6. February 2025
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Songs Of My Life: Falco – Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2)

During a recent visit to Vienna in Austria, I recognized again, how much a certain song is touching me and giving me back memories. That’s simply the definition of a Song of my Life. In my series of posts, I feature an Austrian artist this time. Here is my story about Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2), by one of the most iconic pop artists of his country, Falco.

 

Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2) – The Story of the Song

Johann Hans Hölzel was born 19th February 1957 in Vienna. He is in fact a triplet, but his two other brother died during his mother’s Maria pregnancy. His father left the family later, so that he grew up at his mother. His later artist name Falco, is based on the name of the former G.D.R. ski jumper Falko Weißpflog. While Falco showed musical talent in early childhood years, his first fame in music was at the local punk rock band Drahdiwaberl. However, he was also part of other music projects and even was a jazz bassist. He played is first solo song, Ganz Wien, as an intermission song of the band. During Drahdiwaberl concert, producer Markus Spiegel saw Falco playing and signed him for three solo albums.

Already his 1982 debut album Einzelhaft was a massive success in Austria. It topped the charts and received a double platinum record. Remarkably, the album also peaked 64th in the United States. While the sophomore release Junge Römer was majorly successful in Austria only, his third album Falco 3 defined a global breakthrough. A key factor was the lead single Rock Me Amadeus. It did not only top the Austrian, German and British charts, but also Billboard Charts in the USA. Until today, it is the only German language song topping the charts in the USA and the United Kingdom. Falco had the opportunity to grow in North America, but decided to go back to his family, friends and especially his very influential mother.

 

Emotional

On 23rd October 1986, Falco released his fourth studio album, Emotional. The lead single was The Sound of Musik, which peaked fourth in Germany and Austria and also made it to the British charts. The second single release has been Coming Home, which comes with the subtitle Jeanny Part 2, Ein Jahr Danach, “Jeanny Part 2, A Year Thereafter”. The song directly references a song, which has been part of Falco 3, Jeanny (later also called Jeanny, Part 1). I will give some history of the song below.

While the stanzas of the song are in German, the chorus is in English:

Coming home, I’m coming home
Let me show you who I am
Let me show you I’m your man
I would give anything just to see you again

Coming home, I’m coming home
Let me show you that I care
Let me show you that I share
I would give anything to see Jeanny again

The song reflects about the story of Jeanny Part 1 and also the reactions about it. The song also quoted the first part of the Jeanny songs at the beginning. Majorly, though, it is a love song and about the feeling of home and comfort. The song topped the German charts and stayed in there for 16 weeks. In his come country, the second part of the Jeanny saga “just” placed fourth in the single charts.

 

Falco dies… and came back

With Emotional, Falcos success starts to fade. It is his last album topping the German charts. Only his 1992 album Nachtflug, his seventh overall, topped the charts in Austria. Falco was mentally exhausted, he more and more used drugs and alcohol. Another factor was that he found out that his daughter Katharina-Bianca (Vitkovic) is  not his biological daughter. As the support of his management is also fading, he aims to relief the pressure and thus moves to the Dominican Republic, where he has been working on new music.

On 27th February 1998, the eighth Falco album, Out of the Dark (Into The Light) has been released. However, three weeks before, on 6th February 1998, Falco died at a car crash in the Dominican Republic. Exiting a discotheque at Villa Montellano with his jeep, a regional bus hit him with way overspeed. Falco was later diagnosed of having a high concentration of alcohol and cocaine in his blood. There are also rumors that a relationship broke up briefly before. A suicide has been discussed, but the people close to him deny that theory.

The album, which was originally planned being called Egoisten, became a massive success. It topped the Austrian charts with a double platinum status. In Germany and Switzerland, it was a platinum album. A key driver of that success was the title track Out of the Dark, a double gold record in Germany. It features the lyrics Muss ich denn sterben, um zu leben (“Do I have to die to live”). Falco did not write the lyrics by himself, though.

After his death, two more albums have been released, containing previously unreleased material. Especially the 2009 The Spirit Never Dies album is remarkable, as it topped the Austrian charts again and peaked third in Germany. These recordings have originally been made in 1987, but the songs have been regarded being too weak.

 

The Jeanny song series

Likely, Falco intended to have a full series of Jeanny songs in his career. The first part, released as a single of the Falco 3 album in December 1985, was the most successful one. This was also driven by a scandal. Even though the lyrics don’t state it explicitly, the story of the song can be interpreted as the one of a stalker, who is kidnapping and raping his victim. A newscast-alike section and the music video partially underline that idea. The song topped the charts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, even though some radio stations decided to ban it.

There is a third Jeanny song, which is part of Falco’s 1990 album Data De Groove. It is called Bar Minor 7/11 (Jeanny Dry). On top of that, there are two posthum songs, which have never been authorized by Falco or his management. In 2000, the song Where Are You Now? (Jeanny Part III) has been released. The title track of the The Spirit Never Dies album has been subtitled with Jeanny Final and is quite an amazing song as well. Chronologically, it would be the third Jeanny song (as recorded around 1987). You don’t find these two songs on streaming platforms, but there are YouTube videos of it.

 

Falco in musical – Rock Me Amadeus at Ronnacher, Vienna

Due to his vast popularity, not only in Austria, it is not that surprising that there are multiple musical productions featuring the music of the Vienna artist. The one most influential to me (and to me, personally, the best) is Rock Me Amadeus, currently played at the Ronnacher theater in his home town, Vienna. It has been written in close collaboration with former friends and management and is very auto-biographical. An Alter Ego character is illustrating the inner struggle Falco had during his life, especially later in his career. This is very impressing.

Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2) is used twice in the musical. The first time, the song pops up when Falco decides not to push for an US career and rather go back to Vienna to be with his family and friends. It is also the last song of the musical, after his death. Two core moments of his biography, which are both very touching.

 

Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2) – My Story of the Song

In regards of music, I am deeply into the 1980’s. There are a couple of bands and songs of that era, which influenced me. Falco with songs like Rock Me Amadeus definitely influenced me. The more mature I get, the more I would state that he is to me the most iconic German-singing pop artist of all times. While I love the scandalous Jeanny (Part 1) would be worth an own Songs of my Life posting, part 2 of the Jeanny saga is definitely a more intense listen to me nowadays.

Home is a very complex and difficult topic to me. I am not a family person in a traditional sense. However, everybody needs a home somehow, a place to feel safe, to calm down, to relax, to feel loved. I sometimes feel more home when I see the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena, or when I am able to work for the Hungarian Floorball National Team than when I am at home in a “typical” manner. The more, I enjoy feeling home, or simply coming home. Thus, I can perfectly relate to the feeling Falco is expressing in his song. Maybe not his biggest commercial success, but one of his most emotional and personal tracks of his discography to me.

I never saw “Hansi” live

Just due to my age and his biography, I have never been able to see Falco live on stage. The more, Rock Me Amadeus touched me when I saw it twice at the Ronnacher. Maybe the second time, when a former Rock of Ages actor, Maria Pambori, has been on stage, was even more intense. What would pop music be like if there was no that crash of his car and the bus? He would have been able to enjoy the success of his album. And I would have been able to see him live. Stories like that motivate me to see live concerts of big artists – there might not be another chance to see them again.

Muss ich denn sterben, um zu leben? Unfortunately, Hans Hölzl might have been right about this. He is a legend. Thousands of people came to his funeral and it is still one of the most visited graves at the Vienna Central Cemetery. His mother Maria Hölzel died on 13th April 2014. Even though Hans Hölzl had an honorary grave at the cemetery, she was allowed to be buried next to her beloved son.

 

Songs Of My Life Playlist

I created a playlist with all the Songs Of My Life songs so far. It will be updated with very new episode:

 

 

Songs Of My Life

Here are the postings of the personal Songs Of My Life category:

 

Travel in Vienna

Here are all my travel postings related to the Austrian capital Vienna:

 

 

 

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