Lyr Req: Wife of a Soldier (Bertolt Brecht)

10 May 97 - 10:18 PM (#5066)
Subject: Black Freighter/Wife of a Soldier
From: Petra ([e-mail])

After a most ::chokes on her own words:: kind comment after I posted this elsewhere I will fix the mistake, anyway.. I am looking for the words to either of these tunes, Steeleye Span has done both in the past, and I have been unable to find lyrics to them. Anyone who could help would be most appreciated.

Thanks for your time :) Petra

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10 May 97 - 11:34 PM (#5069)
Subject: RE: Black Freighter/Wife of a Soldier
From:

I don't have the words readily available, but "Black Freighter/Pirate Jenny" is from "Threepenny Opera". It shouldn't be too hard to find. Have you searched this DB?

And I agree, what's his face was, in the words of "Clueless", way harsh.

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11 May 97 - 01:50 AM (#5072)
Subject: Lyr Add: WIFE OF THE SOLDIER (Bertolt Brecht)
From: Charlie Baum

This version is "Wife of the Soldier" from the County Down album "Living in the Country" (Fretless 165). Words by Bertholt Brecht, and tune by Johnny Scot (translator not credited):

WIFE OF THE SOLDIER
(Bertholt Brecht, translator unknown)

What did the wife of the soldier get
From the ancient city of Prague?
From Prague she got the linen skirt.
It matched her shirt did the linen skirt
She got from the city of Prague.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Brussels, the Belgian town?
From Brussels she got the delicate lace.
All the charm and grace of the delicate lace
She got from the Belgian town.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Paris, the City of Light?
From Paris she got the silken dress.
Born to possess the silken dress
She got from the City of Light.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Libya's desert sands?
From Libya, the little charm.
Around and around she wore the charm
He brought from the desert sands.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Russia's distant steppes?
From Russia she got the widow's veil.
And the end of the tale is the widow's veil
She got from the distant steppes.

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12 May 97 - 08:34 PM (#5133)
Subject: RE: Black Freighter/Wife of a Soldier
From: Arnowitt

There are also two versions of Wife of the soldier, both in German, one with music by Kurt Weil and the other with music by Eisler. We managed to acquire both the Eisler and Weil song books recently, so I believe they are still around. I've sung the Weil, and it's a very vampy version, very unlike the County Down. If you'd like to track down the german, leave another message and I'll dig out publishers and other such details that don't lurk in my head. Pirate Jenny is on the Judy Collins "In my Life album, if that's a help. Good luck

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14 May 97 - 02:45 AM (#5195)
Subject: RE: Black Freighter/Wife of a Soldier
From: Joe Offer

I'll post the lyrics to the other song under a new thread, "Pirate Jenny" (click).

-Joe-

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18 May 97 - 09:20 PM (#5354)
Subject: RE: Black Freighter/Wife of a Soldier
From: [e-mail]

Hello Petra , Do you want the Black Freighter that was sung by Steeleye Span or The Black Freighter that was sung by Alex Cambell??? I've got both All the Best Gal. Luv Phil

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19 May 97 - 11:24 AM (#5383)
Subject: RE: Black Freighter/Wife of a Soldier
From: Joe Offer

Hi, Phil - I posted the Steeleye Span/Judy Collins version under the topic called "Pirate Jenny." If there are other lyrics, please post them. I'd sure like to see them.

Thanks.

-Joe-

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16 Jan 03 - 12:20 AM (#868019)
Subject: RE: Wife of a Soldier (Brecht)
From: Joe Offer

Anybody have German lyrics for "Wife of the Soldier"?
-Joe Offer-

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16 Jan 03 - 05:14 AM (#868101)
Subject: Lyr Add: UND WAS BEKAM DES SOLDATEN WEIB? (Brecht)
From: Wolfgang

UND WAS BEKAM DES SOLDATEN WEIB?
(Bewrtotl Brecht)

Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib
Aus der alten Hauptstadt Prag?
Aus Prag bekam sie die Stöckelschuh.
Einen Gruß und dazu die Stöckelschuh
Das bekam sie aus der Stadt Prag.

Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib
Aus Warschau am Weichselstrand?
Aus Warschau bekam sie das leinene Hemd.
So bunt und so fremd, ein polnisches Hemd!
Das bekam sie vom Weichselstrand.

Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib
Aus Oslo über dem Sund?
Aus Oslo bekam sie das Kräglein aus Pelz.
Hoffentlich gefällt's, das Kräglein aus Pelz!
Das bekam sie aus Oslo am Sund.

Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib
Aus dem reichen Rotterdam?
Aus Rotterdam bekam sie den Hut.
Und er steht ihr gut, der holländische Hut.
Das bekam sie aus Rotterdam.

Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib
Aus Brüssel im belgischen Land?
Aus Brüssel bekam sie die seltenen Spitzen.
Ach, das zu besitzen, so seltene Spitzen!
Das bekam sie aus belgischem Land.

Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib
Aus der Lichterstadt Paris?
Aus Paris bekam sie das seidene Kleid.
Zu der Nachbarin Neid das seidene Kleid.
Das bekam sie aus Paris.

Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib
Aus dem lybischen Tripolis?
Aus Tripolis bekam sie das Kettchen.
Das Amulettchen am kupfernen Kettchen.
Das bekam sie aus Tripolis.

Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib
Aus dem weiten Russland?
Aus Rußland bekam sie den Witwenschleier.
Zu der Totenfeier den Witwenschleier
Das bekam sie aus Rußland.

A cut and paste job from one of the many pages with this song. I knew that Brecht had used the old word 'Weib' instead of 'Frau'. That made the search easy.

Wolfgang

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16 Jan 03 - 05:15 AM (#868104)
Subject: RE: Wife of a Soldier (Brecht)
From: Wolfgang

the first name of the author is Bertolt and not 'Bewrtotl'

W.

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16 Jan 03 - 10:49 AM (#868324)
Subject: RE: Wife of a Soldier (Brecht)
From: Auxiris

Shame that no one knows who translated this text. Poetry is so hard to translate well!

cheers,

Aux

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16 Jan 03 - 11:30 AM (#868388)
Subject: RE: Wife of a Soldier (Brecht)
From: GUEST,Malcolm Douglas

Steeleye Span got the song from Martin Carthy, and it looks as if "County Down" (I'm afraid I've never heard of them) did too. Carthy mentioned having picked it up from Isla Cameron and Johnny Scott; which is as far back as we can probably go without asking them where they had it from.

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16 Jan 03 - 03:57 PM (#868668)
Subject: RE: Wife of a Soldier (Brecht)
From: Noreen

Thank you, Wolfgang.

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17 Jan 03 - 05:02 PM (#869074)
Subject: RE: Wife of a Soldier (Brecht)
From: JJ

If you'd like to hear it, just log on to Amazon.com and type in "Lost In the Stars." There you'll find Marianne Faithfull singing it on the A&M Kurt Weill tribute of the same name in an English version by Eric Saltzman.

I have it on vinyl.

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17 Jan 03 - 07:41 PM (#869169)
Subject: RE: Wife of a Soldier (Brecht)
From: Noreen

Or maybe you'd prefer not to (sorry, Marianne...)

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18 Jan 03 - 09:09 AM (#869419)
Subject: RE: Wife of a Soldier (Brecht)
From: JJ

Actually, Marianne's gargling-with-glass-shards voice does this number up just fine!

There was also a PBS show called "The World of Kurt Weill" (or something like that) which I think includes her performance.

If you'd like it prettier, get "The Unknown Kurt Weill" with Teresa Stratas. Alas, she sings it in German.

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06 Mar 11 - 03:33 PM (#3108323)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wife of a Soldier (Brecht)
From: Artful Codger

For the record, Brecht's play was Schweik in the Second World War (Schweyk im Zweiten Weltkrieg, 1943), a sequel to Jarošek Havel's unfinished novel The Good Soldier Schweik (Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války), which was set in the first world war. Hašek died in 1923.

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02 Jun 11 - 06:37 AM (#3164107)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wife of a Soldier (Bertolt Brecht)
From: reynard

I was thinking of singing the Soldier's Wife so I went over to Spotify to check it out (what a useful resource!) and I found several versions, notably the Carthy classic and one by P.J. Harvey which I love (and there's a brilliant video of this on YouTube). I noticed that there were two quite different sets of words; some of the cities had been changed for no apparent reason (P.J. has Amsterdam for Rotterdam!) and others had been left out—probably because it's quite long. Also there are some obvious mistakes—laces for lace! This motivated me to refer to the German original given above. I have only a few words of German (and one of those is Schwarzwalderkirschtorte) so I invoked a web translator to produce some pigeon and set about reconstructing an "original" by comparing the different versions and then cherry picking the best lines. So in the interest of scientific research I thought I would share my cherry-pigeon with you. It has all the original cities (apart from Tripoli as I prefer "Libya's desert sands").

What did the wife of the soldier get
From the ancient city of Prague?
From Prague she got stiletto shoes
Shiny and new, stiletto shoes
From the ancient city of Prague.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Warsaw's Vistula beach.
From Warsaw she got the linen shirt.
So gay and strange, the linen shirt
She got from the Vistula beach.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Oslo over the Sound?
From Oslo she got a collar of fur
How it pleases her, the collar of fur
From Oslo over the Sound.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From the wealth of Rottterdam?
From Rotterdam she got a hat.
She's cute in that, her little Dutch hat
From the wealth of Rotterdam.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Brussels, the Belgian town?
From Brussels he sent her lace so rare,
For her to wear, the lace so rare
She got from the Belgian town.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Paris, city of light.
From Paris she got a silken gown.
The talk of the town, that silken gown
From Paris, city of light.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Libya's desert sands?
From Libya, the little charm.
Around her arm she wore the charm
She got from the desert sands.

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Russia's distant steppes?
From Russia she got the widow's veil.
And the end of the tale is the widow's veil
She got from the distant steppes.

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01 Mar 13 - 06:48 AM (#3485029)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wife of a Soldier (Bertolt Brecht)
From: Peterr

Reynard, brilliant, many thanks

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01 Mar 13 - 10:03 PM (#3485294)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wife of a Soldier (Bertolt Brecht)
From: Charley Noble

Yes, very well done. Where was I when you posted this back in 2011?

Charley Noble

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02 Mar 13 - 03:31 AM (#3485347)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wife of a Soldier (Bertolt Brecht)
From: Dave MacKenzie

There have been quite a few musical settings over the years. Apart from the ones mentioned above, Mischo Spoliansky wrote the one broadcast by the BBC in June 1942.

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02 Mar 13 - 04:17 AM (#3485353)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wife of a Soldier (Bertolt Brecht)
From: Jim Carroll

When people joined MacColl's Critics Group they were given a number of pieces to learn to assist with pitch, articulation, difficult and unusual intervals etc.
This was one of them - it got me hooked on Brecht.
Not sure of the accuracy of the scan and have been unable to find it in the maddeningly poorly indexed copy of the complete Brecht poems we have.
Jim Carroll

LAMENT FOR THE DEATH Of A COMRADE
Bertold Brecht
In the yard of a prison, that at last they might shoot him,
He stood back to a wall built by men such as he was.
Even the rifles that were levelled against his breast
And the bullets had been made by men like himself.

They were by this time long departed or were scattered,
Yet for him they lingered, still present in the work of their hands.
Even the men who would shoot him, they were not other than he,
Now forever cut off in their blindness.

Bravely he walks, still encumbered with fetters,
With fetters forged by his comrades, and hung on him by his comrades.
And though it was morning then; four at daybreak a martial them out,
The buildings were empty and still.

But to his eyes they sheltered now a number host
Of workers who stirrings and aims are his own.
Now they led him forth against the wall,
And all this he perceived, yet understood it not.

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