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rfmcdonaldA Top 40 hit when it was released by the Passions, a British group, in 1981, "I'm in Love with a German Film Star", British artist Sam Taylor-Wood decided to record a cover version in 2008. Produced by the Pet shop Boys, the single hit the top of the British dance charts in November 2008.
The song was as much about the performance as anything else. The video's arresting, Taylor-Wood dressed as Marlene Dietrich--top hat, men's suit, long cigarette holder--and holding her legs-crossed position for the length of the black-and-white video, the smoke swirling upwards from the cigarette the only sign that time is passing. Several remixes are out there, but I strongly prefer British expatriate producer Mark Reeder's dreamy Rundfunk remix.
"Rundfunk is "Broadcasting" as in "broadcasting network" (compare Westdeutscher Rundfunk), and the song with its video seems--to me, at least--to be very German, very "European" in the sense of being complex and somehow at once other and accessible. Je l'aime beaucoup.
The song was as much about the performance as anything else. The video's arresting, Taylor-Wood dressed as Marlene Dietrich--top hat, men's suit, long cigarette holder--and holding her legs-crossed position for the length of the black-and-white video, the smoke swirling upwards from the cigarette the only sign that time is passing. Several remixes are out there, but I strongly prefer British expatriate producer Mark Reeder's dreamy Rundfunk remix.
"Rundfunk is "Broadcasting" as in "broadcasting network" (compare Westdeutscher Rundfunk), and the song with its video seems--to me, at least--to be very German, very "European" in the sense of being complex and somehow at once other and accessible. Je l'aime beaucoup.
