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When his manager phoned Falco with the overwhelming news that he had reached number one in America with "Rock me Amadeus", the singer replied laconically: "Buddy, call me later. I have other problems, I have just changed the diapers of my daughter!" In Viennese dialect: "Oida, ruaf mi spaeter an. I hab andere Surgn, i hab naemlich grad mei Tochter gewickelt!" On the same evening, he confessed with tears in his eyes: "No, I cannot be happy about it, because I will never be able to achieve the same again!" For years, he would be still measured at this immense success, which he could not repeat any more.

The Falcon has landed

Lady Di and then Falco. One day a colleague came into my room. He was shocked about Princess Diana's sudden death. I was not. So many people have to go every day, whether they are famous or not. It feels unfair that we only take notice of celebrities. Half a year later, the newspapers were full of stories and speculations around Falco's death in yet another car accident. Some tried to enter his online condolence book with statements like: "Not the artistic character Falco has died, but the man Hansi Hoelzl..." and "I hope you have seen Jeanny!" He had been a typical Austrian, in his own words: Sometimes up, sometimes down. Once in a while high, then again depressed, unsteady and moving from one extreme to another, in a way he shared qualities with his namesake, the peregrine falcon, in Latin called "falco peregrinus". For many admirers from overseas he had been a one hit wonder. As his fellow countrymen though, we had followed his career over years, during the rise and decline of our favourite kind of music called Austropop.

Pioneer of Stutter-Rap. Following his breakthrough hit single "Don't turn around, the Commissar's in town" and the overwhelming success of "Come on and Rock me Amadeus", the first German language song ever to hit number one on the US Billboard Charts in March 1986, he proceeded with the alienation of empty notions by filling them with new life. In 1986 he used the Trapp family musical "The Sound of Music" for a song title, shortly followed in 1988 by the use of the Strauss-operetta "Wiener Blut (Viennese Blood)" for his own song composition. One of Falco's trademarks was his English-German-Viennese word mix. He had been ahead of his time as one of the first rappers, although some would call him stutterer instead. His arrogance was legendary. Once he sent a postcard with the following text to local performer Fendrich: "Dear Raini, good luck with your concert in Gramatneusiedl (a village south of Vienna). For sure it will go well. Kind regards from Falco, currently in Tokyo." Apart from the exceptional international success of Falco, the export opportunities of Austrian pop music were traditionally limited due to the usage of German language, up to local Austrian dialect spoken on the street.

With worldwide sales of over 60 million records in total, Falco would become the biggest-selling Austrian pop musician of all time. As one of his most quoted song lyrics puts it: "What's typical about me is, I'm untypical by all means." The song-trilogy "Jeanny" would be posthumously completed by the basement discovery of "The Spirit never dies" in a German old music studio.


Jeanny: Still Living on Dreams

Calculated Scandal. In January 1986, "Jeanny, Part I" from the 1985 album "Falco 3" was banned by several German radio stations for glorifying violence. Designed by Rob and Ferdi Bolland as the story of a girl, who runs away from home because the parents do not approve of her boyfriend, the song had been "falconized" during the recording session in the Hilversum studio near Amsterdam with a dark note. The fate of the missing girl remains a mystery. The music video shows the singer walking through the same sewers as Orson Welles in the 1949 post war movie classic "The Third Man". The "F" on Falco's shoulder is a direct reference to Peter Lorre in the Fritz Lang film noir "M - A city searches for a Murderer" from 1931. Falco is holding a seemingly lifeless girl in his arms, as he is harassed by sniffer dogs. As Jeanny is laid out funeral-like among numerous candles, she opens her eyes. Finally, strapped into a strait-jacket in a padded cell, he is still haunted by her illusion and screams her name: "Jeanny, quit livin' on dreams. Jeanny, life is not what it seems...." No wonder that the Austrian TV charts "Die Grossen Zehn - The Tall (Top) Ten" only featured a live video. Quickly fabricated buttons with the text "Jeanny Lebt - Jeanny Lives" didn't help the situation either, but just added more fuel to the flames of popular outrage. So many years later, in 2006, a real case was big news and I found myself back-translating passages from a book about the "Girl in the Cellar" published in the UK for a former colleague, who had been mentioned in it as a neighbour of the poor girl, while being convinced that the full truth was to come out still.

Return and Rip-Off. After the invaluable publicity and overwhelming commercial success, Falco's next album "Emotional" from October 1986 included the follow up-hit single "Coming Home" with the subtitle "Jeanny Part II, One Year Later". And while the singer had announced that he was planning for a trilogy, its third part was never officially released during his lifetime. In the year 2000, the song "Where are you now" appeared on the internet for download. It contained a newsflash, which announced that in the case of Jeanny, which attracted huge nationwide interest years ago, according to police report, the second shoe of the missing girl has been found. The police now assumes that Jeanny is still alive... Mixed with a new chorus by his former producers, the Bolland brothers, Falco's singing was in fact pieced together from the rare English version of the first "Jeanny"-song.

Basement Discovery. Then the real third part of the trilogy was found. The dismissed song idea had resurfaced during clean up after water damage in the archives of a recording studio in Frankfurt/Germany. "The Spirit Never Dies - We Last Forever" with the subtitle "Jeanny Final" was among other unreleased song material that had been originally recorded in 1987 with Falco's then-producer Gunter Mende but was rejected by the record company. Unhappy with the result, Falco went back to the Bollard brothers and made the album "Wiener Blut (Viennese Blood)", which he later called a "luke-warm record". A CD with the rediscovered treasures hit the shelves in late 2009. The new album was advertised on TV with the slogan: "Jeanny Part I - The Scandal, Jeanny Part II - The Return, Jeanny - The Final... undetected for over 20 years, a music-historical discovery!" Receiving mixed reviews, the song was praised as one of the few pieces of music, where you could actually hear Falco sing. A catchy tune from Falco's melodic phase, an average number which gained from the late release with bombastic arrangement that almost sounds too commercial for Falco. It probably had its reasons, why he never had it published during his lifetime. A distant memory and yet so familiar, "The Spirit Never Dies" sounds like a message from another world: "See the signs, understand time, to go beyond all limits and there was nothing strange to me about you." Whatever that means.

Pop Culture Stamps. People adore others up to a point where they dedicate them a webpage. Some icons even got their own stamp by the US Postal Service. In 1991 Laurel & Hardy were honored within the "Comedian Stamp" series, even Val would be part of a 1995 "Comic Strip Classics" edition just as Spider-Man as part of a "Marvel Super Heroes" commemorative stamp lineup. Ultimately, John Wayne got his own stamp as one of the "Legends of Hollywood" issued in 2004. That year the Austrian Post did strike back with the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stamp. The Mozart year 2006 saw a brand new stamp with Falco's portrait, dressed up in Amadeus-wig... Come on and rock me, I guess.


Out of the Dark: Into the Light

Only Austrian Pop Star. In one way or another it all ends, as it should, with the death of Falco, one of the few if not the only really internationally recognized Austrian pop star, who died in a car crash in his self-chosen exile, the Dominican Republic, in February 1998. They played Falco's cover version of the Dylan classic "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" at the funeral. Long bearded rockers in leather jackets carried the coffin to its final rest in the Central Cemetery of Vienna, in good company of Beethoven, Strauss and musicians. Vienna has got a reputation as a morbid city, where a nice funeral serves as a final status symbol. Falco used to say: "In Vienna you must at first die so that they celebrate you. But then you live long!"

Posthumous Comeback. In the book "Falco: The Truth", his long-time manager Horst Bork recaps very good and very bad times, when Falco often reflected on being the sole survivor, the last born of triplets, after all hope had been already given up. He started his life as one, who was not expected any more. The line "for must I die in order to live" in Falco's posthumously released album "Out of the Dark: Into the Light... I give up and close my eyes" would be over-interpreted as a presentiment of his own death. Just like with Mozart when he wrote the requiem - his music living on, his character an icon on chocolate balls and in the pop song "Rock me Amadeus" now. A movie titled "Damned, we are still alive" opened around the 10th anniversary of Falco's death. Who knows what kind of candy will one day feature Falco's face?

In Retrospect, Things look different. Reflecting Falco's end is one thing. Commenting his excessive lifestyle, oxygen enrichment of his blood before concerts that helped him to regain his fitness after excessive party nights, habits that inevitably lead to his too early end. Another is having a drink over problems, only to find out they can swim, as an old friend used to put it. You may think of relocation and things left behind. You catch yourself listening to old songs, which bring back more memories. In order to share with international contacts, you sum up your thoughts in English. Trying to do the undoable, explain a feeling, transfer a colloquial phrase, a German pun, into generally understandable format. As if it was important. But somehow small things count, really.

In 1984, Falco had been "Hoch wie nie - High as never". The music video had him dancing on airplane wings at the Worlds Largest Aircraft Graveyard in Tucson, Arizona. Later the song "Vienna Calling" contained a reference in the line: "Whether in Tucson, Arizona, Toronto, Canada, Vienna, only Vienna, you know me up, you know me down." The "Ehrenhain - Grove of Honour" in Group 40 is where Vienna was calling Falco for a very last time. Up to this day it remains a pilgrimage site for local and international fans of his music.

The "Falco-Steps" are found at the subway stop Chain-Bridge-Street (Kettenbrueckengasse) near the "Naschmarkt" open air grocery market, not far from his first apartment in the 5th district of Vienna. The street sign reads (in approximate translation): "Falco John Woods, pop singer, in 1986 conquered international charts with Rock me Amadeus."

A picture from better days: With Falco at Madame Tussaud's Waxworks in Vienna. Austria's only pop star can be seen in typical pose, singing into a mike. His songs have moved generations of young adults in the heart of Europe and all over the globe. But as so many, he left too early...

Postcard with a stamp commemorative collection by the US Postal Service and the Austrian Post, from Laurel, Hardy & Wayne, even Price Valiant and Spider-Man to the "Styrian Oak Tree" Governor Schwarzenegger and Falco in Amadeus costume.

A stone plaque decorates the building in 37 Brick-Kiln Lane (Ziegelofengasse) in Vienna-Margarethen: "In this house Falco lived from 1974 - 1982. Here he wrote his first world hit The Commissar." He had a small basin flat (Bassenawohnung) with lavatory on the corridor, above the pub "Old Barrel" and right across the street from his parent's old apartment, today a public housing complex. Ten years after his death, Fans had collected signatures for a petition that the street, where he grew up, should be renamed into "Falco Road", which obviously didn't happen.

Gee, OMG and "Na Servus". A "Servus-TV"-show with the title "Must I die in order to live?" celebrated that 25 years ago Falco had climbed the US charts with "Rock me Amadeus". The DoRo-documentary attempted to dig out "untold stories" of the only Austrian pop star and followed his tracks in the 5th district of Vienna. "Sights" included the street where he had grown up and the public staircase, which had been named "Falcostiege - Falco-Steps" five years after his death. Falco-pilgrimage sites would include a nearby discotheque, which is named after the underground line no.4 and mentioned in Falco's song "That Scene (Ganz Wien)". Its lyrics contain the line "Im U4 geigen die Goldfisch - In the U4 the goldfish fiddle", which is underground slang for "In a disco near the subway the rich girls play". Oh my, what do you say, or as he would have put it: "Na servus!"

Flooded Castle of Sand. Coming to terms with her own past, his daughter, who had turned out not to be his biological child, wrote the book "Falco was my father". Among others, she recalled that her dad wrote the song "Emotional" for her mom. Its lyrics included the remarkable confession: "I know that the woman, who can stand me, is not born yet. But I beg you, come into the world!" Occasional normal family life before split up and paternity test had scenes from holidays together. Building a sand castle with her father in Tenerife, he told her, if they would dig all the way through the earth, they would come out in China. Digging deeper and deeper, the ditch around the castle would fill with more and more water. Laconically, her dad told her that the Chinese didn't want them to come visit...

So much for Pop Music Idols.
Let's now go to Heurigen Evergreens.


"Where is your shoe? You lost it, when I had to show you the way. Which of us lost? You, yourself? I, myself? Or... we ourselves?
Wo ist dein Schuh? Du hast in verloren, als ich dir den Weg zeigen musste. Wer hat verloren? Du, dich? Ich mich? Oder wir uns?"
(Falco, 1985, Jeanny)