Just wanted to let you all know that P.Seeger did a wonderful radio interview with Alan Chartok this past year on WAMC (90.3fm) in Albany, NY, in which he explained the history of the song in question. Apparently, he put new words to the German song on hearing the tune, and then sort of left it buried somewhere, not thinking much about it. A camp counselor came along and picked it up, and it became a hit with the camp crowd, and from there ended up with Marlene D. having a hit with it in Germany. It continued to go around the world, like "The Hammer Song", becoming popular all around, including in America. He says he was stunned with it's success. Don't quote me totally, but you might be able to hear the interview on the WAMC site.