''? ()'' (German for "Question mark") is the second album by German pop rock band Nena and the third studio album to feature its lead singer, Gabriele "Nena" Kerner. It was released on 27 January 1984, just a few months before the band's first international album , which contains songs from their debut album '' Nena'' (1983) and this album, some of them re-recorded with English lyrics. Like its self-titled predecessor, this album was produced by Reinhold Heil and Manne Praeker of

Spliff A joint (), also commonly referred to as a "doobie" or "doob", is a rolled cannabis cigarette. Unlike commercial tobacco cigarettes, the user ordinarily hand-rolls joints with rolling papers, though in some cases they are machine-rolled ...

Title track

The album's title track was co-written by Nena and the band's keyboard player

Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (born 10 March 1960) is a German keyboard player, producer and composer. He was the keyboardist of the band Nena and co-wrote their world famous hit "99 Luftballons" as well as another great hit entitled "Irgendwie, ...

and is so called since, having written the song, Nena was unable to settle on a title and so indicated its spot in the band's live set list with a question mark. It reached in the German charts in 1983. The lyrics written by Nena comprise the thoughts of someone racked by indecisiveness ("Today I'm coming, today I'm also going... Perhaps I'll stay, yesterday that wasn't for me, today I need endless love") but still adamant that they know what's best for them ("No-one can tell me what is best... and who is best... because I know exactly"). The song is a mainstay of Nena's live concerts and seems to be particularly popular with female fans although it is not uncommon for Nena to interrupt her performance of the song, apparently to laugh at the absurdity of the lyrics.See "Made in Germany Live" 2009 DVD In the middle of the version recorded for the 2004 album ''Nena Live Nena'' she says, "I felt so small when I wrote this". Like most of the band's greatest hits, was anglicised for the international album and then updated for the ''

Nena feat. Nena ''Nena feat. Nena'', also known as ''20 Jahre Das Jubiläums-Album'' (''20 Years The Anniversary Album'') is a studio album by German pop singer Nena. It contains new versions of her hits, some of them are duets with other singers, including Kim ...

'' album, which reignited Nena's solo career in 2002.

Track listing

Side A contains tracks 1 to 6 and Side B contains tracks 7 to 12.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Allmusic and Discogs.

Nena

Nena Kerner Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". In the same ye ...

– main vocals,

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

–

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, backing vocals, lead vocals on track 3 *

Carlo Karges Carlo Karges (31 July 1951 – 30 January 2002) was a German musician who became a guitarist and songwriter for the rock band, Nena. He wrote the lyrics of Nena's most famous song, "99 Luftballons", released in 1983. He was attending a 1982 Rolli ...

– guitar, backing vocals * Jürgen Dehmel –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Rolf Brendel Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. ...

–

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s, percussion

"? (Fragezeichen)" and "Lass mich dein Pirat sein"

* David Sanborn – saxophone *Ollie Cotton – engineering *Stanley Wallace – engineering

Technical personnel

*Imre Sereg – engineering (on all tracks, except "? (Fragezeichen)" and "Lass mich dein Pirat sein") * Manfred "Manne" Praeker – production * Reinhold Heil – engineer (on all tracks, except "? (Fragezeichen)" and "Lass mich dein Pirat sein"), production *Jim Rakete – cover design *Roman Stolz – cover design *Rico Sonderegger – mastering

Charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

''? (Fragezeichen)''
at the official Nena website * {{Authority control 1984 albums Nena (band) albums CBS Records albums German-language albums Albums produced by Reinhold Heil