Du atmest auf, alles noch so vertraut
Everything is still so familiar – "Stadtrandlichter" by Clueso
The German language is somewhat infamous for its long words – but did you know that most long words are formed by joining two or more smaller words together?
This is what we see in the song “Stadtrandlichter” by German singer/songwriter Clueso – three words come together to give us one compound word with a very specific meaning:
die Stadt – the city
der Rand – the edge / outer border
die Lichter – the lights
die Stadtrandlichter – the lights on the outer edge of the city
Compound words always take on the gender and/or number of the last word, so “Stadtrandlichter” is plural, just like the last word “die Lichter” is the plural for “das Licht”, the light.
“Stadtrandlichter” is the perfect word to describe the lights on the edge of the city which one first sees when driving home after a long time away – which is exactly what the song is about.
Stadtrandlichter
Lights on the city’s edge
Du atmest auf, alles noch so vertraut
You breathe a sigh of relief, everything is still so familiar
Stadtrandlichter
Lights on the city’s edge
Tauchen auf und bringen dich nach Hause
Appear and take you home
Here are a few additional words from “Stadtrandlichter” to add to your vocabulary list:
heimwärts - homeward
die Abfahrt - departure
verpennen - to oversleep / to miss something
hoffentlich - hopefully
spät - late
die Stadtrandlichter - the city lights
vertraut - familiar
auftauchen - to appear / to emerge
der Rückenwind - tailwind
die Heimkehr - the homecoming