Jenny Jenny Lyrics in English by AnnenMayKantereit
Wolkenreiter is a beautiful and creative compound noun, combining Wolken (clouds) and Reiter (rider). You won't find this unique, poetic word in a standard dictionary.
In the song, it's used as a romantic nickname for Jenny, the flight attendant, painting a picture of her soaring through the skies. This word perfectly captures the dreamy, yet transient nature of her life and is a great example of how German can build new, evocative words by combining simpler ones.
This song tells the story of Jenny, a flight attendant, and it's a fantastic look at the less glamorous side of a job that seems so exciting. The band, AnnenMayKantereit, is from Germany, and they have a real talent for describing everyday life in a way that feels completely new.
The song follows Jenny's routine, from putting on her makeup—"Die Lippen rot wie Ziegel" (lips red like bricks)—to her life in the air. She's a "Wolkenreiter" (cloud rider), who has to smile constantly, "so wie alle Flugbegleiter" (like all flight attendants). The song points out the strange reality of her job: she travels everywhere but sees nothing. My favorite line is when she googles Panama because "Vor zwei Jahren war sie mal zehn Minuten da" (two years ago she was there for ten minutes). It's a lonely picture of a life spent in transit, where she sometimes comes home and "weiß nich' mehr woher" (doesn't know from where anymore).
