Guck, der Himmel ist blau
Look, the sky is blue – "Blau" by Amanda (ft. Sido)
When there’s gorgeous summer weather outside, the last thing most of us want is to be stuck inside in an office or classroom. But alas, adulthood often means summer is still a time of work, responsibilities, and the daily grind.
In “Blau”, German singers/rappers Amanda and Sido encourage us all to embrace the German concept of blaumachen – to skip out on our daily responsibilities for a bit and enjoy some well-deserved time in the sun. After all, blue skies in Germany are nicht zu unterschätzten (not to be underappreciated)! “Blau” is the perfect soundtrack for a day at the beach or pool or for planning your next Urlaub (vacation).
Guck, der Himmel ist blau
Look, the sky is blue
Komm, das machen wir auch
Come on, let's do that too
Mann, dein Laptop ist grau
Man, your laptop is gray
Klapp ihn zu, mach ihn aus
Close it, turn it off
As mentioned above, blaumachen (which translates literally to “make blue”) is a colloquial term in German for skipping work, school, or some other obligation. In the lyrics of “Blau”, both Amanda and Sido utilize the idiom in clever ways:
Guck, der Himmel ist blau
Komm, das machen wir auch
Look, the sky is blue
Come on, let's make (do) that tooIch bin kein Maler, doch ich mach’ blau
I’m not a painter, but I make blue
A closer look also reveals that the refrain of “Blau” is filled with examples of German’s imperative verb form – the form typically used to give orders, requests, or instructions directly to another person (or group of people). In this case, Amanda speaks (or sings) to us directly, more or less telling us exactly what she wants us to do – look, come, close that laptop and turn it off!
Guck, der Himmel ist blau
Look, the sky is blue
Komm, das machen wir auch
Come on, let's do that too
Mann, dein Laptop ist grau
Man, your laptop is gray
Klapp ihn zu, mach ihn aus
Close it, turn it off
You can find further examples and details on forming the imperative in this earlier post – for the sake of summer vacation, I’ll spare you the full details here. Now, get out to the pool!
Special thanks to Noelle at Germany is the Wurst for the perfectly-timed song suggestion. And if you have a song you’d like to see featured – summer-themed or otherwise – let me know in the Sprachmelodie chat!
Here are a few additional words from “Blau” to add to your vocabulary list:
sprunghaft – erratic
das Neues – the new thing
die Regeln – the rules
allergisch – allergic
entfalten – to unfold
ackern – to toil, plow
der Feierabend – the end of the day
ehrlich – honest
der Himmel – the sky
blau – blue
grau – gray
abschalten – to switch off
der Einheitsbrei – the uniformity
blaumachen – to skip work or school
From the Sprachmelodie Archives 🎵
For more on the imperative verb form in German, check out Nur ein Wort by Wir sind Helden. And for more German idioms, check out the posts listed here.
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