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TikTok trends rise and fall by the minute but one trend that has taken it by storm for months is people reacting to the ‘Rhubarb Barbara‘ German rap song from Bodo Wartke and Marti Fischer.
The song itself has been around since the early 2000s and quite possibly around a LOT longer as a tongue twister, but this new rap version by Bodo Wartke featuring Marti Fischer is the one that’s really taken over on TikTok. It is an earworm true and true. So much so that one doesn’t have to speak a word of German to enjoy this song and have it stuck in his head.
I’ve completely lost track of how many times I’ve come across this song on TikTok in the past few weeks but the main ‘Rhubarb Barbara’ rap song that people are remixing and reacting to was published to TikTok on December 18th of last year. It was shared to YouTube five days prior and has 750K views there but not quite the same viral success as on TikTok.
‘Rhubarb Barbara’ German Rap Song Explained In English
The premise of the song is explained below by TikTok user ‘Mike in Germany’ who translates ‘Rhubarb Barbara’ on the fly into English and it really illustrates how much of a tongue twister this track is. It’s not just ‘funny sounding’ words to us native English speakers that make this so great, it is truly an impressive feat that anyone can get through this tongue twister without slipping up.
Without further ado, here is ‘Mike in Germany’ translating ‘Rhubarb Barbara’ into English on the fly. It’s a tongue twister about a woman named Barbara who makes incredible rhubarb pies.
@mike_in_germany Replying to @Conrad Rivers Rhabarberbarbera = Rhubarb Barbara! In englisch!! Per your request! #english #rhubarb #barbara #rhubarbbarbara #pie #tonguetwister #zungenbrecher
The breakdown: in a small village, a woman named Barbara made the most excellent rhubarb pie. It was so good she received the nickname Rhubarb Barbara.
Realizing she could capitalize on her skills, Rhubarb Barbara opened a bar named The Rhubarb Barbara Bar where she sold these pies. Once the bar was up and running, Barbara had some regular customers and among them were three barbarians who came so often they got their own nickname of the Rhubarb Barbara Bar Barbarians.
These barbarians had thick beards that could only be trimmed by one specific barber. And because this barber was so skilled he wanted to share that news with the world and named his business to include the barbarians and the pie and the bar and wouldn’t you know, he loved to drink beer from the bar which also got its own nickname…
I’m honestly having trouble keeping track of this while typing it out. The fact that people can rap about this without mistakes is insane to me. But everyone gets the point from this ‘Rhubarb Barbara’ English translation, right? The whole point is that it twists your brain into a knot but as a rap song it goes hard.