“The whistling was a result of me having no guitar when I was writing it. The record company called me and said: 'You have to take the whistle out.' I said: ‘No way’": The Scorpions' Klaus Meine on the making of Wind Of Change

The Scorpions have been talking about the inspiration behind their biggest hit – Wind Of Change – in a new interview with The Guardian.

The track was released in early 1991, when, with the Berlin wall having recently come down, bands were playing Eastern Europe and even the Soviet Union itself. And as vocalist Klaus Meine explains, the lyrics of Wind Of Change were largely drawn from the band’s first visit to Leningrad in the late '80s.

“When we did our first gig in what was then Leningrad, the atmosphere was a bit grey, not very colourful or rock n’ roll – but hearts started opening up over the course of the 10 gigs we did in the city. It ended up a bit like Beatlemania, with fans circling our cars after every show.”

The following year, the band played in Moscow, and saw the change in just 12 months. “When we played the Moscow Music Peace festival the following year, the soldiers in the stadium turned to face the bands, joined in the cheering and became part of the audience. It was like the world was changing in front of our eyes."

Arriving back in Germany, the singer started fiddling about on a keyboard. “It was one of those songs that comes from deep in your soul and you just try to express what you’ve lived through. The lyric refers to Moscow’s landmarks because when we played the festival there, all the bands went for a boat ride on the Moskva, all the way to Gorky Park."

Meine goes on to say that one of Wind Of Change's most memorable elements came about simply because of circumstance.

“The whistling was a result of me having no guitar when I was writing it.," he admits. "The record company in the US later called me and said: 'You have to take the whistle out.' I said: ‘No way.’ When the song went through the roof, the same guy came to me, bending over and saying: ‘Klaus, I was wrong. Please forgive me – you can kick my ass!’”

Wind Of Change was a worldwide hit, reaching Number One in several European countries and peaking at Number Four in the US chart. In the UK it was stuck behind Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do (I Do It For You) but then so were plenty of other records that year.

It’s became the Scorpions’ signature track and heard today – in a world so very different to the hopeful era of the early '90s - can’t helped but be tinged by sadness. “A line in Wind Of Change says: ‘We could be so close, like brothers’,’ says Meine. “That was exactly the way we felt at the Moscow Music Peace festival. Now, 35 years later, it’s like the clock is ticking backwards. It’s very sad.”