Somewhere: Reinhard Mey and "Über den Wolken"

Today's random tune is by German singer-songwriter Reinhard Mey, who also goes in France by the name Frédérik Mey. Moderate to left-leaning politically, he tends to focus on sensitive and humorous songs, though in his later years he has become a little more political mostly around issues of freedom and non-violence. He also sings against animal cruelty. Born in Berlin in 1942, he started learning piano at age twelve and guitar at age fourteen. He also is a self-taught trumpeter. He has 27 solo albums to his name, and 16 live albums. This song, Über den Wolken (Above the Clouds) is his biggest hit single which has been covered by many other German artists. It can be found on his 1974 album Wie vor Jahr und Tag, though we found it on the compilation album Die Großen Erfolge (1987, rereleased in 2002). The song is ostensibly about flying, but is more a metaphor about life.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.