Nena – Rette mich

Spliff Studio and A&R New York, 1983: save me after the balloon

Nena released Rette mich on 28 February 1984 on CBS, from the band’s second album ? (Fragezeichen) (27 January 1984). The line-up was Nena Kerner (vocals), Carlo Karges (guitar), Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (keyboards), Jürgen Dehmel (bass) and Rolf Brendel (drums). Producers Reinhold Heil and Manne Praeker recorded and mixed between October and December 1983 at Spliff Studio in West Berlin, with extra work at A&R Studios in New York. Engineers included Imre Sereg and Reinhold Heil in Berlin, Stanley Wallace and Ollie Cotton in New York.

The song sits in Neue Deutsche Welle / pop-rock: clear German vocal, bright keys, guitar accents, and a chorus that asks to be rescued. It followed the title track ? (Fragezeichen) as a single and came after the international wave of 99 Luftballons from the first album. B-sides and maxi extras included Susi K. and Sois bienvenu. The band arranged the material themselves under Heil and Praeker’s production. Kerner’s vocal stays upfront in the mix; Fahrenkrog-Petersen’s keys and Karges’ guitar answer the chorus without crowding the German lyric.

In Germany Rette mich entered the charts on 12 March 1984, peaked at number 11, and stayed 13 weeks. It also charted in Austria (around 17) and Switzerland (around 14). ? (Fragezeichen) topped German, Austrian and Swiss album charts. An English-leaning international album 99 Luftballons later mixed songs from both early LPs for export markets. This piece stays with the German 1984 single and the Berlin/New York sessions. CBS timed the single for late winter 1984 while ? (Fragezeichen) was still climbing European album charts after its January release.