Barbara's Rhubarb Bar
Barbara's Rhubarb Bar (Barbaras Rhabarberbar[1]) is a German novelty song based upon a tongue twister. Created in late 2023, a music video of the song became an Internet phenomenon, getting over 47 million views on TikTok within a few months.[2]
Creation
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 Präteritum tense.[4] In the Germanic languages, the words "Barbara", "rhubarb", "barbarian", and "barber", have a shared etymology, all originating from the Greek bárbaros, referring to foreigners, and literally meaning "babbler", as of a foreign language.[6][7]
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 says that he gets comedic ideas for tongue twisters from 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 Beyoncé on some streaming media music charts.[2]
The lyrics describe Barbara, who lives in a small village, and who creates an extraordinary rhubarb cake. She opens a bar to serve the cake. Three barbarians in the village love the cake so much that they come to the bar every day. They stop behaving barbarically, and go to a barber, who shaves them.[1][8][4][10][11]
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
Audrey Morgan writes that 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 cusine 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 is also a song about a woman named Veronika, whose ability to make asparagus grow gives rise to a double entendre.[2]
References
- ^ 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. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Rhabarberbarbara: A German Tongue Twister with English Translation". Learn German With Herr Antrim. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
- ^ Schmoll, Marie (February 2, 2023). "15 super long words in German that will knock your socks off". Berlitz. 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.
- ^ a b c d Morgan, Audrey (May 8, 2024). "Why Is a Rap Song About Rhubarb Cake Blowing Up on TikTok?". Food & Wine.
- ^ "Bodo Wartke:Barbaras Rhabarberbar". Lyrics Translate. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
- ^ "Bodo Wartke & Marti Fischer – Barbaras Rhabarberbar (English Translation)". Genius English Translations. Retrieved June 10, 2024.