"Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" is a 1984 song by Nena which was a commercial success in Europe. Released initially as single, it's been also included on Nena's 1985 album Feuer und Flamme. Due to the success, many cover versions of this song appeared, including samples as well as other languages. "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime" is an English-language variant of the song. In its various incarnations it has been Nena's second most successful song of all-time behind only "99 Luftballons". Both songs were written by Nena band members Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen and Carlo Karges and between them have had in the 21st century a near duopoly of being the final rock song that Nena plays at the end of her live concerts.
Original version
Described by Allmusic as a "towering all-time Nena classic", "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" is a love song, the singer saying that in the mists of time and space, now is the time for some tenderness "before the night returns". Although she didn't write them herself, Nena has suggested that the hookline refers to building sandcastles in Potsdamer Square in Berlin during the Cold War. Cold War Berlin is where Nena spent the few years immediately before becoming famous, at which time Potsdamer Platz was a desolate No Man's Land in the shadow of the Berlin Wall. The tender lyric is set to a rumbustious, free-flowing and catchy tune. "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" reached in the German charts in 1984. It was the last Top 5 hit Nena was to have in her homeland for 19 years until in 2003 she reprised the song as the duet "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime" with Kim Wilde as part of her 2002 career revival brought about by the triple platinum Nena feat. Nena album. The song also featured in the 2017 Netflix German science fiction thriller series Dark.
At the beginning of the music video a garage door opens, Nena emerges and runs through spider webs before finding a car. In the next scene, a group of people are seen removing the vehicle. Nena then appears in a pyramid and awakens a mummy by touching it. A soldier then joins Nena, trapped in the car. The video then cuts to the band performing the song at a live concert. Next the band's bassist is seen running away from a mechanical dragon before finding a safe spot where Nena joins him. After this, Nena is seen as a samurai but falls into a hole and is rescued by Rolf Brendel, the band's drummer and Nena's then boyfriend. In the remainder of the video, a few excerpts are repeated. The video was shot in the middle of Germany 1984.
In 1999 Jan Delay with Denyo and Beginner covered this song for the compilation album Das gibt's nur einmal of the TV project Pop 2000 by ARD and Viva. Just like the original this cover was also successful in Germany. Unlike the original, this version also contains a rap verse. The music video was filmed on a beach, starting with Jan Delay with a dog in his arms, and some women. While he performs the song, you can see fish and a couple of women swimming in the water. They also keep a few signs up showing among other things 77 and Nazis out. At the end of a radio clips will be thrown into the water.
An all-English version of "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" called "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime" was included on Nena's 1985 album It's All in the Game, but has never been released as a single. In 2002, celebrating twenty years of the beginning of her success in former Nena band, Nena recorded a new album Nena feat. Nena that contains a new version of the song with the combined English and German lyrics, performed with British singer Kim Wilde. The video was filmed outside the London Guildhall and in and around Change Alley, London EC3. It was a best-selling hit all over the European continent but was not released in the UK. Nena and Kim Wilde appeared together several times in 2003 to promote the single on various TV programmes, having first performed the song live during Nena's October 2002 concert in Frankfurt marking the 20th anniversary of her first hit record. Since then they duetted together again in 2006 on the re-make of "You Keep Me Hanging On" on Kim Wilde's Never Say Never album. They subsequently performed "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime" on a German TV programme marking Nena's 50th birthday in 2010 and at a joint concert in Saasveld, Netherlands on 13 December 2014.
In March 2016 the song was used as a base for a satirical song on Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by the TV magazine extra 3 of German broadcaster NDR titled "Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan". This version of the song sparked a minor diplomatic incident with Turkish government officials reportedly demanding of Germany's ambassador to Turkey that NDR desist from broadcasting it, causing a Streisand Effect where the video received millions of views and was subtitled in multiple languages, and indirectly sparked the Böhmermann affair.
