© picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Hendrik Schmidt
“What was the song about?” “No idea, but the music was good!” You’d never have that with Herbert Grönemeyer, a German singer whose music is inseparably intertwined with his lyrics. Some of his song texts indeed go beyond the uber-clichéd concept of mere lyrics and aspire to pure poetry. When Grönemeyer takes the stage, you want to know exactly what he is singing. (Paraphrased translation of German writer and literary critic Michael Lentz’s comments on Herbert Grönemeyer)
From finding the melody to drafting what he has called ‘banana lyrics’ to final studio recording: Musician Herbert Grönemeyer (1956), whose albums have sold by the millions, talks at this event with writer and literary scientist Michael Lentz (1964) about the varied and instructive process by which his lyrics and compositions take shape. This is the newest episode in a long-standing dialogue between the two: A talk between Lentz and Grönemeyer features on the latter’s DVD Mensch live (2003). An essay by Lentz opens the impressive photo book Herbert Grönemeyer, Liedtexte und Bilder von 1980-2004 (Schirmer/Mosel, 2004; Photos: Anton Corbijn). And in the role of publisher, Lentz and Michael Opitz included Grönemeyer lyrics in the essential anthology In diesem Land. Gedichte aus den Jahren 1990-2010 (Fischer, 2010) – a special edition of the Munich discourse on poetry in a conversational format about lyrics and voice, language games and serious topics, sense and nonsense, human beings and being human.
Introduction: Frieder von Ammon
Tickets: 12 euros/8 euros (discount rate). Ticket price for Lyrik Kabinett members: 6 euros. For more information, please visit the Lyrik Kabinett website.
LMU and the Lyrik Kabinett have worked together very intensively for over 30 years. The more than 68,000 works subsumed under the Lyrik Kabinett Foundation are available via OPAC to everyone related to LMU. Numerous events provide a fascinating insight into the current poetic landscape.