"Burli" is the name of a controversial song in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

band

Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung The ''EAV'' (Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung, German language, German for "First General Confusion/Uncertainty/'Uninsurance'") was an Austrian band, formed in 1977 and disbanded in 2019. Nino Holm first established a band called "Anti-Pasta", ...

. It is the eighth track of their album entitled '' Liebe, Tod & Teufel'' (''Love, Death and Devil''). The song is about a boy named Burli, who suffered mutations due to a nuclear power plant disaster. The incident is described as a "Super-GAU", which means the worst possible scenario in such circumstances in the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

. The song details how he suffers problems as a result of this, including having four hands with each having ten fingers, however no-one could play the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

as quickly as him. The story does have a happy ending as he marries his also-mutant neighbour Amelia (Auch sie hat einiges zuviel, als Andenken an Tschernobyl (she also owns to much rgans in memory of Chernobyl)). The song also mentions that he has more than one sex organ. The song reached number 41 in the German music charts on 6 June 1988 and remained in the charts for seven weeks. It also reached number 24 in the Austrian music charts on 15 June 1988 and remained in the charts for four weeks. The song is controversial because people believed it was making fun of people with disabilities, especially as it was shortly after the

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

, however one main trait of

is that they are known for singing songs about recent events. Because of that many radio stations boycott Burli.

External links

Musicline.de: Tracking Chart "Burli"
''(in German)''
Austriancharts.at: Hit Parade Position "Burl"
''(in German)''

''(in German)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Burli (Song) Austrian songs Comedy songs Songs about nuclear war and weapons Novelty songs Obscenity controversies in music 1987 songs