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15 Jun 20 - 08:29 PM (#4059427) Subject: Lyr Add: Low German songs sung during the Worldwi From: GUEST,Susanne (skw) ... Worldwide Mudcat Singaround - forgot there is a limit to thread titles. The song I sang this week was LÜTT MATTEN DE HAS (by Klaus Groth) Lütt Matten de Has’ De mak sik en Spaß, He weer bi’t Studeern Dat Danzen to lehrn, Un danz ganz alleen Op de achtersten Been. Keem Reinke de Voß Un dach: dat's en Kost! Un seggt: Lüttje Matten, So flink op de Padden? Un danzst hier alleen Op de achtersten Been? Kumm, lat uns tosam! Ik kann as de Dam! De Krei de speelt Fidel, Denn geit dat candidel, Denn geit dat mal schön Op de achtersten Been! Lütt Matten gev Pot. De Voß beet em dot Un sett sik in Schatten, Verspies’ den lütt Matten: Un de Krei, de kreeg een Vun de achtersten Been. Rough translation: Little Matty the hare Amused himself there Went in for a chance To study the dance And he danced all alone On his hind legs alone Bold Reynard came by And thought, What a bite! And said, Little Matty Your legs they move deftly And you dance all alone On your hind legs alone Why not dance with me? I can be your lady The crow plays the fiddle You'll find it a diddle And you'll not dance alone On your hind legs alone Matty readily agreed Reynard killed him deid He retired to the bushes To devour Matty's carcass And the crow got the right Of the hind legs for a bite This 19th-century song is obviously a fable and should be applicable to human life. The application intended by the poet is not obvious, though: He once explained that Matty stood for his home state of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany (before the 1871 unification), which had at that time been (sort of) defended against Denmark by Prussia (Reynard) and Austria (the crow), then incorporated into Prussia against its will, and Austria was fobbed off with some morsels of territory. If that seems far-fetched, think of the British Foreign Secretary (Lord Palmerston?) who is supposed to have said "There are only three people who understand the Schleswig-Holstein question - one is dead, the other has gone mad, and I've forgotten what it is about!" |
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15 Jun 20 - 08:48 PM (#4059430) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Low German songs sung during the Worldwi From: Joe Offer Oh, this is so much fun! -Joe- |
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16 Jun 20 - 04:50 AM (#4059461) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Low German songs sung during the Worldwi From: Snuffy A nice little fable - the same idea as The Spider and The Fly? It was good to discover that, 50 years after I was at Uni in Kiel, I could still understand almost all of it (before looking at the translation!). |
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22 Jun 20 - 03:54 PM (#4060816) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Low German songs sung during the Worldwi From: GUEST,Susanne (skw) The one I did two weeks ago: DE FIEV SÖHNS (Trad) Ik hebb se nich up de Scholen gebrocht, ik hebb nich eenmaal over se gelacht, se gahnt nich spelen up de Straten. Ik hebb se up de wilde See gesandt, ehren levesten Vader to söken. Dat eene, dat starv den bitteren Dood, dat anner, dat starv van Hunger so groot, dat drüdde, dat worde gehangen. Dat veerde bleev up de wilde See dood, dat fievde flot achter dem Lande. Wann se woll up den Karkhoff kwamm, se reep Gott, ehren himmlischen Vader, an un bedet all mit Fliete, dat ehr Gott wolde de Sünde vergeven un halen ehr in sien Rieke. Rough translation: I didn't send them to school I never even laughed about them They couldn't play in the streets I sent them upon the raging main to go looking for their dearest father One of them died a bitter death Another died of hunger so great The third died on the gallows high The fourth died on the raging main The fifth had to flee the country And when she came to the churchyard she cried to the Father up in Heaven and prayed with all her might that he would forgive her sins and take her into His realm It's probably 15th century, from the Westphalian area (roughly!). More background info for those who have a bit of German can be found here: https://www.ostfriesischelandschaft.de/fileadmin/user_upload/BILDUNG/Dokumente/Plattdeutsche_Lieder/De_fiev_Soehns.pdf |