90th birthday of Udo Jürgens: An honorable entertainer in a class of his own

The fact that the remains of Udo Jürgens (1934-2014) were only buried almost six months after his death on December 21, 2014 has to do with his gravestone. And with the stubbornness of an exceptional artist who always wanted to be more than a shallow crooner.

The entertainer suddenly collapsed on a Sunday afternoon while walking with his personal assistant Billy Todzo (73) and his dog Lucky and, after unsuccessful resuscitation measures, was declared dead a short time later in the hospital in his last place of residence, Münsterlingen in the Swiss canton of Thurgau.

Final tour of a German-speaking world star

After his death, the ashes of the Austrian superstar went on one last tour. In January 2015, the urn was placed in Vienna, Zurich and Berlin to give his fans the opportunity to say goodbye to him in person. At this point, Jürgens’ surviving family was already working at full speed to accommodate the singer’s final wishes in an appropriate manner. Under no circumstances did he want to find his final resting place underground; even after his death, he wanted to remain part of world events above ground.

His younger brother Manfred Bockelmann (81) played a key role in fulfilling this last wish. The painter and photographer, who is very well known in Austria, took on the design of a grave that was intended to take his brother’s wishes into account and also monumentally illustrate his status as a German-speaking world star.

At the official burial of the deceased’s urn on May 9, 2015 at Vienna’s Central Cemetery, it became clear why almost six months had passed. The implementation of the gravesite design by the renowned sculptor Hans Muhr (1934-2022) took time. It was a six-ton ​​sculpture of a concert grand piano covered with a cloth, the side of which was adorned with the golden name “Udo Jürgens”. The urn is embedded in the middle of the marble block and thus finds its final resting place above ground, as requested.

While opinions differed on the aesthetic assessment of the marble tomb, another curiosity about the legendary grave made waves in the media, which would probably have caused amusement and some satisfaction for the late artist.

Incorrect song lyrics on a golden gravestone

a misquoted line of text from the Udo Jürgens song “I’ll leave you everything there” from 1999 was found on a grave slab in front of the marble grand piano during the burial. Instead of the line “You are the sheet music that was everything for me “, it read “You are the sheet music that was everything to me.” During the immediate re-engraving, another error promptly crept in. Now the other chorus lines instead of “I’ll leave you everything – I’ll leave you everything there” incorrectly said “I’ll leave you everything there – I’ll leave you everything there”. This error was also corrected immediately, so that the text on the golden gravestone is now finally displayed correctly.

Because it was the lyrics that mattered to Udo Jürgens, after all he was not only an interpreter, but often also his own composer and songwriter. As “Bild” reports, the artist was always very pedantic about his song lyrics. And throughout his long career, he took great risks with his texts in order to remain true to himself.

Critical soundtrack to the history of the Federal Republic

After his musical beginnings in the classic hit genre, he later increasingly broke the narrow boundaries of the genre and often addressed current social issues in his lyrics. Over the decades he also produced a kind of soundtrack to the story.

His probably best-known hit “Greek Wine” from 1974 is much more profound than the chorus, which invites you to sing along, would initially suggest when you listen to it superficially. In the song, Jürgens by no means used the usual hit clichés about southern joys of life, but rather, for the first time in his musical field, addressed with the greatest empathy the living situation of the so-called “guest workers” who longed to return to their homeland in the evening with a glass of wine in the pub .

The following year, the singer astonished everyone with the release of his song “An Honorable House”, in which he openly denounced the bourgeois nature of post-war society. The text deals with the bigoted residents of an apartment building who want to banish a couple living in a “wild marriage” without a marriage license from the house.

Jürgens continued to comment on social issues in numerous other pieces until his death, always making his own moral standpoint clear.

Scandal surrounding his song

In 1988 he even caused a real scandal with one of these songs. With the piece “Go and multiply”, in which he sharply criticized the “condom ban” of the then Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) in view of a rapidly growing world population and the devastating spread of AIDS. This ultimately caused such waves in the more conservative circles of the population that Bayerischer Rundfunk finally officially removed the song from its program for some time. Udo Jürgens didn’t care that he offended part of his fan base with his clear socio-political message. As he repeatedly emphasized in his own statements, his aim was to combine entertainment with attitude.

His daughter Jenny Jürgens (57), who manages the famous father’s musical legacy with her brother John (60), remembered the scandal surrounding “Go and multiply” a few days ago and also discussed the general socially critical tendency in the music industry Work by Udo Jürgens.

There she said: “I was 15 years old when the song was put on the index and was no longer allowed to be played, I thought that was really cool. Our father came out of the hit and then left a safe ship that supports his family and gave him all the security. You first have to have the courage.”

Political messages without axes and shouting

Her father always wanted to be political, but “never started with an axe” but made his point of view clear “without shouting or waving around excitedly.” With this subtle and careful approach he was ultimately able to reach many more people than with a more brutal approach.

“He never wanted to hurt anyone,” said Jenny Jürgens. “But he was very aware of the world’s atrocities. He spoke out clearly against racism. The poor man would despair with the AfD these days.” Her father also found clear words about Donald Trump (78) – and incorporated them into his songs without “considering his career or his record sales.”