NUR EIN
The Lowest Bitter
Pleasant RowNur Ein XVI
almost 5 years agopassed
2:27
Pleasant Row
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The Lowest Bitter

Entry from Pleasant Row in Nur Ein XVI.

Must include a guest singing or speaking in another language

LyricsShow lyrics

Pleasant Row - The Lowest Bitter ft. Vom Vorton on GCSE German

Translations in italics

Liner Notes:
SpoilerThis is a song about Berlin. I love Berlin, and it's been a while since I've been there and it's probably gonna be a while until I can go again with COVID travel restrictions. The chorus of this song is kinda about how you end up romanticising even the bad stuff about a place/person/thing you love, so I'm referring to the "pleasant" crumbling DDR tower blocks, or the two hour long queues at the official worst airport in the world Berlin Schönefeld (okay, it's a stretch to say I truly miss that, but it was still a big part of the Berlin experience before it shut down for good last year).

There's really no need to speak German in Berlin, almost everyone knows English, but because I have a GCSE in German I like to try and show off my language skills and mostly just end up embarrassing myself. Vom Vorton has a 1000+ day German duolingo streak, so I went to him and asked him to rein in his perfect German and give me some clumsy, stilted pronunciations of some German phrases, a mix of stuff I might actually say and bizarre phrases my GCSE German course thought was necessary. Not once have I felt the need to ask for a slice of Black Forest Gateau, so thanks for making me learn that Mr Staples.

A pleasant row of plattenbau (a building constructed of large, prefabricated concrete slabs)
towers over east Berlin
A pleasant row of empty bottles
stacked up beside the bin
A pleasant row of people queueing
at the Schönefeld security bit
for two hours
but I miss every part of it

(I remember...)
getting Berliner Pils from a späti, drinking in the park (a type of convenience shop found generally in Germany, particularly in Berlin, which is known to operate late at night)
I miss it
watching bands in some smoke-filled basement bar
I miss it
talking shit, smoking weed beside the Spree (The Spree is the main river of Berlin)
I miss it
making out with some French boy on the night bus, and feeling free
I miss it

got my pocket dictionary,
got ideas above my station
from half-remembered useless phrases
from GCSE German

Vom Vorton:
entschuldigung, ich spreche nur ein kleines bisschen Deutsch
einen döner, bitte
können Sie mir bitte helfen?
wo ist die U-Bahn?
danke schön
wo kann ich den besten techno club der stadt finden?
ich möchte ein stück Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte
danke schön
welches bier würdest du empfehlen?
tschüss
*(sorry, I only speak a little bit of German
one döner, please
could you please help me?
where's the U-Bahn?
thank you
where can I find the best techno club in this city?
I want a piece of Black Forest gateau
thank you
which beer do you recommend?
bye!)*

A pleasant row of plattenbau
towers over east Berlin
A pleasant row of empty bottles
stacked up beside the bin
A pleasant row of people queueing
at the Schönefeld security bit
for two hours
but I miss every part of it x2

Reviews

1 posted notes

Pigfarmer Jr

Forum post

I liked your take on the challenge. This one seems to be in your wheelhouse. That's a catchy melody, but I think it suffered just a bit on repeated listens. Maybe just a bit too repetitive or same sounding. That lead synth at 1:00 (and a bit later) masked the vox a bit (maybe just a level issue?)

The Lowest Bitter - Pleasant Row | Nur Ein