Deutscher Girls

"Deutscher Girls"
Single by Adam and the Ants
from the album Jubilee Soundtrack
B-side Plastic Surgery
Released 12 February 1982
Format vinyl record (7")
Genre New wave, post-punk
Length 2:40
Label E.G. Records
Writer(s) Adam Ant
Producer(s) Guy Ford
Adam and the Ants singles chronology
"Ant Rap"
(1981)
"Deutscher Girls"
(1982)
"Friends"
(1982)

"Deutscher Girls" is a song by Adam and the Ants. It was included in the 1978 Derek Jarman film Jubilee, in which Adam Ant appears as "The Kid."[1]

"Deutscher Girls" was written by Adam Ant, and was an early fan favourite among "Antpeople." The song was performed at a John Peel session on 23 January 1978. "Deutscher Girls" and "Plastic Surgery," also from the Jubilee soundtrack, were the first Adam and the Ants tracks committed to vinyl.

Single

Shortly afterwards, Adam and the Ants became something of a phenomenon following the success of their 1980 album Kings of the Wild Frontier. The album was the UK number 1 selling album in 1981 (and the 48th best seller in 1980) and won Best British Album at the 1982 Brit Awards.

As "Antmusic for Sex People" was sweeping through Britain, Adam's former label, E.G. Records decided to cash in his success by releasing "Deutscher Girls" as a 7" single. "Plastic Surgery" was released on the B-side. Released 12 February 1982, it reached number thirteen on the UK Singles Chart. Chronologically, it followed "Ant Rap", and included the long departed line-up of Ants Dave Barbarossa on drums, Johnny Bivouac on guitar and Andy Warren on bass guitar.

It was the second-to-last single by Adam and the Ants. Later in 1982, another of Adam and the Ants' former labels, Do It Records, released "Friends" b/w "Kick"/"Physical" from the Dirk Wears White Sox recording session at Sound Development in August 1979.[2]

Lyrics[3]

"Deutscher Girls" was inspired by the controversial art film Portiere Di Notte (The Night Porter) by director Liliana Cavani, and starring Dirk Bogarde (after whom Adam and the Ants' 1979 debut album Dirk Wears White Sox is named) and Charlotte Rampling.[4] The 1974 Italian film featured elements of Nazisploitation; Bogarde plays a former Nazi, and Rampling a former concentration camp inmate.[5] In the song, the roles are reversed.

Lyrics were changed from the original Jubilee version when it was released as a single three years later.[6] The line "So, why did you have to be so Nazi" was changed to "So, why did you have to be so nasty," and "Camp 49 way down on the Rhine" was changed to "A lover of mine from down on the Rhine."[7] Adam Ant told Sounds:[8]

It's not about concentration camps. It's about a guy who falls in love with a girl - a member of the Nazi Youth Organisation.

References

  1. Adam and the Ants. "Deutscher Girls". Adam-Ant.net. Careers BMG (BMG Rights Management).
  2. Adam and the Ants. "The B-sides". Adam-Ant.net.
  3. Adam Ant. "Deutscher Girls". Careers BMG.
  4. Dr Mark Griffiths (11 December 2013). "The Reich Stuff: A brief look at Nazi fetishism". WordPress.com.
  5. Roger Ebert (10 February 1975). "The Night Porter". Chicago Sun-Times.
  6. "Original Adam & The Ants – Deutscher Girls". Discogs.com.
  7. Adam Ant. "Deutscher Girls (single)". Careers BMG.
  8. "Deutscher Girls". Songfacts.com.
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