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Since I literally do get tipsy after my second beer which does not hold up at all with being Polish, I’m usually viewed as a kind of a curiosity at any given party. And that’s not everything: my music taste is anchored so strongly in the past that my friends just tend to look at me in disbelief when I have to admit I’ve never heard anything from their playlist.
But there’s this one song that one of them has discovered a while ago and it somehow connects us, regardless of all the usual taste differences. It’s one of those that aren’t really about the tune, or how good the singer is.
“Heimweh nach dem Kurfurstendamm” by Hildegard Knef is just all about Berlin and how no city could ever be compared to it although people over there may be trying their best. For me and my friend especially, it obviously gained even more meaning after he decided to move out for his studies.
He’s pretty sure he’s gonna be back though. And when he does come to visit, it’s like he never left. He says Berlin just feels like home and he challenges the widespread notion that people here aren’t nice. According to him, they actually are much nicer than elsewhere, but they just abstain from the superficial and meaningless expressions of politeness which are very easy to cultivate but signify no actual interest. Instead, they focus on the genuine connection, like sparking up a conversation in a shop. I still remember how a Spati owner at Kotti instructed me to not talk to any strangers in that area. Berlin bleibt doch Berlin.
