv.
ReplyDeleteHe ran through the anti tank traps, through mines and almost made it over the horrible Berlin Wall.
This is my favorite unreleased (on audio) Neil song. Love the video. Can't wait for the Archives vol that would have the early 80s stuff.
...more than 100 people died there over the years - you can find the names here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/Start/Index/id/593792