The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #59430   Message #1050377
Posted By: Susanne (skw)
08-Nov-03 - 08:55 PM
Thread Name: Tune Req: Radetski march
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Radetski march
Two more lines remembered from childhood:

Herr Radetzky, Herr Radetzky, das ist ein feiner Mann
Er steckt den Kopf zum Fenster raus und guckt (spuckt) die Leute an

Mr Radetzky, Mr Radetzky, he is a gentleman
He puts his head out of the window and looks (spits) at people then

These must be part of the silly lyrics, but I don't seem to be able to get from Wolfgang's lines to mine. I'll have to go back to my mother's and dig out the LP with the German military marches (or the tape with all the silly lyrics). The ones to 'Alte Kameraden' are even worse than the above, and the march 'Gruß an Kiel' (Greetings to Kiel, which is now my hometown) is adorned with the following tasteful lyrics:

In der Reizenheimer Straße hat sich der Würstchenmann erhängt
Warum hat er sich erhängt? Weil er Würstchen hat verschenkt

(In Reizenheimer Road the sausage man has hanged himself
Why has he hanged himself? He'd given sausages away)

There must be countless examples of this, and I suspect - as somebody else in this thread did - it was a fairly safe way of giving vent to anti-militaristic feelings.