German folk music

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: IanC
Date: 10 Sep 01 - 07:50 AM

Wilfried

Thanks for all. Will get back to corrections and everything when I can.

:-)
Ian

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Ringer
Date: 10 Sep 01 - 09:31 AM

Susanne knows more than I [Wolfgang] do about German folk...

Wow! (that's an expression of amazement at Susanne's knowledge, not at Wolfgang's bashfulness)

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 10 Sep 01 - 06:02 PM

Actually, my knowledge is limited too, so I'm still waiting for someone to give us the benefit of their real and extensive knowledge ...
I've also considered posting more modern German song lyrics here, but as I don't manage the things I've promised to do so far, on Mudcat and elsewhere, this plan has to be abandoned till I retire from my job in about 15 years.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: GeorgeH
Date: 11 Sep 01 - 08:09 AM

We'll be waiting, Susanne . . .

Oh, and regarding your remark that Wacholder toured with Dick Gaughan after re-unification . . it's worth noting that Gaughan has long-standing connections with Germany; one of his finest albums ("Different Kind of Love Song") was recorded for Folk Freak (now Wundertute, I believe) and he appeared on a couple of other albums of theirs. Plus he had a longstanding "critical friendship" with a University professor in the GDR . .

Did you ever get to do that interview with him, by the way?

George

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 12 Sep 01 - 03:13 AM

Edmund,

the night visiting song I wrote you about you can find on my special page for mudcatters
It just fits the description you gave on Sep. 6: boy knocking at girl's window and begging her to let him in.
Wolfgang's hint to "Dat du min Leevsten büst" doesnt fit, methinks. It is an invitation by a girl to visit her, and she is describing the way to her bedroom by entering the door.

Wilfried

Subject: Lyr Add: TRINA
From: Wolfgang
Date: 12 Sep 01 - 06:59 AM

One more 'night visiting song' from the North of Germany in Frisian language, barely understandable for Germans:

Trina

1. Trina, kumm mal vör de Döör, kumm mal'n beten rut!
Ik will di wat Nees vertelln un du büst miene Bruut. (x2)

2. Nee, dat warr ik blieven laten, Moder paßt uns op.
All de Döörn de sünd verdslaten, un keen Minsch kann rop. (x2)

3. Tööf, ik will de Ledder hal'n, de an'n Hauböhn steiht.
De will ik an't Finster setten, wat na Straat nät geiht. (x2)

4. Doch de Olsch, de harr wat markt, se keem de Stuuv herut!.
Tööf, di schall de Dü:vel hal'n un Tina diene Bruut. (x2)

5. Hans de dach, de Düvel keem un dat seeg ok meist so ut.
He leet Strümp un Tüffel stahn un sprüng ut't Finster rut. (x2)

6. So rönn de den Hoff henlang, un denn to'n Doorweg rut.
Sien Büx de blev up't Heck behang'n, un dat seeg putzig ut. (x2)

content: "Trina" is a funny and jolly song of courtship in the Frisian fashion, namely that of love and bonking before marriage. Our hero, Hans, persuades his intended, Trina, that the time was ripe and he would fetch a ladder to gain access to her bedroom and then perform the necessary ceremonies. This was duly accomplished but our happy pair were rudely disturbed by Trina's mother, a kill-joy if ever there was one. Hans, believing her mother to be the devil, jumped out of the window and fled for his life leaving not only Trina behind, but also his trousers.

both song and description copied and pasted.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: GUEST,Ranks (writing from Work)
Date: 12 Sep 01 - 07:32 AM

Hi,

I would like to add a collection I found in the University Library in Bochum. The Parson Louis Pinckh (I cannot remember the Proper spelling) collectes Songs in the Elsace Area. The four Books are full of wonderful german songs, none of the revival Bands ever performed (except me once or twice).

After all, I do not think German Folkmusic is better or worse than English or Irish. True, it has been abused by Nazis, but you cannot blame the songs, can you? I am sure, if you translated some English songs into German, the German-Irish Bands would not sing it any more. The tunes and dances are a really a bit simple, but so are the English Dance Tunes played by the Old Swan Band, Flowers and Frolics etc. If you listen to some of the Jimmy Shand Tunes, they could almost be played by German Oompah bands. If they were, German folkies would hate them. Mind you, the famous Jimmy Sturr Polka Band from USA plays a tune called "Krakowiak" which is the same as Liederjan recorded on one of their albums. The same tune exists in England (I forgot the name) an was recorded by the Old Swan Band.

Greetings,

Ranks

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 12 Sep 01 - 04:58 PM

Wilfried, Wolfgang was quite correct - 'Dat du min Leevsten buest' is THE Low German night visiting song. Whenever I hear one of the innumerable maudlin renditions preferred by our radio stations (and some bands) I ask myself, Don't they realise this song is about SEX?
Slight correction to Wolfgang's last post as well (sorry!): The language of 'Trina' isn't Frisian but Low German, from the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein where I was born. I would have a lot more trouble understanding it if it was Frisian, but I was brought up speaking Low German, and the lyrics are quite familiar.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Snuffy
Date: 12 Sep 01 - 07:25 PM

Night visiting:

Komm Du to Middernacht
Komm Du Klock een
Fadder slöppt, Modder slöppt
Ik slöpp aleen

Sorry if the spelling's not right. Is this Theodor Storm? Has it alreay been mentioned? (I couldn't see it)

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 13 Sep 01 - 03:31 AM

Snuffy,
it's not a Storm poem, but the second stanza of the song "Dat du min Leevsten büst", referred to above. By the way, T. Storm wrote in High German; until now I didn't find poetry done by him in Low German.

Susanne,
no dispute about the qualities of "Dat du ...", but nevertheles it doesn't fit to Edmunds question about boy knocking at girl's and begging to be let in.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: GeorgeH
Date: 13 Sep 01 - 07:46 AM

You can talk about "knocking up" girls, but not "knocking at" them, as far as I know . .

Sorry, couldn't resist the smart-arsed comment - I know you meant at their windows . .

G.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 13 Sep 01 - 05:53 PM

Sorry, Wilfried, whatever you believe, it IS about a boy coming to visit his girl at the dead of knight! The unusual thing is it's sung from the girl's viewpoint, and she advises him to knock at her chamber door. Actually, there is one little-known verse where she guides him to her bed through the dark room. (This could be a later addition, but it's in keeping with the original.)

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 14 Sep 01 - 03:14 AM

George,
beg your pardon. I omitted "window".

Susanne,
alle meine Liederbuecher fuehren nur 3 Strophen, die 3. beginnt: "Fat an de Kammerdöör...". Bitte schick mir die 4. Strophe.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Rollo
Date: 14 Sep 01 - 05:02 PM

In the Lower Saxony town of Scheessel the traditonal dance group "The Beekscheepers" have preserved a lot of northern german dances including music and dance patterns, along with original dresses. (Most folklore groups only have re-designed dresses, because no original clothes were preserved, I was told). The most precious pieces are a the so-called "Scheesseler Bunte" dances, which originate in this town and were preserved till today. I was told they are quite famous in the "scene".

They have produced a CD, wich includes dance tunes from northern germany, denmark, sweden and norway, but I strongly recommend a visit to Scheessel on may 1st, when there is "Season's Opening" in the museum every year, to hear and see them live, or visiting the big "Internationales Trachtenfest" folklore show, every two years in summer, when they invite guest groups from germany and all over the world.

If anyone is interested in the original "Scheesseler Bunte" dance tunes including dance patterns I will be glad to establish a contact to their band leader (wich happens to be my brother...). Just send end me a personal message.

They also have a homepage: www.beekscheepers.de www.beekscheepers.de

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: CET
Date: 26 Oct 01 - 09:54 AM

"Ich hatt' einen Kameraden" finally arrived the day before yesterday.

The book is beautifully printed, and even with my limited German it's obvious that it is a very scholarly work, from the point of view of military history as well as folklore. It has the words and lyrics to hundreds of songs. It made me want to run out and sign up for German lessons. I am definitely going to learn some of these songs.

There are two CDs included. They are nothing less than stunning. The singing is a little rough, but very effective. The arrangements are unlike any German music I've ever heard. This is why I started this thread in the first place. The songs .... I hardly know what to say. Can you imagine what it was like for someone like me, who knows a bit about Irish folk music, but next to nothing about the German equivalent, to hear " 's ist Alles lauter Falscheit" sung to the tune of "The Bonny Light Horseman"? This is the story of the ordinary soldiers of the Napoleonic wars becoming real in the 21st century. Now I wonder, did the Germans learn this tune from the Irish or vice versa?

Not cheap at all, but worth every pfennig.

Wolfgang: I owe you one(in fact, several)for putting me on to these CDs.

Edmund

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 26 Oct 01 - 05:42 PM

Edmund, the most likely answer is that it is a modern arrangement where the Irish tune was used. I've known this happen with many German bands who were steeped in Irish (Celtic?) music before they discovered German material. I have a poem by Theodor Storm (19th century, native of the North Sea shores between Hamburg and the Danish border) set to an Irish tune. Very strange when I first heard it! There are others I can't remember just now. (I'll have to supply toadfrog with another set of CDs before long. There is so much I should have sent but didn't!)

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: CET
Date: 26 Oct 01 - 06:08 PM

Susanne:

That's certainly possible, and you can hear the Celtic influence in the arrangements. However, the book is so thoroughly researched, that I'm guessing Uli Otto and Eginhard Konig (sorry, no umlauts) made an effort to use authentic tunes. Also, you can't discount the close contacts between German and British soldiers during the 18th centuries and the Napoleonic wars - the King's German Legion and other units serving with the British, and Irish and Scottish mercenaries serving in any number of European armies. The authors say that the words and melody for this song are "Anonym, um 1813/14".

There's another tune on the first CD which is a German version of "Ho ro, my nut brown maiden."

Edmund

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wolfgang
Date: 29 Oct 01 - 05:37 AM

Edmund,

I'm glad you liked it. I'll have to wait until Christmas for a pleasant surprise (well, kind of surprise).
I've profited yet from so many tips, hints and helps in Mudcat in many ways, I'm just glad one of my hints turned out to be helpful.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 29 Oct 01 - 03:47 PM

Irina sensibly started a new thread, so please send your contributions here! I'm hoping to add the missing verse of 'Dat Du min Leevsten buest' there soon.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Feb 07 - 04:10 AM

David Engle, host of the Traditional Ballad Index, has a new pet project, The German Ballad Index. Take a look.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 20 Feb 07 - 06:16 AM

Thank you, Joe

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: alanabit
Date: 06 Apr 07 - 03:30 PM

I have mentioned Klaus der Geiger before in a thread about German folk music. Here he is at last, on You Tube.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: GUEST,Clueless in Seatttle
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 12:42 AM

In the seventies (?) eighties (?) a German Heavy-Metal
group called "Accept" used a snippet of a old German folk
melody in the intro of a song called "Fast as a Shark."
Apparently they intended for it to be a funny contrast to
the screaming metal assault on the eardrums which followed, but
the song had some WW2 connotations of which they were unaware at
the time they recorded the album.

Recently, I heard that same German folk melody again, during
a scene from the movie "Schultze Gets the Blues." The chorus
of the song goes something like "Heidi Heido Heida" and if it
has any other lyrics, I've never been able to make them out.
Connotations notwithstanding, it's a very infectious little
melody and I have had absolutely ZERO success in tracking
down the name of this tune. Can anyone help?

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: MudGuard
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 02:00 AM

Look at Ein Heller und ein Batzen

(here it is "Heidi Heido Haha" but although "Heidi" is a girl's name, "heidi heido heida" or "heidi heido haha" is just like "di diddle dum di diddle di" in English songs - just some funny syllables")

"Heller" and "Batzen" are old currency units.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 08:56 AM

Not so sure we've *quite* found it yet...but thank you
for your prompt response. I'm not going to give up!! :)

LS

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: oggie
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 10:30 AM

I have a vague memory of Roger Watson talking about doing some research in one of the German archives way back. The snag was that it had been assembled by the Nazi regime and was thus considered "tainted".

Back in the early seventies he used to sing his translation of at least one of the songs he found there "The Farmers Wife" or "Gathering Corn" I think it was called.

All the best

Steve Ogden

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 07:44 PM

Dear Herr Mudcat...

you were CORRECT!!! It was, indeed, "Ein Heller und
Ein Batzen." I found out by spending WAY more time online
than any sane person would have, actually tracking down
the current whereabouts of one of the musicians who used to
be in the Heavy Metal band who used this tune in the intro...
and he was kind enough to email me back!!!! Now I'm off
to try to find a more conventional version of this song
on a recording for sale, so I can finally hear the whole
thing. :)

Thank you again for your help!!

Lauralee

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 02:02 AM

oggie - the original must have been Ins Heu:
A farmer is persuaded by his wife to make hay but he returns stealthily an traps her with a cavallerist.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: MudGuard
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 02:13 AM

Lauralee, Herr Mudcat is Max. I am only MudGuard ;-)
But I am glad if I could help.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: toadfrog
Date: 13 May 07 - 10:16 PM

I am trying to find the rest of the words to a song that Martha Schlamme used to sing. I feel almost certain it's an old standard, but I cannot locate it on the web--maybe because I remember some of the words incorrectly. It begins:

Abends bei Mondenschein ging ich spazieren.
abends bei Mondenschein ging ich spazieren,
in den Hausgärtelein
in den Hausgärtelein
bei Mondenschein.

Sah ich ein Mägtelein, wohl ganz alleine,
Sah ich ein Mägtelein, wohl ganz alleine,
in den Hausgärtelein
in den Hausgärtelein
bei Mondenschein.

Mägtlein, was machst du hier, so ganz alleine? [etc.]

Does anyone know the rest of the song? And if the words I remember are incorrect, where is my mistake?

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 14 May 07 - 02:28 AM

Hi toadfrog,

be sure that your char code is Western (ISO-8859-1) before reading

NOT "Abends" BUT "Gestern"
NOT "in den" BUT "in das"
NOT "Mägtelein" BUT "Mägdelein"

Hearing Martha Schlamme sing 203 Bei Mondenschein it was no wonder that I didn't find the song with your beginning.

It is in ingeb.org
in a slightly different version, seeming to be incomplete (Mägdlein, was machst du hier ... missing)
3. NOT "ich bin", BUT "ich bind'"

In another link I found it listed in a songbook which we don't have in the university library - but! I own it myself and shall look it up this evening. If it is really in there you'll get the words soon.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: GUEST,Joh of Elsie`s Band
Date: 14 May 07 - 09:59 AM

For a fine example of modern German folk try "Konigskinder" on their cd "Deitsch". And Gudrun is such a cracker!!
                                                 John

Subject: ADD: Gestern bei Mondenschein
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 16 May 07 - 04:14 AM

Char code Western (ISO-8859-1)

Hi toadfrog - as promised:

Gestern bei Mondenschein

1. Gestern bei Mondenschein
ging ich spazieren
in dem Hausgärtelein,
in dem Hausgärtelein
bei Mondenschein.

2. Da saß ein Mägdelein
wohl ganz alleine
in dem Hausgärtelein, ...

3. Mägdlein, was machst du hier
so ganz alleine
in dem Hausgärtelein, ... ?

4. Ich bind ein Kränzelein
von grünen Zypressen
in dem Hausgärtelein, ...

5. Es soll dem Liebsten sein,
wenn er wird kommen
in das Hausgärtelein, ...

Bruder Singer : Lieder unseres Volkes
   Kassel : Bärenreiter, 1960
(Bärenreiter-Ausgabe ; 1250)
pg. 151

Sing and enjoy
Wilfried

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 16 May 07 - 04:24 AM

Hi oggie - coincidence:
At the Eurogathering two weeks ago fidjit sang "Gathering Corn" and was more than baffled when the Germans fell in with the chorus in German.
He also sang a version of the chorus in Norwegian, and told us that the song is also known in Romania, Moldavia, and other countries.
So I'm not so sure whether they are all translations of the German folksong. Maybe the song is common property of many languages.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: toadfrog
Date: 16 May 07 - 10:57 PM

Thanks so much! Especially for the link; I had not listened to that recording in 40 years or so, and did not go looking for it until a few days ago. It was gone!

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: CET
Date: 21 May 07 - 01:19 AM

I was clicking through the channels on the TV in my hotel room in Geilenkirchen yesterday afternoon in a fruitless search for the Heineken Cup final (3 bloody news channels but no Sky Sports) when, to my delight, I came across a German talk show in which the guests were talking about, wait for it, German folk songs! My German is too limited to understand much of what they were saying, but I was able to gather that they were talking about the attitude that Germans have to their own folk songs. Somebody talked about going to France and hearing French people singing French songs in public. Somebody else said something about a time when the singing of German folk songs was (ordered? compulsory? I may have missed something in the context). I could also pick out some references to the Nazi era. One of the guests, a tall, distinguished man with a trimmed grey beard got up to sing a folk song, accompanying himself on the guitar and my breath was taken away. He had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard from a male folk singer, barring Paul Robeson. There are perhaps one or two singers now alive that I have heard and would place in his class. Luckily for me, they put a title on screen identifying him - Hannes Wader. As soon as I get home I intend to buy every recording of his that I can find. It's safe to say that he is just about completely unknown to English speaking folk music fans - what a shame.

Edmund

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 21 May 07 - 02:47 AM

Old Hannes Wader - sorry to have missed hm. He was one of the famous three Berliners, the others being Reinhard Mey and Ulrich Roski, often performing together.. Only Mey is still in business with some well made songs, of the others you don't hear much. Hannes Wader went on political tracks with his songs, maybe his leftist touch isn't liked nowadays so much by so many.

And nice to hear from you. Regards to C.
Wilfried

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: CET
Date: 21 May 07 - 10:08 AM

And cheers to you, too, Wilfried. I can put up with his leftist politics, particularly if he sings trad songs. (He's a hell of a guitar player, from what I could judge)

We are working with a young German lawyer who didn't recognize the name Hannes Wader, so I see your point about not hearing much of him these days. He sure hasn't lost any of his musical chops, and didn't look particularly old apart from grey hair.

Edmund

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Leadbelly
Date: 21 May 07 - 11:46 AM

"Only Mey is still in business with some well made songs, of the others you don't hear much."----Wilfried

Well, because he is physically unable to do so you cannot hear much of Ulrich because he died in 2003.
Concerning Hannes it is a matter of fact that 2 month ago he performed a well recognized concert in Munich and other cities. I don't believe that his long career can be characterized by the term lefty. He still has a broad spectrum of songs (critical ones, sarcastic ones and flat-german songs). A typical lefty was Dieter Süverkrüp. To be critical does not mean to be a lefty. And if so I prefer this attitude better than the other extreme.

Mey is still in business because he isn't a real folk singer anymore.

CET--- 2001 (a mail order company)offers an excellent CD of Hannes Wader exclusively.

Manfred

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 21 May 07 - 12:02 PM

Thank you Joe for the reference and a particular THANK YOU to Herr Engle. Reading the Introduction is necessary. What a peculiar thing for California State University, Fresno to select as their web specialty.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 21 May 07 - 06:49 PM

Wilfried, Hannes is touring constantly, and as far as I know his concerts are almost always packed. He certainly doesn't have the same mass appeal as Reinhard Mey, whose songs - though I like may of them - and style I'd class as folk pop (or pop folk?).

As Manfred says, Wader has tried many things in his time - mostly self-penned songs, but also traditional songs, straight agitprop songs, Schubert lieder. He also does very good German versions of foreign songs - Alex Campbell's 'Been on the road so long', Eric Bogle's 'No Man's Land' and Allan Taylor's 'Good to see you', for instance. I wouldn't know what to call him if not 'left'. He may not be as ideological as Süverkrüp, but he is unashamedly left. One of his more recent songs (well, more a talking blues) lasts about seven minutes and tells his family's story over three generations of socialist creed and working class solidarity. Think it's on his latest album.

And yes, I have to agree with Edmund: I just love his voice.

Besides 2001, which has a wider range of products, there is a mail order service specialising in folk, Old Songs New Songs. They'll probably have all his available albums.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 22 May 07 - 02:11 AM

Shame on me - I stand corrected. Living in a small town (no comparison to Munich) I never saw Wader's concerts announced; I'd like to hear him again.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Leadbelly
Date: 22 May 07 - 04:39 AM

"I'd like to hear him again."

There's a real good chance to do so, Wilfried. Mainz isn't so far away from Friedberg I do believe. And there's sufficient time for making plans to pay a visit to one of these concerts (see below: Frankfurter Hof resp. Unterhaus). :-)

Manfred

Konzert
2. Halbjahr 2007

Datum
        

Ort

20.09.
        

Bargteheide, Kleines Theater

21.09.
        

Hildesheim, Vier Linden

22.09.
        

Uslar, Forum

23.09.
        

Loshausen, Dorfgemeinschaftshaus

24.09.
        

Mainz, Frankfurter Hof

25.09.
        

Mainz, Unterhaus

26.09.
        

Linkenheim-Hochstetten, Bürgerhaus

27.09.
        

Bensheim, Parktheater

28.09.
        

Nürnberg, Karstadt

29.09.
        

Jena, Volkshaus

30.09.
        

Halle, Steintor-Varieté

01.10.
        

Berlin, Universität der Künste

14.11.
        

Diepholz, Theater

15.11.
        

Bremerhaven, Theater im Fischereihafen

16.11.
        

Leer, Zollhaus

17.11.
        

Ibbenbüren, Bürgerhaus

18.11.
        

Bielefeld, Stadthalle

19.11.
        

Datteln, Stadthalle

20.11.
        

Kirn, Gesellschaftshaus

21.11.
        

Saarbrücken, Congresshalle

22.11.
        

Pforzheim, Kulturhaus Osterfeld

23.11.
        

Biberach, Stadthalle

24.11.
        

Steinheim/Murr, Bottwartalhalle

25.11.
        

Offenbach, Büsingpalais

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 22 May 07 - 06:41 AM

Thank you so much - Offenbach is nearer, but lovely Mainz where I studied for 3 years shall be my choice.

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: CET
Date: 22 May 07 - 07:23 AM

Thanks for the links.

Edmund

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: robinia
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 12:44 AM

My, but how nice to find all this interest in German folk songs! I learned a great many while studying German in the fifties and miss having people to sing them with -- especially when they harmonize so well, sometimes with the other voice (voices?) in counterpoint to the main melody line. Sung in this traditional fugal fashion, "horsch was kommt von draussen 'rein" or "wenn alle Brunlein fliessen" may still be old chestnuts, but they're far from "boring"! Of course, as an outsider, I wasn't put off by what political or other "associations" the songs might have. Songs like "Kein schoner Land" -- that it was probably sung by Hitler youth didn't sway me anymore than I was swayed by Hitler's fervent non-smoking policy. Funny, how easily THAT's forgotten. Is "association" only remembered when we want to put something down?

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: CET
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 06:08 AM

I had the pleasure of marching with an international team (some still in the service, others retired) this July at the Nijmegen Four Days Marches in Holland and learned a couple of German songs from a retired Bundeswehr lieutenant-colonel: Kameraden lasst uns singen and Wir lagen von Madagaskar. I loved both these songs and my marching friend sent me lyrics and MP3s. Kameraden lasst uns singen is an army song about the infantry and I certainly hope it doesn't have Nazi origins.

Edmund

Subject: ADD: Kameraden lasst uns singen
From: Leadbelly
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 01:03 PM

CET, sorry to say, but Kameraden, lasst uns singen seems to be a typical product of the "3. Reich". In other words, a real Nazi-song. Don't know whether you are able to understand the lyrics. But I do, because I'm german.

Kameraden lasst uns singen

Kameraden, lasst uns singen, eine Melodie.
Es soll ein Lied erklingen, auf die Infantrie.
Denn sie ist alle Zeit immer sturmbereit,
ob's auch donnert, blitzt und kracht.
Ihrem steten Kampfgelingen sei dies Lied erdacht.

Panzer und Flieger schaffen's nicht allein,
werden nie allein die Sieger auf dem Schlachtfeld sein.
Können' s nicht schaffen, ohne deinen Einsatz nie -
Königin der Waffen, deutsche Infantrie.


Mitten durch Sturm und Regen, selbst bei finst'rer Nacht,
ohne Halt dem Ziel entgegen, was auch kommen mag.
Ob auch heiß der Tag oder kalt die Nacht,
ob auch fern die Heimat ist -
dennoch singt auf allen Wegen stolz der Infantrist.

Panzer und Flieger schaffens nicht allein,
werden nie allein die Sieger auf dem Schlachtfeld sein.
Können' s nicht schaffen, ohne deinen Einsatz nie -
Königin der Waffen, deutsche Infantrie.

(Source: www.soldatentreff.de)

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 03:32 PM

I've never tried to look it up but have always wondered whether Wir lagen vor Madagaskar isn't from some film or other. It sounds more music hall than folk to my ears. Mind you, I love singing it!

Subject: RE: German folk music
From: Leadbelly
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 04:23 PM

It's a german shanty of unknown origin, Susanne. At least, they say so.

Manfred