Barbara's Rhubarb Bar

Barbara's Rhubarb Bar [1] is a German and Dutch tongue twister that gave rise to a popular novelty song. The tongue twister is based on repetition of the sound "bar", and celebrates a well-liked seasonal dessert.

A German music video of the song, created in late 2023, became an internet phenomenon, getting over 47 million views on TikTok within a few months.[2]

Creation

Tongue twister

The German tongue twister, Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbier,[2] had existed in various forms before the creation of the song.[3] Such constructions have occurred since antiquity. A Vulgar Latin graffito about barbarians, reading "Barbara barbaribus barbabant barbara barbis", was found at Pompeii.[4][5]

In the Germanic languages, the words "Barbara", "rhubarb", and "barbarian" have a shared etymology, originating from the Ancient Greek βάρβαρος, referring to foreigners, and literally meaning "babbler", as of a foreign language; "barber" derives from the Latin barba, for "beard".[6]

Cultural context

Audrey Morgan writes that, contrary to some inaccurate English translations of the song lyrics, 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).[22]

Sarah Maslin Nir places the craze over the video in the context of rhubarb's place in springtime seasonal cuisine 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 was also a song popular around 1930, about a woman named Veronika, whose ability to make asparagus grow gives rise to a double entendre.[2]

External links

References

What is the Barbara Rhubarb dance and how did it turn into a TikTok trend? Sky News, May 5, 2024^
Sarah Maslin Nir. How Rhubarb Conquered Germany, Then the World The New York Times, June 1, 2024^
The Longest German Word

Song and videos

The song and the original music video were created in December 2023 by comedian Bodo Wartke and music producer Marti Fischer. Wartke had the idea of making a humorous rap-like song and video based on the tongue twister and wrote the lyrics, while Fischer created the music.[2][15][16] Wartke often makes comedic songs from German tongue twisters, which he says he frequently discovers on speech therapy websites.[16] When asked if Barbara is a real person, Wartke replied: "Sure! Unfortunately, I haven't met her yet." 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 town, and who creates an extraordinary rhubarb cake. She opens a bar to serve the cake. Three barbarians in the town love the cake – along with beer – so much that they come to the bar every day. They stop behaving barbarically, and go to a barber, who shaves them.[1][9][8][15][17]

The lyrics also make references to Barbapapa, a French children's book character, the song Aberakadabera by the Austrian band Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung, and the nonsense verse German children's song Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass.[18]

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][15] 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][15]

In 2024, Wartke and Fischer released a "Part 2" of the song and video. Similar in style to the original, the lyrics describe a bisexual relationship between Barbara and a woman named Bärbel, who get married in the bar, and have a baby named Emily.[19][20]

It was featured in October 2025 as an "Icon Series" emote in Fortnite.[21]