Just discovered this song today and couldn’t wait to share it (even though I already had something else planned for MusicMonday). “Ich Bin Ausländer (Leider zum Glück)” by Torpedo Boyz makes me so happy – both the song and the video (by Rhine Hard Productions).
The song title loosely translates to “I’m a Foreigner (unfortunately Thank God!). It’s an excellent and fun expat hymn for Berlin.
Even though I’m actually German, after all the years in the New York, I feel more like an expat here in Berlin than I do in NYC. Although I suspect that once you’ve lived away from your home country for so long, you’re probably just generally a little lost and tend to identify more with the expat tribe than any specific country.
As far as I can tell the members of Torpedo Boyz are from Japan and Germany – and were the only German act besides Agnes Obel at this year’s SXSW. However Agnes is not actually German either, but Danish (another expat in Berlin) – so I guess there really wasn’t any full-on German representation at SXSW. Why is that anyway? Or am I maybe misinformed?
Talking about misinformed: don’t confuse this song with the 1994 song “Ich Bin Ein Auslander” by Pop Will Eat Itself – a song which is also very danceable but additionally carries a political Anti-Nazi message.
Oh, I know the feeling. I've been in Berlin since 2000 now and am a little bewildered at how dispersed my sense of home is.