New year, new luck – the old saying is a little hard to believe right now after the events of the past few weeks. Will we be on January 1st? continue to be mired in a hangover mood – or can we pull ourselves together and believe in the new year?
“All is quiet on New Year’s Day/A world in white gets moving,” is how perhaps the most famous New Year’s song begins, “New Year’s Day” by U2. It actually began as a love song for Bono’s wife, then the singer thought about the Solidarity movement in Poland – and so the song fluctuates between a mood of optimism and longing. Which is sometimes the same thing.
“We can break through/ Thought torn in two/ We can be one.” The certainty with which a future in connection is sung, even called for, remains comforting. Especially when all you really want to do is lash out because you feel like you’re probably going to hit a few right ones. Complete idiots everywhere, at least as soon as you turn on the TV or X.
“New Year’s Day” was released in January 1983, as a precursor to the third studio album, “War”. I could identify with the boy who looks angrily into the camera on the cover of “War” from the start.
My facial expression was and is naturally grumpy to grumpy, which is why I often heard the question “What’s wrong with you?”, even when I was innocently doing a puzzle.
It’s easy to be thought of as too serious
After all, I share this problem with Michael Stipe, who once complained to me that he was considered far too serious because of his “resting bitch face”. In his case, the impression is further reinforced by the scar between his eyes, which suggests constant thoughtfulness.
At the moment, neither Stipe (partially living in Georgia, one of the swing states that voted for Trump this time) nor I (living in Berlin, where I will luckily never meet Christian Lindner because, unlike Cem Özdemir, he certainly won’t be there by bike
Kreuzberg is driving) plenty of reason not to put on a “bitch face”.
The world is out of control, how do we get it back on track? On the last day of 2010, in which the actor Frank Giering died, wrote our colleague Uwe Kopf in the “BZ”: “Giering’s face always showed fear, melancholy and love. Ladies and gentlemen, among your relatives and friends there is at least one person like Frank Giering, and it would be a New Year’s resolution to recognize, comfort and save this person.”
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I can confirm that Uwe managed to do this a little later with at least one person, and I think it’s still the best New Year’s resolution, yes, wish. Maybe you can’t save other people, but you can make their lives much more beautiful: definitely that. Or at least tolerable.
When there are so many heartless idiots running around the world, the big-hearted should band together more than ever. It would be great if we could draw a better conclusion next year than “Nothing changes/ On New Year’s Day”.
We may not be able to get rid of our resting bitch faces, but instead of being bitchy, we could pay more attention to others and be kinder. Let’s start a countertrend!