Straight Outta Saxony

So I spent a week in and around Dresden with my uncle’s family over the Christmas/New Year holiday, during which I wrote a long poem-turned-rap about everything that we had gone to see and do. I just had time to record it today. I think I hit all the major points!

Lyrics:

It’s your boy S-Nabs
Straight outta saxony

Yeah
Hangin’ in the Neustadt, phasebook in hand
Hot chocolate on the menu is the only thing I understand
I’ve got this far with “danke” and “gutentag”
Finding some creative ways of avoiding dialogue
German radio is playing hits from seven years ago
I flip through Der Spiegel like I understand the articles
Sitting in a cafe trying not to give away
The fact that I’m a tourist so I smile and nod and look away
Two euros seventy, lay it on the counter
Then I walk around the block and see what I encounter
Four-storey buildings, ground floor retail
Cobblestone pedestrian streets right up near the light rail
You can take a Saturday, walk around randomly
Find yourself a music shop, pool hall, or bakery
There’s so much do to here, it’s already sunset
I haven’t even crossed the river to the other side yet

(Chorus)
In Dresden, saxon city where dreams are made, oh
There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in Dresden, after all that it’s been through
This city will thrill you
Only in Dresden, Dresden, Dresden…

Now we’re rockin’ Bautzen, upstream on the Elbe
Lookin’ at medieval buildings that survived the decay
Back in GDR times, yeah those were the hard times
Sorbian families were displaced to dig a coal mine
Day trippin’ to Leipzig home of revolutionary
Students in the eighties, lookin’ back it’s kinda crazy
Stasi informers, brick wall borders
Two-stroke cars with cardboard doors
Killing off the memory of the former bourgeoisie
Tough luck if you got West German family
But now we’re rockin’ Beemers, Porches from Stuttgart
Cruisin’ down the autobahn until we reach the ausfahrt
Now we’re on the country road headed to the Bastei
Sandstone mountains are a climber’s favourite pastime
And we got that old bridge overlooking everything
Hidden in the forest like it’s something from Lord of the Rings

Chorus

Now we’re at the Frauenkirche, landmark of the city
Blackened bricks recall the darkest time of modern history
And we got the Opera House, known internationally
Even if Americans think that it’s a distillery
Now we’re down in Pragerstrasse, rebuilt and remodeled
People walkin’, shoppin’, talkin’, poppin’ champagne bottles
This is what it looks like, risen from the wreckage
Dresdeners, get that dirt off your shoulder
For you romantics, go and take a long walk
Down the River Elbe you’ll see churches with their big clocks
Top of the hour listen to the bells ring
Over the whole city like a disembodied choir singing
Take a look around, son, all this baroque architecture
Didn’t come by chance son, this is Europe’s cultural center
Small pubs and museums, treasures in the green room
Tributes to Augustus the Strong I know that you’ll see ‘em

Chorus

So if you’re touring Europe, don’t bother with Rome
Or the south coast of France ‘cause you might as well stay home
Come on up to Dresden, it’s more interestin’
Better than a weekend in Munich Oktoberfestin’

Chorus

Sam Nabi