Lyr Req: Call from the Grave (Brecht/Weill)

14 Oct 08 - 06:52 AM (#2465126)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Call from the Grave (Brecht/Weill)
From: Wolfgang

One singable translation (scroll, scroll, scroll for the song)

A different song with that title

Wolfgang

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15 Oct 08 - 01:21 PM (#2466449)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Call from the Grave (Brecht/Weill)
From: Jim Dixon

I'm not sure this is the right song, buy you might check out a song called DEATH MESSAGE.

At least some of the lyrics correspond to what I found in a sound sample of a soundtrack album at Allmusic.com.

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15 Oct 08 - 01:36 PM (#2466460)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Call from the Grave (Brecht/Weill)
From: Piers Plowman

The piano reduction of the score of _The Threepenny Opera_ is in print and is published by Universal Edition (Vienna). Like most (or all?) piano reductions, it doesn't have chord symbols. Unfortunately, my copy is on a different continent. I've figured out some harmonies for songs from the _The Threepenny Opera_, but they aren't always easy.

I also have a pocket edition of the score. I'm not sure how easy it would be to figure out the chords from that. I'll take a look if I can find the book. It's probably packed up in a box.

I have another book of songs from _The Threepenny Opera_ which are simplified and do have chord symbols. I'm not sure whether "Ruf aus der Gruft" is in it. I'll have a look when I get home.

There's also a Brecht songbook with a few Weill songs. I kind of doubt that's it in their, but I'll have a look there, too.

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16 Oct 08 - 10:01 AM (#2467228)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Call from the Grave (Brecht/Weill)
From: Piers Plowman

"Ruf aus der Gruft" is in _Die Songs aus der Dreigroschenoper_, Univeral Edition No. 13832.

It's in Em and is mostly a succession of cadences.

The chords are Em, Am, B7, with Bm used in one place. Toward the end it modulates briefly to Am (Gdim, Dm, E7, Am) before ending in Em.

I hope you can figure it out from this information.

I don't feel comfortable about typing out the chords in order because I'm not sure whether that would violate the copyright. I probably shouldn't have said anything at all, because I am concerned about not violating other people's copyrights. I'm not sure whether simply naming the chords of a song in order is a violation. I do think that copyright law should be reformed, since the way it is makes it very difficult for musicians, but I don't have a solution for the problem.

I apologize if this seems ungracious, but I felt having said A, I had to say B.

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16 Oct 08 - 01:53 PM (#2467498)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Call from the Grave (Brecht/Weill)
From: Joe Offer

There's a recording clip at lastfm.de.

-Joe-

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16 Oct 08 - 02:16 PM (#2467528)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Call from the Grave (Brecht/Weill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

The material is still under copyright, both UK and USA.

Both German and English lyrics are available from the Wolfgang link; no chords. The book cited by Piers Plowman is available from used book dealers.

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16 Oct 08 - 02:23 PM (#2467534)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Call from the Grave (Brecht/Weill)
From: Joe Offer

I'll get around to posting the lyrics later, if nobody does. Wolfgang posted a link to the entire text of Threepenny Opera. His link led to an HTML form of a PDF file. The PDF file is here:

http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~mbednarek/tpo/libretto.pdf

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19 Oct 08 - 11:38 AM (#2469938)
Subject: Lyr Add: RUF AUS DER GRUFT / CALL FROM THE GRAVE
From: Jim Dixon

From the PDF file referenced by Joe Offer above.

RUF AUS DER GRUFT
Deutsche Bearbeitung von Bertolt Brecht

Nun hört die Stimme, die um Mitleid ruft,
Macheath liegt hier nicht unterm Hagedorn,
Nicht unter Buchen, nein, in einer Gruft!
Hierher verschlug ihn des Geschickes Zorn.
Geb Gott, daß ihr sein letztes Wort noch hört!
Die dicksten Mauern schließen ihn jetzt ein!
Fragt ihr denn gar nicht, Freunde, wo er sei?
Ist er gestorben, kocht euch Eierwein.
So lang er aber lebt, steht ihm doch bei!
Wollt ihr, daß seine Marter ewig sei?

Jetzt kommt and seht, wie es ihm dreckig geht,
Jetzt ist er wirklich, was man pleite nennt.
Die ihr als oberste Autorität
Nur eure schmier'gen Gelder anerkennt,
Seht, daß er euch nicht in die Grube fährt!
Ihr müßtet gleich zur Königin and in Haufen
Und müßtet mit ihr über ihn was sprechen,
Wie Schweine eines hinterm andern laufen,
Ach, seine Zähne sind schon lang wie Rechen.
Wollt ihr, daß seine Marter ewig währt?


CALL FROM THE GRAVE
English translation by Ralph Mannheim and John Willett

Hark to the voice that's calling you to weep.
Macheath lies here, not under open sky
Not under treetops, no, but good and deep.
Fate struck him down in outraged majesty.
God grant his dying words may reach a friend.
The thickest walls encompass him about.
Is none of you concerned to know his fate?
Once he is gone the bottles can come out
But do stand by him while it's not too late.
D'you want his punishment to have no end?

Come here and see the shitty state he's in.
This really is what people mean by bust.
You who set up the dirty cash you win
As just about the only god you'll trust
Don't stand and watch him slipping round the bend!
Go to the Queen and say that her subjects need her
Go in a group and tell her of his trouble
Like pigs all following behind their leader.
Say that his teeth are wearing down to rubble.
D'you want his punishment to have no end?

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19 Oct 08 - 02:25 PM (#2470090)
Subject: Lyr. Add: Epitaph (Brecht/ Weill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Lyric Add: EPITAPH (Brecht/Weill)

Ballad Singer: Ballad in which Macheath begs all men for forgiveness.

Mac: You fellow men who live on after us
Pray do not think you have to judge us harshly
And when you see us hoisted up and trussed
Don't laugh like fools behind your big moustaches
Or curse at us. It's true that we came crashing
But do not judge our downfall like the courts.
Not all of us can discipline our thoughts-
Dear fellows, your extravagance needs slashing.
Dear fellows, we've shown how a crash begins.
Pray then to God that He forgive my sins.

The rain washes away and purifies.
Let it wash down the flesh we catered for
And we who saw so much, and wanted more.
The crows will come and peck away our eyes.
Perhaps ambition used too sharp a goad
It drove us to these heights from which we swing
Hacked at by greedy starlings on the wing
Like horses' droppings on a country road.
O brothers, learn from us how it begins
And pray to God that He forgive our sins.

The girls who flaunt their breasts as bait there
To catch some sucker who will love them
The youths who slyly stand and wait there
To grab their sinful earnings off them
The crooks, the tarts, the tarts' protectors
The models and the mannequins
The psychopaths, the unfrocked rectors
I pray that they forgive my sins.

Not so those filthy police employees
Who day by day would bait my anger
Devise new troubles to annoy me
And chuck me crusts to stop my hunger.
I'd call on God to come and choke them
And yet my need for respite wins:
I realise that it might provoke them
So pray that they forgive my sins.

Someone must take a huge iron crowbar
And stave their ugly faces in
All I ask is to know it's over
Praying that they forgive my sins.

The "Call from the Grave" never seems complete to me without the following "Epitaph." A great 'goodnight.'

Mannheim/Willett translation. I'll post the The German original later today.
From the libretto published by Stefan Brecht and the Kurt Weill Foundation (file linked by Joe Offer and Wolfgang).

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19 Oct 08 - 04:27 PM (#2470183)
Subject: Lyr. Add: Grabschrift (Epitaph) Brecht/Weill
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Lyr. Add: GRABSCHRIFT

Macheath: Ihr Menschenbrüder, die ihr nach uns lebt,
Laßt euer Herz nicht gegen uns verhäten,
Und lacht nicht, wenn man uns zum Galgen hebt,
Ein dummes Lachen hinter euren Bärten.
Und flucht auch nicht, und sind wir auch gefallen,
Seid nicht auf uns erbost wie das Gericht.
Gesetzen Sinnes sind wir alle nicht-
Ihr Menschen, lasset allen Leichtsinn fallen,
Ihr Brüder, laßt euch uns zur Lehre sein,
Und bittet Gott, er möge mir verzeihn.

Der Regen wäscht uns ab und wäscht uns rein
Und wäscht das Fleisch, das wir zu gut genährt,
Und die zuviel gesehn and mehr begehrt,
Die Raben hacken eure Augen ein.
Und niemals sin wir fest gehängt and wiegen
Bald hin, bald her, ganz wie aus Ubermut,
Zerpickt von einer gier'gen Vögelbrut
Wie Pferdeäpfel, die am Wege liegen.
Ach, Brüder, laßt euch uns zur Warnung sein,
Und bittet Gott, er möge uns verzeihn.

Die Mädchen, die die Brüste zeigen,
Um leichter Männer zu erwischen,
Die Strolche, die nach ihnen äugen,
Um ihrer Sünde Lohn zu fischen,
Die Lumpen, Huren, Hurentreiber,
Die Tagediebe, Vogelfrein,
Die Mordgesellen, Abtrittsweiber,
Ich bitte sie, mir zu verzeihn.

Nicht so die Polizistenhunde,
Die jeden Abend, jeden Morgen
Nur Rinde ließen meinem Munde,
Auch sonst verursacht Mühn and Sorgen.
Ich könnte sie ja letzt verfluchen,
Doch heute will ich nicht zu sein.
Um weitre Händel nicht zu suchen,
Bitt ich auch sie, mir zu verzeihn.

Man schlage ihnen ihre Fressen
Mit schweren Eisenh&@228;mmern ein.
Im Übrigen will ich vergessen
Und bitte sie, mir zu verzeihn.

Libretto published by Stefan Brecht and the Kurt Weill Foundation.

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19 Oct 08 - 04:38 PM (#2470193)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Call from the Grave (Brecht/Weill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Eisenhämmern
(2nd line, last verse)

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