German tongue twister and novelty song
Bodo Wartke and Marti Fischer created a popular version of the song.
Barbara's Rhubarb Bar
(
Barbaras Rhabarberbar
[1]
) is a German
tongue twister
that gave rise to a popular
novelty song
. The tongue twister is based on repetition of the sound "bar", and celebrates a well-liked seasonal dessert. A
music video
of the song, created in late 2023, became an
internet phenomenon
, getting over 47 million views on
TikTok
within a few months.
[2]
Creation
[
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]
Tongue twister
[
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]
The German tongue twister,
Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbier
,
[2]
had existed in various forms before the creation of the song.
[3]
[4]
The tongue twister makes use of how
compounding
can result in
long words in German
,
[3]
where multiple individual words are combined into a single long word, without spacing.
[5]
It is constructed in the
Prateritum tense
.
[4]
In the
Germanic languages
, the words "Barbara", "rhubarb", "barbarian", and "barber", have a shared
etymology
, all originating from the
Greek
barbaros
, referring to foreigners, and literally meaning "babbler", as of a foreign language.
[6]
[7]
A particularly elaborate version of the tongue twister goes:
Nach dem Stutzen des Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbarts ging der Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbier meist mit den Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbaren in die Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbierbar zu Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbierbarbarbel um sie mit zur Rhabarberbarbarabar zu nehmen um etwas von Rhabarberbarbaras herrlichem Rhabarberkuchen zu essen und ein Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbier anzustoßen.
[4]
[a]
Song and videos
[
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]
The song and the original music video were created in December 2023 by
comedian
Bodo Wartke and
music producer
Marti Fischer. Wartke got the idea of making a humorous
rap
-like song and video based on the tongue twister, while Fisher created the music and lyrics.
[2]
[8]
[9]
Wartke often makes comedic songs from German tongue twisters, which he says he frequently discovers on
speech therapy
websites
.
[9]
When asked if Barbara is a real person, Wartke replied: "Sure! Unfortunately, I haven't met her yet."
[9]
The New York Times
reports that the video briefly ranked above
Beyonce
on some
streaming media
music charts
.
[2]
The lyrics describe Barbara, who lives in a small town, and who creates an extraordinary
rhubarb
cake. She opens a
bar
to serve the cake. Three
barbarians
in the town love the cake ? along with
beer
? so much that they come to the bar every day. They stop behaving barbarically, and go to a
barber
, who shaves them.
[1]
[4]
[5]
[8]
[10]
Numerous variations on the video were created by other people. Two young Australian women named Stephanie and Christina made a video in which they danced to the song, which got over 15 million views. After multiple other dance versions were created by other people, Wartke and Fischer posted their own dance version.
[1]
[2]
[8]
The popularity of the videos has been attributed in part to the decision of the
Universal Music Group
to stop releasing their content to TikTok, creating an opening for unaffiliated contributors.
[1]
[8]
Wartke and Fischer are scheduled to perform on
Let's Dance
, and there is a
grassroots
movement for them to represent Germany in the next
Eurovision Song Contest
.
[2]
Cultural context
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]
Rhubarb
streuselkuchen
Audrey Morgan writes that, despite some inaccurate English translations of the song lyrics, the rhubarb dessert in the song would not, in
German culture
, be a
rhubarb pie
; rather, it would likely be a
kuchen
-like cake, probably with a
streusel
topping (
streuselkuchen
).
[9]
Sarah Maslin Nir
places the craze over the video in the context of rhubarb's place in springtime
seasonal cuisine
in Germany. Rhubarb, along with
strawberries
and
white asparagus
, are treated as cause for merriment.
[2]
Tobias Hagge, another German musical comedian, notes that there was also
a song
popular around 1930, about a woman named Veronika, whose ability to make asparagus grow gives rise to a
double entendre
.
[2]
Notes
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]
- ^
In English:
After pruning the Rhubarb Barbara Bar Barbarian Beards, the Rhubarb Barbara Bar Barbarian Beard Barber mostly with the Rhubarb Barbara Bar Barbarians went to the Rhubarb Barbara Bar Barbarian Beard Barber Bier Bar to Rhubarb Barbara Bar Barbarian Beard Barber Bier Bar Barbel in order to take her along to the Rhubarb Barbara Bar in order to eat some of Rhubarb Barbara’s superb rhubarb pie.
[4]
References
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]
- ^
a
b
c
d
"What is the Barbara Rhubarb dance and how did it turn into a TikTok trend?"
.
Sky News
. May 5, 2024.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Maslin Nir, Sarah (June 1, 2024).
"How Rhubarb Conquered Germany, Then the World"
.
The New York Times
. p. A1.
- ^
a
b
"The Longest German Word"
. World Translation Center. January 17, 2017.
Archived
from the original on June 7, 2024
. Retrieved
June 7,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Rhabarberbarbara: A German Tongue Twister with English Translation"
.
Learn German With Herr Antrim
. Retrieved
June 10,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
Schmoll, Marie (February 2, 2023).
"15 super long words in German that will knock your socks off"
. Berlitz.
Archived
from the original on June 10, 2024
. Retrieved
June 10,
2024
.
- ^
Pruitt, Sarah (August 29, 2019) [original version May 19, 2016].
"Where did the word 'barbarian' come from?"
. History.com
. Retrieved
June 10,
2024
.
- ^
"Barbarian"
.
Online Etymology Dictionary
. October 4, 2022
. Retrieved
June 10,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Di Placido, Dani (May 30, 2024) [original version April 30, 2024].
"TikTok's 'Barbara's Rhubarb Bar' Trend, Explained"
.
Forbes
.
Archived
from the original on June 3, 2024
. Retrieved
June 7,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Morgan, Audrey (May 8, 2024).
"Why Is a Rap Song About Rhubarb Cake Blowing Up on TikTok?"
.
Food & Wine
.
- ^
External links
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]