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04/18/2006: "Ninety nine red balloons floating in the summer sky"

I recently downloaded Nena's classic 80s pop anthem 99 Red Balloons. I remembered it as a cheerful little ditty, but realised - when playing it to the kids - that it's actually a very strange song about the Cold War. It seems as if the German songstress was worried that an innocent release of balloons might trigger a code-red reaction from over-eager military types. Assuming it to be a deadly strike with intercontinental ballistic missiles, they would get their retaliation in first. "This is what we've waited for... this is it boys, this is war..." The 80s was a funny old time, wasn't it? Next week, Russians by Sting.