Carlo Karges ( 31 July 1951 in Hamburg – 30 January 2002 in Hamburg ) was a German musician who became a guitarist and songwriter for the rock band , Nena . He wrote the lyrics of Nena 's most famous song , " 99 Luftballons " , released in 1983 . He was attending a 1982 Rolling Stones concert at the Waldbühne ( the " Forest Theatre " ) in West Berlin , when they released a large mass of helium balloons into the air . He wondered how East German or Soviet forces might react if the balloons crossed the Berlin Wall , and thus he conceived the idea for the song about a major war resulting from misidentification of a mass of balloons . Karges grew up with his single mother in Hamburg , and began as a student to play guitar and to compose songs . After he had gathered experience playing live in several different groups , including Tomorrows Gift and Release Music Orchestra , by 1971 he was the guitarist and keyboardist and founding member of Novalis
1982 Rolling Stones concert
The Rolling Stones European Tour 1982
Carlo Karges