Political commentary is often hidden in some of the most popular songs on the radio. In the 60s and 80s, the Berlin Wall was both a symbolic and real barrier between East and West Berlin in Germany and one that represented the struggles of the Cold War and the tension between the Soviet Union and other countries. Here are a few songs you probably had no idea were inspired by the Berlin Wall.
“Heat Of The Night” by Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams and his songwriting partner Jim Vallance took a trip to Berlin while the wall was still up in 1986 and used what they experienced as inspiration for the lyrics. The song was also inspired by the film The Third Man, which is set in Vienna after World War II. In “Heat Of The Night”, there’s this feeling of paranoia that’s evident in the lyrics.
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In the heat of the night they’ll be comin’ around
They’ll be lookin’ for answers they’ll be chasin’ you down
In the heat of the night
(Where you gonna hide when it all comes down)
(Don’t look back don’t ever turn around).
“Holidays In The Sun” by The Sex Pistols
This song was inspired by a trip The Sex Pistols made to the Isle of Jersey and then to Berlin. Apparently, as lead singer John Lyndon shared, London felt kind of like a prison to them at the time. They ended up trading one for the other.
“…Berlin and its decadence was a good idea,” he explained in his autobiography. “The song came about from that. I loved Berlin. I loved the wall and the insanity of the place. The communists looked in on the circus atmosphere of West Berlin, which never went to sleep, and that would be their impression of the West.”
“Crazy” by Seal
Seal actually wrote this song about the general chaos that was happening in 1989 and 1990, specifically through the events of the Berlin Wall falling and the Tiananmen Square massacre. The chorus of “Crazy” sings about survival and how, in a sense, chaos, or “getting crazy,” is necessary. You can hear him talking about the wall in these lyrics in the verse:
“And through a fractal on a breaking wall / I see you, my friend, and touch your face again / Miracles will happen as we trip.”
Photo by: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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