Sunday Sessions: Juli

"1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die".

Pretty presumptuous name for a book, right? I mean, how can you possibly know that those 1001 songs are the best ever and that you should measure how complete your life has been by how many of them you've heard?

Despite the facile nature of the title, there are a number of books based around this theme: 1001 Albums, 1001 Movies et al. The content of which almost always amuses the hell out of me. I find it fascinating to see what is there, what's missing, and what the writers have said about the content that has been deemed necessary in its inclusion.

While many of the albums in the 1001 Albums book I either own and/or have heard of, there were many in the 1001 Songs book I hadn't heard, including this one. Something of a major European hit by Juli called "Perfekte Welle".

The reason I hadn't heard it is because rarely do songs sung in German get radio play in Australia. The last one I can think of was possibly something by Rammstein, or even "Sich Offnen" by Not From There, circa 1997. Nor would I purposely go looking for songs sung in a foreign tongue.

I'd heard an interview with an Indigenous artist recently (whose name I can't remember) who advised listeners not to be afraid of songs sung in language (other than one's own). With that in mind, I checked out "Perfekte Welle" and was blown away. Not only does the lead singer have the voice of an angel, but how often do you hear songs from Germany sung in German about Surfing? Hardly ever.

The tune just floats along gorgeously and despite the fact that I don't really understand the language all that well, I find myself singing along regardless - such is the addictive nature of the tune. Intrigued, I had to find a translation. as such the lyric is actually quite inspirational. Take a listen below.


Here's the original:


The English translation:


Enjoy!