It was the summer
of nineteen ninety nine
I was a young man in the starting of my prime.
Setting out
to see the northern lands
Where the sun set low
and the morning glow
knew the measure of every man.

In Galway Bay I met her
the one that I first loved
With raven hair and a gentle air
that wheeled the starlight in.

She said she had a sailor’s heart
And a fernweh of the soul
She loved her boys to be pretty
and that Hamburg was her home.

Well, my girl, I am here for you
Take me as I come, before you go and say
Auf Wiedersehen
Auf Wiedersehen
Never say goodbye
Because we’ll see each other
Once again
Many years from now
I’m sure, my friend.

So to Hamburg
to be with her again.
We went driving in her mini to making love by noon.

By the dusk
I told her of my love.
Then with rosy lips
she kiss my eyes
and told me of her man.

An older man, a gentle man,
with a mark or two she said.
He drove a black Mercedes
from 1982.

'Such is life' she whispered
and showed me to her door.
'If I were a little wolf I’d howl,
my lovely, too-young boy.'

Still, my love, we have some time,
Kiss me on my lips, before you go and say

Auf Wiedersehen
Auf Wiedersehen
Never say goodbye
Because we’ll see each other
Once again
Many years from now
I’m sure, my friend.

Now that day
comes back to me again
As the last time I ever saw her face.

Twenty years,
with a fernweh of the soul.
Yet all her words have stayed with me,
her final parting words:

“My kiss will only linger
a year or two at best.
By then you'll find another
and love will do the rest.

As mother used to say to me
a love one's never far:
They stay with us forever
as diamonds of the heart.”

So, my friend, I say to you
thank you for your love, before you go and say

Auf Wiedersehen
Auf Wiedersehen
Never say goodbye
Because we’ll see each other
Once again
Many years from now
I’m sure, my darling boy
Oh
Auf Wiedersehen
Auf Wiedersehen
Never say goodbye
Because we’ll see each other
Once again
Many years from now
I’m sure,

Oh Auf Wiedersehen
It’s just another way to say goodbye
Oh Auf Wiedersehen
It’s just another way to say goodbye!