ADD: I am a Fine Musician/Ich bin ein Musikante

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 26 Sep 07 - 11:34 AM

Thanks, CB, for this wonderful link to Dick Van Dyke

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: GUEST,crazyfamily
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 01:34 PM

I know a slightly different version of this song that my family sings on holidays
i was looking for it online and "I am a fine musician" seems to be the closest thing"
but the one I know goes

In a small town in germany
there lived a shoemaker
and his name was Schumann
And he played the piccolo
picca-picca-picca lo picca-lo picca-lo
and then big bass drum, big tuba, clarinet, etc

does anyone else know this version?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 12:12 AM

Sorry for the time delay in replying, Garg - I live in Brisbane. I also can take trips, (on the road type!) and borrow a friend's PC occasionally when away, so don't always look in every day to check every thread!

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WONDERFUL MUSICIAN (Greenaway/Davies)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Oct 10 - 10:15 PM

Here are the lyrics to the song Joe linked to at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:


THE WONDERFUL MUSICIAN
(Words, Walter Greenaway. Music, Vincent Davies)
London : Wood & Co, 1871.

1. A wonderful musician once in Germany did dwell,
His name quite unpronounceable, impossible to spell.
He could play on any instrument, no matter great of small.
This wonderful musician, he could play upon them all.

SPOKEN: Of course it would be quite impossible for me to enumerate all the instruments he could play, but among a few I may mention—

CHORUS:
A big drum, a kettledrum, the fiddle, flute, and piccolo,
Piano, harp, harmonium, and many more beside.
A French horn, a sax horn, a trombone, and double bass,
Bones, banjo, tambourine, bassoon, and ophicleide.

2. He only had a little room upon the second floor,
And very little room indeed he had, you may be sure.
He had no chairs or table, no sofa and no bed.
He said he didn't want 'em, for of course he had instead—

3. The neighbors used to grumble for he would make such a din.
At daybreak every morning to practice he'd begin,
And sometimes from their slumbers they'd awake in such a fright,
For often he'd be playing in the middle of the night—

4. One night there was a fearful noise. they heard it far and near.
Many thought it was an earthquake and many quaked with fear.
Everybody thought, of course, something shocking had occurred.
They all stood shaking in the street and then distinctly heard—

5. Of course they very soon found out the cause of all the riot.
They heard another dreadful crash then everything was quiet.
They found the old musician had blown all his breath away
In trying if he all at once his instruments could play—

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: GUEST,girl scout leader
Date: 28 Apr 11 - 03:03 PM

German Condor
(Leader) I am German condor, I come from Striderland.
(Girls) You are a German condor, you come from Striderland.
(Leader) Ich von speilen
(Girls) Duetsch von speilen
(Leader) On my piano
(Girls) On your piano…
(All) Plinka-plinka-plinka-plink, plinka-plink, plinka-plink, plinka-plinka-plinka-plink, plinka-plinka-plink, HEY!

Repeat with:
Viola: vio-vio-viola
Bagpipes: nee-ner-nee-ner-nee
Tuba: Umpa-umpa-um-pa-pa

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: GUEST,Guest, girl scout
Date: 26 Nov 11 - 12:26 PM

The version I learned is in a mixture of probably-mispronounced German and English. Looking at this, I think it's supposed to be kann, not vann. It goes:
I am the German condor, I come from Stivenland. (girls repeat)
Ich vann spiela, (repeat)
on my viola. (repeat)
Vio-vio-vio-la, vio-la, vio-la, vio-vio-vio-la, vio-vio-la.

Then repeat the verse, but say "piana" instead of "viola", and go Plinka-plinka-plinka-plink, plinka-plink, plinka-plink, plinka-plinka-plinka-plink, plinka-plinka-plink,oh (breath), vio-vio-vio-la, vio-la, vio-la, vio-vio-vio-la, vio-vio-la.

Each time the verse is repeated, a new instrument is added onto the beginning of the instrument part:
tuba: umpa-umpa, um-pa-pa
commercial: soapy-soapy-soapy suds, soapy-soapy-soapy suds, soapy-soapy-soapy suds, soapy soapy suds

The final time, the insturment is "on my orchestra", and everyone just sings their favorite instrument.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: GUEST,Claire
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 12:17 PM

i cant remember exactly but my nan taught me this when i was a little girl there are a few verses this is all i remember...

A wonderful musician, in germany did dwell,
his name was unprenounceable, impossible to spell
the neighbours did complain hed be making such a such a din???
youd hear him in the morning at daybreak he'd begin

........... they woke up with a fright
to find that he'd been playin in the middle of the night
on.. the...(VERSE)
big drum, little drum,fiddle fyfe, piccolo, piano, harp, harmonio, many more besides. french horn sax horn, double base, trombone
tambourine banjo bones and knocky-clyde.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Jul 16 - 07:03 PM

Girl Scout Camp! All the troop leaders would come together and, instead of leading the Scouts, they would act this out FOR the entertainment of the Scouts, with lousy German accents.

Ick ein guten Doktor come from Ger-ma-la,
Ick kann spielen auf der Pi-A-No, and all the other instruments.

My outstanding memory of their performance, is that the stout middle-aged troop leader, who was leading the other leaders, by accident spat off the fake mustache attached somehow to her upper lip, on the fatal phrase:

Ick kann spielen auf der T-U-Ba! It was the capital T's fault.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: GUEST,silver
Date: 25 Jul 16 - 06:21 AM

Gosh, I have know this song almost all my life, and always believed it was Swedish! From the very province where I live, to boot!

Vi äro musikanter allt ifrån Skaraborg (twice),
Vi kan spela fio-lio-lio-lej,
vi kan spela basfiol och flöjt.
Och vi kan dansa bomfaderalla, bomfaderalla, bomfaderalla,
vi kan dansa bomfaderalla, bomfaderallan-lej.

(Popular for dancing around the Midsummer pole, among other things.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: Monique
Date: 25 Jul 16 - 12:43 PM

The song is supposed to have originated in Silesia, at least according to what it reads here. I have a couple of German kids songbooks that state the same. There's a French version and a Dutch version as well.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jun 20 - 05:18 AM

I will briefly de-lurk to point out the connection to another thread here on 'Johhny Schmoker', written and composed by George F Root in 1863. This was written as a pastiche on German-American song and can be found on YouTube sung by American choirs. My interest comes from the fact that, as 'Johnny Smoker', it was one of the songs sung by the Sapperton Mummers in Gloucestershire at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. Alf Cobb, whose father had sung the song, was recorded by John Baldwin in 1969, and the song is in the Folk Music Journal for that year. The connection between this and 'I am the music man' had puzzled me until I found the trail from Germany to America, then as a parlour or music hall song to a small Gloucestershire village.

Martin Graebe (who forgot to sign back in)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I am a Fine Musician - German song?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jun 20 - 05:19 AM

Well, heck, Martin, nice to have you back!