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Music, Myths and Fairy Tales
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Thanks for the tip David. It looks entertaining and fun. I’ll take a closer look at it. Slowly I’m becoming a specialist in U.S. television culture here… . Robin Williams also became known to us through the series “Mork and Mindy”. I didn’t immediately know which series was meant, because the title in our country was “Mork vom Ork”. (All English-language books, movies and TV series have different titles here, so I often have to look up the original names first). I loved “Mork vom Ork“”, i.e. “Mork and Mindy”, as well as the series “I Dream of Jeannie” (German title: ” Bezaubernde Jeannie”). Very nice entertainment.
https://youtu.be/ND1MXF-svtQ?t=34
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Austria meets oriental fairy tales
And then I have some funny entertainment from Austria David. The group was called “Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung”, short: EAV (“First general uncertainty”). They were very parodic and actually made fun of all kinds of topics. Even if their songs seem silly at first, they were very politically active and were often uncomfortable for politicians (The former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim even threatened to sue after the song “Wann man gehen muß / When you have to go”, but he had to withdraw it). If you want to have a closer look: „Ba-Ba-Banküberfall”, “Märchenprinz”, “Küss’ die Hand schöne Frau”.
lyrics:
- Deep in the Sahara on a dromedara / a German explorer rode through the date grove / the mummy’s boar saw a girl named Laila / a magical excitement rippled through his bones / he called out “Tell me who are you that makes me drunk? / come and heal my wounds” / she said “I am Laila the Queen of the Night” / And then she was gone. / Like a mirage so near and yet so far / like a mirage abracadabra and she was gone / He follows the songs where the dates hang / the mirage called Laila and did not see the danger / an old Bedouin sat on a dune / bit into the zechine and spoke “Inshallah / oh Effendi they call me Hadji Halef Ibrahim / free yourself from their spell / or you will die” shouted the muezzin / and the old date stealer was gone / Like a mirage so near and yet so far / Like a mirage abracadabra and she was gone / The Effendi was crawling more dead than alive / under the hot sun through the desert sand / “By the beard of the prophet, now I must depart” / he said and raised his hand once more / and he saw the mirage on the horizon / then he died in the land of the Arabs / the vultures above him cawed “Inshallah / finally a carcass again” / Like a mirage so near and yet so far / Like a mirage abracadabra and it was no longer there / like a mirage so near and yet so far
Like / a mirage abrikadabri and she was gone
- Deep in the Sahara on a dromedara / a German explorer rode through the date grove / the mummy’s boar saw a girl named Laila / a magical excitement rippled through his bones / he called out “Tell me who are you that makes me drunk? / come and heal my wounds” / she said “I am Laila the Queen of the Night” / And then she was gone. / Like a mirage so near and yet so far / like a mirage abracadabra and she was gone / He follows the songs where the dates hang / the mirage called Laila and did not see the danger / an old Bedouin sat on a dune / bit into the zechine and spoke “Inshallah / oh Effendi they call me Hadji Halef Ibrahim / free yourself from their spell / or you will die” shouted the muezzin / and the old date stealer was gone / Like a mirage so near and yet so far / Like a mirage abracadabra and she was gone / The Effendi was crawling more dead than alive / under the hot sun through the desert sand / “By the beard of the prophet, now I must depart” / he said and raised his hand once more / and he saw the mirage on the horizon / then he died in the land of the Arabs / the vultures above him cawed “Inshallah / finally a carcass again” / Like a mirage so near and yet so far / Like a mirage abracadabra and it was no longer there / like a mirage so near and yet so far
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That’s really wild, Juergen! I’ve never seen a fusion of the German and Arab cultures before. And thanks for providing a translation.
If you like I Dream of Jeannie, you would probably also like Bewitched, which has a similar theme: a woman informs her husband, shortly after they get married, that she’s a witch with the ability to make things appear and disappear by wiggling her nose. I Dream of Jeannie was actually created by another television network in response to Bewitched after it became a hit.
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Thanks David. Another very nice TV series. „Bewitched“ was broadcast under the title “Verliebt in eine Hexe”. As far as I know, the series was also released later than “I Dream of Jeannie” and was not as successful as the latter series.
Fables, the moral sisters and brothers of fairy tales.
Animal Farm is a dystopian fable by George Orwell, published in 1945. The content is the uprising of the animals of an English farm against the rule of their human owner, who neglects and exploits them. After initial successes and incipient prosperity, the pigs increasingly take over and eventually establish a tyranny worse than the one the animals tried to shake off.
George Harrison probably referred to this fable in his song “Piggies” and also to Orwell’s later work “1984”.
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Fairy tales without princesses, kings, castles and palaces. Almost unthinkable.
David, with this song, Heintje, a Dutch child song star, sang himself into the hearts of all mothers in 1968. In 1982, the band „Neue Heimat“ recorded the song again. “Neue Heimat“ (New Homeland) was actually the name of a non-profit housing association that was active in social housing construction and built rather ugly large housing estates. In addition, the board of directors enriched themselves from the socially deprived tenants and finally the company was sold, heavily in debt. Against this background, the name of the band in combination with the song lyrics results in a rather ironic mixture.
I’ll build you a castle (lyrics)
I’ll build you a castle like in a fairy tale / I’ll live there with you, then all alone / I’ll build you a castle when I grow up, / Then you can live there and be happy / The blue sky looks down on us, / Tells you every day how much I love you /And all the clouds go by so fast, / The castle of our dreams / I’ll build you a castle, you’ll see,
Soon I’ll be grown up, then we’ll move in / Where there’ll be flowers for you in the garden, / Every day will be a Sunday / The blue sky looks down on us, / Telling you every day how much I love you / And all the clouds go by so fast, / The castle of dreams for the two of us / The castle of dreams for the two of us.Ich bau dir ein Schloss (german lyrics)
Ich bau dir ein Schloss, so wie im Märchen / Da wohn ich mit dir, dann ganz allein. / Ich bau dir ein Schloss, wenn ich einst gross bin, / Da kannst du dann froh und glücklich sein. / Der blaue Himmel schaut auf uns herab, / Sagt dir jeden Tag, wie lieb ich Dich hab. / Und alle Wolken zieh’n so schnell vorbei, / Am Traumschloss für uns zwei / Ich bau dir ein Schloss, du wirst schon sehen,
Bald bin ich schon gross, dann zieh’n wir ein / Wo Blumen für Dich im Garten stehen, / Da wird jeder Tag ein Sonntag sein. / Der blaue Himmel schaut auf uns herab, / Sagt dir jeden Tag, wie lieb ich Dich hab. / Und alle Wolken zieh’n so schnell vorbei, / Am Traumschloss für uns zwei, / Am Traumschloss für uns zwei.-
Wow, some beautiful castles in there Jurgen, and a catchy tune too. Yeah I think castles are a big part of the fairy tale world.
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Interesting, Juergen! I wouldn’t mind living in one of those castles.
In my high school German class we learned that Schloss translated as lock: we read a story in which a girl put a Fahrradschloss on her bicycle. Then I was surprised to learn the next year in college that it also means castle. Is there a connection between the two meanings, such as a castle being a dwelling that locks out the rest of the world?
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Yes David, you are exactly right, the name “Schloss” for the building is derived from „abschließen“, „zuschließen“, „einschließen“ or even „wegschließen“.
(here is a short article on this topic:)
Where does the name ” Schloss” for the building come from? Does it have anything to do with the padlock?
The large „Schloss“ actually derives from the lock as we still know it today in the meaning “device for locking”, as a padlock for example.
The term “Schloss” in the sense of building appears in the 13th century and, like “Klause” or “Kloster„ (Monastery), denotes a closed, fortified building or also a closing building, for example a blocking fortification for a valley or a road.
The meaning of being fortified is gradually receding. Now the term denotes the sophisticated building of the Renaissance princes, then of the nobility and finally and later the ostentatious buildings of wealthy citizens.
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And once again, thank you to everyone who has contributed to this topic and, of course, to everyone who has diligently read along. And when these guys perform live, we’ll all meet at their concert.
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