Thank you Joerg, I'm completely d'accord. I am a German and I do not like this song too. In my country this song has a "terrible" tradition because it is linked with a very strong military impact. You can even see it in the Ernst-Busch-modification - by the way it's definitely "für ihn her" because Busch speaks of a fascist bullet wich hits Hans Beimler, the communist civil war "Kommissar" - and if you hear Ernst Busch singing "Hans Beimler" you will find that he is "topping" the pathetic original. And he is in a traditional line. The German fascists took tunes of democratic and working songs and put in their own pathetic words. This is one of the reasons why my land has not a lively unbroken traditional song/music tradition like England, Scotland, Ireland, France etc. And some of the "socialist/communist" followers took the same tunes, the Nazis corrupted and replaced the fascist paroles with a communistic "pathos". There are single exceptions, for example Brechts "Kälbermarsch" (former "Die Fahne hoch, die Reihen fest geschlossen"). But this is not what you would call traditional music. And therefore I have some problems with genuine German musical tradition. Born in the fifties, I grew up with international rock music and the feeling of freedom and liberty. And I found my way to traditional music with the beginning of the eighties - late. But one thing remained: I prefer drinking songs - not soldier songs.

Edgar