"Autobahn" is a 1974 song by German electronic band

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

, released as the lead single from their studio album of the same name. The song was composed by

Ralf Hütter Ralf Hütter (born 20 August 1946) is a German musician and composer best known as the lead singer and keyboardist of Kraftwerk, which he founded with Florian Schneider in 1970, and became the only consistent member of the band (although he brief ...

and

Florian Schneider Florian Schneider-Esleben (7 April 194721 April 2020) was a German musician. He is best known as one of the founding members and leaders of the electronic band Kraftwerk, performing his role with the band until his departure in 2008. Early li ...

of the band, with

Emil Schult Emil Schult (born 10 October 1946) is a German painter, poet and audio-visual artist. Biography After studying Sinology in Münster, Schult joined the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf in 1969 to study Fine Arts in the printmaking class of Diet ...

collaborating on the lyrics. It was co-produced by

Conny Plank Konrad "Conny" Plank (3 May 1940 – 5 December 1987) was a German record producer and musician. He is known for his innovative work as a sound engineer and producer in Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scene in the 1970s. Plank was involv ...

, and is the band's first track to use sung lyrics. Recorded in 1974, the song is designed to capture the feel of driving on a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

. "Autobahn" is Kraftwerk's biggest hit in the US, reaching number 25 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Composition and lyrics

Unlike Kraftwerk's later work, "Autobahn" was only released with German lyrics, without a simultaneous English-language release. The main refrain "Fahren Fahren Fahren" was often mistaken for the English phrase "Fun Fun Fun" and thought to be a reference to the 1964

Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by thei ...

' song "

Fun, Fun, Fun "Fun, Fun, Fun" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1964 album '' Shut Down Volume 2''. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it is one of their early songs that defined the idyllic pop aesthetic later dubbed the " Ca ...

" to which band member

Wolfgang Flür Wolfgang Flür (born 17 July 1947) is a German musician, best known for playing percussion in the electronic group Kraftwerk from 1973 to 1987. Flür claims that he invented the electric drums the group used throughout the 1970s. However, pat ...

later commented: Ralf Hütter has said that The Beach Boys were an influence on the band, but described the song as a "sound painting", reflecting the band's experiences on tour. The song also included acoustic elements such as a flute played by

and atmospheric guitars. For this song a

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

was used to play the bass line, and an octave riff with added analogue echo. It also included use of a

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

to process some of the vocals and use of the

motorik Motorik is the 4/4 beat often used by, and heavily associated with, krautrock bands. Coined by music journalists, the term is German for "motor skill". The motorik beat was pioneered by Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with German experimental rock b ...

drum rhythm over the song's final section.

Release and reception

The original album version of the song lasts 22 minutes, but the song was edited down to 3 minutes for its single version. The song was Kraftwerk's first hit, reaching No. 11 on the British charts where it later was included in the UK compilation LP '' Exceller 8''. The single was also successful in other countries; it reached No. 25 in US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 43 in

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

. It also reached No. 9 in Germany and No. 12 in Canada. A 12-minute animated video of "Autobahn" directed by Roger Mainwood was released in 1979. "Autobahn" is widely considered to be one of Kraftwerk's greatest songs. In 2020, ''Billboard'' and ''The Guardian'' ranked the song number six and number five, respectively, on its lists of the greatest Kraftwerk songs.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Autobahn (Song) Songs about cars Songs about roads 1974 songs 1975 singles Kraftwerk songs Songs written by Florian Schneider Songs written by Ralf Hütter Songs written by Emil Schult Vertigo Records singles Philips Records singles