The Pot and The Kettle

Just this morning, as I was enjoying a bowl of Corn Flakes and reading up on world news and such, courtesy of Yahoo news, I came across this totally interesting story. It seems in raising money for Hurricane Katrina, VH1 gave donors of $25 the right to choose a video to play. Nice, right? Totally. A $35,000 donation allowed that donor to choose the videos for one whole hour. I am sure this anonymous donor must be the nicest person ever, and as an underscore of this whole story, I am mildly surprised that music channels are allowing videos to even be played for a whole hour. Thank goodness! Anyway, so the donor of $35,ooo wants Nena's "99 Luftballons" ("99 Red Balloons") video to air repeatedly for a whole hour, which couldn't be funner. What prompted me to write and sent me on an early Saturday morning scramble was the end of said article which reads,

"99 Luftballons" is a Cold-War era protest song that tells the story of 99 red balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalypse when the military sends planes to intercept them."

I kinda did a half double take, half "that's not what this song is about" mid-spoonful of Corn Flakes. (look at that link, trust me). Then I did some investigation and lo and behold, my happy, sunny, "99 Red Balloons" is about global destruction and nuclear warfare. I realize I am probably one of the last people, who considers himself somewhat of a music aficionado, to realize this. It is kinda like the sad embarrassing truth each of my siblings and I had to face when we found out what a Pizza Burger actually was.

99 LuftBalloons
You and I in a little toy shop
buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message, "Something's out there"
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by.
99 red balloons floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
Where 99 red balloons go by.
99 Decision Street, 99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super-scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by.
99 Knights of the air
ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a Silverhero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
As 99 red balloons go by.
As 99 red balloons go by.
99 dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standin' pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenier
Just to prove the world was here...
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go.