happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)

Subject: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: Abby Sale
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 08:30 AM

"Lili Marleen," one of the most played, translated, recorded songs of the last century was first aired at 9:55 pm, August 18, 1941 as the last song of Radio Belgrade's daily radio show for soldiers.
[thanx Wolfgang of Mudcat]

          1. Vor der Kaserne
          Vor dem großen Tor
          Stand eine Laterne
          Und steht sie noch davor
          So woll'n wir uns da wieder seh'n
          Bei der Laterne wollen wir steh'n
          |: Wie einst Lili Marleen. :|
  
          Poem: Hans Leip (1893-1983) in 1915
          Tune: Norbert Schultze, 1938-2002
  
                  Underneath the lantern,
                  By the barrack gate
                  Darling I remember
                  The way you used to wait
                  T'was there that you whispered tenderly,
                  That you loved me,
                  You'd always be,
                  My Lilli of the Lamplight,
                  My own Lilli Marlene
  
                  English words by Tommie Connor, 1944

                The British 8th Army in Africa soon turned it into "D-Day Dodgers" which we all sing June 6.

Copyright © 2005, Abby Sale - all rights reserved
What are Happy's all about? See Clicky

Subject: RE: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: Snuffy
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 09:32 AM

Did Norbert Schulze (1938-2002) really write the tune when he was 3 years old?

Subject: RE: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 09:55 AM

Norbert Schultze was born in 1911.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 10:16 AM

The Germans had their fun with it too:

Ueber dem Polarkreis / ist es bitter kalt, / da gibt es kein Maedchen, / nur Sumpf und Moor und Wald. / Drum wolln wir wieder heim ins Reich, / zu Fuss, per Bahn, das is uns gleich -- / zu dir, Lili Marleen.

And the Americans:

Down by the bahnhoff, / American soldat / Zie haben cigaretten / and a beaucoup chocolat. / Das is prima, das ist gut / A zwanzig Mark for fumph minute. / Vie fiehl, Lili Marleen?

These are from a Teutonically thoro article on the song in _Der Spiegel_, 19 Jan. 1981. I have wished for a long time to go over it with someone who knows more German than I do.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Yanks think 200 years is a long time, and Brits think 200 miles is a long way. :||

Subject: RE: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: alanabit
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 05:09 PM

That second one is really funny - in a crass sort of way. Reading it, I realise how the myth about the song (that Lili Marlene was a prostitute) probably came about. It's a witty, but cruel parody and it is possible that some folks heard it first and assumed that was the original. It sounds as if it was written by Americans, with a smattering of German, just after the war. That would fit the obvious references to black marketeering.

Subject: RE: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: alanabit
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 05:10 PM

The spelling is funny too - another clue to it having been written down by Americans.

Subject: RE: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 10:15 AM

alanabit: Yes, of course it's American. _Der Spiegel_ introduced it with the words "Ein unbekannter GI dichtete damals:".

Crassness, or shall we say grossness, existed among the Germans too: "Ich drueckt sie an den Pfosten: / Maedchen, sei nicht dumm, / denn die alte Funzel, /die faellt beim Stoss nicht um. / So haben wir zum erstenmal / gevoegelt am Laternenpfahl / mit der Lili Marleen."

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: The people who do the work have to be paid, and the people who let them do it have to be paid off. :||

Subject: RE: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: Abby Sale
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 10:57 AM

:) Thanks, again. The tune was written in 1938. Nobody thought the song was any good so it just sat around. Eventually, Lale Andersen, (a very interesting person) cut a record which sold all of 200 copies. Then some German army radio DJ played it for the Afrika Korp and it became the world's most-sung song 5 minutes later. See http://ingeb.org/garb/lmarleen.html for several versions, including the Approved martial ones.

Subject: RE: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: alanabit
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 11:31 AM

Yes Joe. I quite enjoy the irony of the word "dichtete" in this context! That's not one of the highlights of German lyricism either, is it?

Subject: RE: happy? - Aug 18 (Vor der Kaserne)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 01:48 PM

Leip's 1915 poem was about two girls (see last paragraph).

Lili Marleen, in the DT, has a couple of mis-spelled words, and some capitalizations where none belong in the Hans Leip poem, also a repetition of the last line of each verse, an addition in the later song with a new melody.

The original tune, a lovely one, is largely forgotten. McGrath of Harlow reproduced the fine midi to the tune as provided by Wolfgang (04 Nov 02, thread 37963) from here: Hans Leip
This site (scroll to bottom of page) has sheet music for the original as well as the midi. (Old site- download the midi and score while it is still available).

Just before the war, Leip's book, "Die Laterne, Lieder und Gedichte," was published, including his poem of 1915. By 1942, over 20,000 copies had been printed by the Stuttgart publisher (The paper in my copy is browning- war-time German paper).

The poem, written in 1915, was first published in his book "Fruehe Lieder." It synthesized Leip's memory of TWO girls he had known, Lili and Marleen.
See thread 37963: Lili Marleen