Now, let’s be honest, who’s going to believe this nonsense also? As the lead singer of a German rock band, given name Klaus, the Moskva-river in Moscow goes along, in the direction of Gorky Park, a cold wind breeze to the ears, and Klaus blows him all of a sudden the idea comes to the most important Soundtrack of the turnaround time?
just as the Wind of Change “came to be”, however, told Klaus meine, frontman of the Hanoverian rock legends the Scorpions, again and again. “Wind of Change” is not only the biggest Rock Hit of the German music history, he is also one of those Songs that is inseparably connected with the decline of communism in Europe. A Song that is about freedom and new beginnings, of Protest and democracy. A Song that means a million people around the world are inestimable.
Aluhüten a low profile
But what if “Wind of Change” by the Scorpions was written? But by the US foreign intelligence service CIA? As the ultimate weapon of psychological warfare on the youth goad of Eastern Europe to the Revolution?
A crazy conspiracy theory. But a story that the journalist Patrick Radden Keefe does not let go. Radden Keefe is actually entirely innocent, a Simple carry to be the friend of conspiracies. He works at the prestigious, very serious American magazine “the New Yorker” and is the author of the very serious, very good book “Say Nothing” from the year 2019 on the bloody Northern Ireland conflict in the 1970s and 80s.
Terminus Burgwedel
But a few years ago Radden Keefe has heard from a friend this crazy story, and in the eight-part Podcast “Wind of Change” after he goes to her now. The journey leads Radden Keefe to windy music managers with Connections to the legendary drug kingpin Manuel Noriega, she leads him in the Ukrainian capital city of Kiev, and at the end she leads him to the town of Burgwedel, near Hanover, Germany, to Klaus meine himself. What would he say to all this? imago/ITAR-TASS Scorpions singer Klaus meine and Drummer James Kottak at the Moscow airport in may, 2015
In the United States is the Podcast a Hit, in the first week, he got into all relevant streaming services to the top positions. And it is not hard to understand why: Radden Keefe, a gifted storyteller who animates the listener immediately to have a first guess is. Can it really be? What speaks for, what against?
“They are German, but they sing in English”
the information at the beginning is rather thin. The Scorpions Radden Keefe knew until now, not much. “They are German, but they sing in English,” he points out in the first episode in amazement. And the friend, of the Radden Keefe’s heard the story, she got even just told by a man who pretended to work for the CIA. “I said Bullshit,” says the friend in the Podcast of the meeting with the CIA man. “You’re not a Songwriter at the CIA? And he said Yes.“
Quickly Radden Keefe finds evidence for this absurd theory could actually be true. Not used by the CIA during the Cold war, more often a musician as a Propaganda Instrument – Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie, and many more? How can it be that Klaus meine had written to date, not a single Song of Scorpions, just sit down and “Wind of Change” written? And why some interview partners respond with Connections to the CIA so reserved, when Radden Keefe on the rumor speaks?
- music News in the Ticker
not so silly
in Spite of everything, no evidence to be found. Radden Keefe is a master of it, to create from a little bit of Material a lot of tension. Often it is more about the espionage history of the CIA as the Scorpions themselves. In the course of his Research Radden Keefe also notes that the seemingly silly rumor is very much more serious than he thought. If this is a song of freedom, the means to so many people in Eastern Europe, the world, the result of a cool and calculated deception maneuver – what’s the difference then with these people?
“It is, in fact, very much,” says Radden Keefe in a later episode. This is of course a skillful Self-PR, but also has a true core. Because what is considered the author, if the Scorpions was set rumour of the Russians in the world, in order to discredit the “Wind of Change”? “Lies are for many of the Regime, a method to control the population,” said Radden Keefe. “They create cynicism, and cynicism breeds apathy.”
all This sounds of course very depressing, but at its core is a beautiful realization that, apparently, everyone can agree on: music can change the world. Is important, who wrote this corny song?
All eight episodes of the “Wind of Change” are available on Spotify. Apple Music uploads currently weekly a new Episode.
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