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Sie liebt dich
Would I have discovered my great passion for the Beatles as a 12 or 13 year old if all the songs had sounded like that? Who knows. But when I stumbled across “Sie liebt Dich” and “Komm gib mir deine Hand” a few years later, I was completely blown away. And I also found a little story about the origin of the German songs. Maybe nothing new for many here in the forum, but still a lot of fun. And Mona and Lisa may not be missing in this topic of course, starting a little tour to follow the traces of John, Paul, George and Ringo in Hamburg.
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50 Replies
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Hi Jurgen, Sie liebt dich sounds great! Kudos to the Beatles for doing it in German. They sound very natural singing it, I presume their pronunciation was all good? I never knew they actually recorded two of their songs in German. Interesting video, great post. Thanks for sharing it.
Funny story in Paris with the Beatles sleeping in and missing the recording session, and George Martin finding them having tea with Jane Asher. It’s interesting how these two songs in German even charted in the top 100 in the US making them the first group to ever have top 100 songs in two languages.
I can appreciate how translating a song into another language while maintaining the meaning and feel in the original language can be a challenge. I occasionally watch a Korean show on Netflix with the English subtitles on, and I can see many times where the direct translation really misses the meaning and intent. Especially when humour or emotion is involved, a direct translation just doesn’t capture the nuances right.
The Beatles time in Hamburg really polished their performance and musicianship skills and set them up for the US/world invasion to follow. Love the MLT Hamburg VLOGs.
Love hearing MLT sing in German too here.
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Hi Jung, yes the pronunciation of Paul and John is good, with John getting it better in “Komm gib mir deine hand”. They both sing sometimes at a slightly higher pitch than in the original. Paul’s voice sounds very soft, warm and pleasant. There was once a South African singer who sang in German (Howard Carpendale). He was very popular in Germany. When I heard “Sie liebt dich” for the first time, I thought it was Howard Carpendale singing: the same soft, melodious and elegant voice.I can tell you: women’s hearts melt and hardly an eye stays dry. 🙂
Funny fact: just as Germans always have problems pronouncing the English “th” correctly, English people cannot pronounce “ch” as in the word “dich”. “ch” is a soft, rather unvoiced sound. Paul sings it like “k”. The whole thing sounds to me like „Sie liebt Dick” (the nickname of Richard). Translated: „She loves Dick“ Who is this mysterious Dick? Is it Richard Starkey? That would give the whole song a whole new meaning 🙂 And you’re right Jung: translating humour, irony, and puns into another language is sometimes disastrous and doesn’t work (ask me…). I always admire translators who translate entire films or books into another language.
„Leise rieselt der Schnee“ is a beautiful christmas carol and for me connected with many beautiful childhood memories. I am very happy that Mona and Lisa have recorded this song. I only wish they had left the lyrics completely in German (“Leise rieselt der Schnee“).
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If I had to explain it in words to a fellow American, I’d say that the hard ch sound (as in “ach”) is approximately the sound of a dental suction instrument while in use. And the soft ch sound (as in “ich”) is approximately the sound of the same instrument in standby mode. Just try to imitate those sounds, and you’ll be pretty close.
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Very well explained, David. I will pay close attention next time I go to the dentist.
(I am still relaxed with these two sounds. But when I hear that high penetrating sound from the drill, I always get a bit nervous).
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Danke shoen deutsche freund
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Very cool! I’ve long wondered about the credentials of the person hired to translate the Beatles’ songs into German, and whether he had any other connection with the group.
Hard to believe that the master recording of She Loves You was lost!
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Hi David, thank you for your answer. I think it was a very chaotic time for the Beatles. I was as surprised as you: How can the master tapes of “She loves you” just disappear so soon after the song was produced? And I’m a bit confused: I didn’t really understand the exact story behind the translation of the lyrics. Why was a Luxembourg entertainer commissioned to translate the lyrics into German, who used which synonym and when, and who exactly acquired the copyright to the German lyrics and has been considered a co-author ever since? There’s no business like show business…
I think it’s great that Tom speaks a little German, you speak it well and Jung is going to take a German course soon, then we can discuss the next topics in German. How about: “Does the universe have something like a rudimentary memory“?
Ich freue mir schon jetzt einen Ast in den Bauch (I am so happy, that I joy a branch in my belly / I’m very happy)
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They spent a year in Hamburg. Their accents sound genuine to me.
It makes you wonder why they needed a translation.
Jurgen what do you think?
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Hallo Tom, vielen lieben Dank für deine Antwort. I am quite touched. I think The Beatles and the German language are like The Beatles and Music. They used both intuitively. Music later, of course, professionally. It was described well in the video: If you translate a song text from one language into another, you have two problems: The new text should convey as much content as possible as the original, and at the same time it has to fit into the original song’s form or rhythm. It’s a balancing act that usually doesn’t work. And if you are not very familiar with a language, it’s better to get professional help. The best example is the German singer Nena, who translated her hit song “99 Luftballons” into English „Red Balloons“ (I hope you know the song, the video has been presented here in the forum several times). In English there was no such word as “Luftballon” (meaning a balloon used at children’s birthday parties or New Year’s Eve parties). So it became Red Balloon. This fits the melody, but not the content: a balloon in German is a tethered balloon, i.e. something invented by the Montgolfier Brothers. But Nena means the “children’s birthday balloon”. This gives the text an ironic touch. The colour of the balloons is actually irrelant. And a lot of beautiful rhymes and language games are also lost in this song. „She loves you“ and „I wonna hold your hand“, were not meant ironically and were written in quite simple English. Nevertheless, even with these two lyrics the content is slightly distorted. But great songs that will always fascinate me.
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Jurgen, my favourite early Beatles song in German! Ultra cool indeed! The beginning of the song that sounds like a car engine turning over a couple of times sound just as good in both the English and German translations! 😉
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Jung, you just reminded me of a “dad joke” that I came up with in my high school German class. When you step on the gas pedal of a German car, the engine goes “Why?” (The German word for why is pronounced “vahroom”.)
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Yes very funny you two.
Thanks Jung. You are right. My car also sounded like this for a while, but since I got a new starter battery: no problems anymore.
David, waruuuuuuuuum, waruuuuuuuum ?
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David, Jurgen. I think you are both describing the sounds of a Porsche. My friends very old VW Rabbit went more like kaput, kaput, kaput…before he had to call a tow truck. ???? LOL!!!!
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Porsche? Never heard of, Jung. Don’t they make watches? I drive a 15 year old diesel car. This is the noise I was referring to. You must have misstressed the “m” in the word “warum”. Emphasis “u” = sports car. Emphasis “m” = diesel car. If you don’t believe me: Ask David. 🙂
„went“ „kaputt“ = „ging kaputt“ = infinitiv: „kaputtgehen“ WOW Jung, I am deeply impressed. Be honest, surely you already speak fluent German.
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And the translation (from lyricstranslate.com):
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Oh, won’t you come on. Come to me. You drive me out of my mind.
Oh, won’t you come on. Come to me. Come on, give me your hand.
Come on, give me your hand. Come on, give me your hand.
Oh, you are so beautiful. As beautiful as a diamond.
I want to be your boyfriend. Come on, give me your hand.
Come on, give me your hand. Come on, give me your hand.
In your arms I feel happy and glad.
It had never been like this with any other girl.
Not like this. Not like this. Not like this.
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Paul McCartney showing off his mastery of German:
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Thanks very much for the translation of the song lyrics and the short interview excerpt with Paul Mc Cartney, David. Very funny. „Jakob war der frecheste Vogel, den ich je gesehen habe” (Jacob was the cheekiest bird I have ever seen). As Paul Mc Cartney rightly said: not really helpful in real life. I think they learned more in that one year in Hamburg than they ever did in their entire school career (But my English lessons during school were sometimes not much better).
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Noch einmal:
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A very nice gesture and apparently he wrote it in his own words.
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Hi David, thanks for sharing the video (and the links to the cover songs). I had already discovered the video and was really pleased that the Beatles had written a third song in German. But unfortunately they haven’t done it. By the way, the performance of the group took place in the TV-Show “Disco”. It was the only music program for young people on German TV in the 70s. Moderated by a very silly presenter and with a very hot music mix. It could happen that in one and the same show Deep Purple and a German Schlagersänger* performed at the same time. Unthinkable today.
*(German pop singer, I don’t know how to translate the word “Schlagersänger”. You have to listen to “Schlagermusik” to understand the phenomenon. You can’t translate and explain that)
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Jurgen, danke shoen immer.
Seriously i don’t speak any German. Very little.
I have passable French & Spanish.
I enjoy learning.
I don’t even have a keyboard which can put the umlaut on the U of your name.
Auf Wiedersehen.
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Hi Tom, French, Spanish and English? Wow, you can communicate almost all over the world with that, great. I would have liked to learn Spanish too. Where did you learn it?
Jurgen is okay. I know the English keyboard doesn’t have umlaute. I think my parents should have given me a name without umlaute. In Asia, an airline almost refused to take me once: JUERGEN was written on the ticket and Jürgen in my passport. They just compared letter for letter and it just didn’t fit. But as you can see, I made it home after all.
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The Berlitz course at home.
Two weeks of class & living with a family in Costa Rica.
Many trips to my 2nd home – Mexico
I took French from 5th grade into college. I never get to use it.
What do you think of Schlager music, and Beatrice Egli, Melissa Naschenweng, Vanessa Mai
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Hi Tom. I think it’s great that you taught yourself Spanish. Costa Rica is a beautiful place. I was there a few years ago and I liked it very much. How long did you stay there?
Talking about Schlager music: You’ve caught me off guard here. I don’t know Beatrice Egli, Melissa Naschenweng and Vanessa Mai at all: but that doesn’t mean anything. I think all three are popular at the moment. I have watched them on youtube. To make it short: I can’t do much with German Schlager. The long version, would be very long now: Schlager music conveys an attitude towards life and understanding of the world, which does not fit with my ideas of life. It is the music of the older generation and conveys a lot of ideal world, is absolutely uncritical and repeats itself constantly. Let me put it this way: while the music of The Beatles, The Stones, etc. conveys a mood of departure, the desire for something new, German Schlagermusik signals only one message: everything should stay the way it is.
I have a hard time understanding Melissa Naschenweng. She comes from Kärnten (Austria) and sings with a very pronounced Austrian accent.
Beatrice Egli and Melissa Naschenweng present classic german Schlager Music. Vanessa Mai goes more in the direction of pop music. I like that better again. She could do more with her music, but then she won’t reach her fanbase anymore, too bad.
By the way, this brings me to the discussion that came up at another place here in the forum: should an artist use his appearance to sell his music? All three of the singers mentioned consciously use their attractiveness to market their music. This is a very personal decision that is difficult to discuss as an outsider. Going this way they are no longer just musicians who enjoy singing, but they are part of a very sophisticated marketing concept. They can’t play any other music and are not allowed to change their appearance, otherwise they can’t be marketed anymore. An evil game of the music industry that Mona and Lisa fortunately haven’t gotten involved in so far. And that brings me back to the topic of “She loves you”. The Beatles obviously didn’t like to produce this song very much, because they knew exactly: it’s really only about conquering new music markets and increasing the sales figures of their music albums. The actual music does not count so much anymore. But I’m glad they did it anyway.
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Jurgen
i spent a month in Costa Rica the 1st time.
I agree about Schlager. it’s warm and fuzzy like cotton candy, but not much depth. The ultimate schlager song might be Wolke sieben by Mai. The title and video says it all.
We say seventh heaven or cloud nine. But i get the idea. Come to think of it Wolkefrei – cloudfree – is a very schlager group name.
One girl from der Schweiz, one from Osterreich and one from Deutschland is heart-warming. Yes they are eye-candy. Part of the appeal
Schlager started showing up in my youtube thumbnails during this thread.
My favorite i think is worth listening to. here you go.
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Wow, this song would have fit right in with the Eurovision 1983 cassette that my high school pen pal from France sent me! The German language songs on that tape were “Hurricane” by Westend, and “Ruecksicht” by Hoffmann und Hoffmann. Are you familiar with either of those, Juergen? I have no feel for whether Eurovision songs become all the rage all over Europe, or if it’s just a niche market.
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David I’m glad if you like the music. Even if I’m sometimes a bit skeptical about the German music scene: yes, I know it quite well. And there are also many beautiful songs.
The European Song Contest has been around for a very long time. The first time it was broadcast was in 1956 and it was called “Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson”. At the beginning, the whole thing was a big deal and the list of participants was very colorful and diverse. In 2001 the name was changed to “European Song Contest” and with the enlargement of the European Union new countries were constantly added. The very first winner of the contest was called Lys Assia and came from Switzerland. The group ABBA, the most successful band so far who participated in the competition, won the title with the song “Waterloo” in 1974 and started their worldwide career. By the way, Céline Dion competed for Switzerland in 1988. The dream of the large success remained for most interpreters out. The success story of ABBA should remain the great exception. This was also due to the fact that in later years no well-known musicians wanted to participate in this music competition. Too big the fear to perform badly there. Germany won the title two times: the singers Nicole „ Ein bißchen Frieden“ (1982) and Lena „Satellite“ (2010). Austria had a great success in 1966 with Udo Jürgens. An exceptional musician and certainly well known to Mona & Lisa. However, the popularity of the European Song Contest has waned considerably in recent years and today it only leads a shadowy existence, as you have correctly surmised David. A lot of warm air and little substance. In contrast, the music scene in Europe has developed very self-confidently and has become very diverse. Perhaps one of the reasons why the European Song Contest can be retired. The chicks have fledged and no longer need the hen. But the idea behind it was very nice: a musical exchange between the individual nations. Why this had to be in the form of a competition with a winner and lots of losers, only the Europeans know.
The two bands you mentioned were unfortunately just flashes in the pan. Westend with the title “Hurrican” was a group from Austria that participated in the European Song Contest in 1983 and finished in 9th place. The band was never heard from again. Similarly, the German brothers Hoffmann & Hoffmann who also participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1983 and reached 5th place. They had a total of three successful songs, but the big success failed to materialize. Tragic: that’s why one of the two brothers committed suicide.
I have chosen two German songs that you might like. They didn’t participate in the European Songs Contest and a bit older already, but also from the 80s. I like them very much. The following videos unfortunately have a very poor picture and sound quality, but they give a first impression. I would have liked to introduce you to more bands, but unfortunately most of the titles are available on youtube but legally protected and not playable here.- Wir haben uns auf Teufel komm raus geliebt
- Dann kam er und wir wussten nicht mehr weiter
- Du machtest dich nicht gut als sterbender Schwan
- Ich hab’ versagt als finsterer Reiter
- Statt Pech und Schwefel plötzlich nur noch Gletscher
und Geröll - Wir habe so viel Glück auf dem Gewissen
- Ich brauche jeden Morgen deinen Nachtgeruch
- Und keine falschen Wimpern auf dem Kissen
- Dein ist mein ganzes Herz
- Du bist mein Reim auf Schmerz
- Wir werden wie Riesen sein
- Uns wird die Welt zu klein
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[Strophe 1]
- Die Augenringe erzählen die Nacht
- Fremdes Hotel, bin fröstelnd aufgewacht
- Mit ‘nem Gewissen, das mich ständig beisst
- Oh, du fehlst mir so
- In der Arena gestern noch der Held
- Heute der Typ, der den Hörer falsch herum hält
- Ach, warum gehst du denn nicht ran?
- Ich vermiss dich so
- Wenn der Himmel mir jetzt auf den Kopf drauf fällt
- Bist du die einzige, die noch zu mir hält
- Ich brauch jetzt deine ruhige Hand
- Oh, meld dich doch bei mir
- Oh, ich gäb sonst was dafür
[Chorus]
- Lena
Du hast es oft nicht leicht - Wie weit die Kraft doch reicht
- Wenn ich am Boden liege
- Erzählst du mir, dass ich bald fliege
- Lena
Wie ein klarer, warmer Wind - Wenn die Tage stürmisch sind
- Lass ich mich zu dir treiben
- Seelen aneinander reiben
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Thank you for that very thorough answer, Juergen, and for the song selections with lyrics! They’re very nice.
I don’t claim to be a fan of the Eurovision sound in general, but when I listen to a song in another language and try to translate what I’m hearing, it helps if the song has a happy feel to it. I first heard “Hurricane” when I had only been studying German for a few months, and was thrilled to discover that I could understand several phrases: “spazier’ ich durch die Strassen”, “ja, ich warte auf die Eine”, “dann hab’ ich sie gefunden”.
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I understand that very well David. That’s the first sense of achievement when you learn a new language and then you enjoy continuing to learn the language. And such successes are always associated with special memories that accompany you.
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Hi Tom, “it’s warm and fuzzy like cotton candy, but not much depth” a very nice paraphrase. I like the song by Wolkenfrei. “Cloudless” you could also say “Sunshine” or “Blue Sky”. As I said, Vanessa Mai has a lot of potential. She could also be produced in a completely different way. Just like Helene Fischer. Probably the current queen of the German pop/schlager scene. A lot of potential, but just trimmed to a very specific music direction. On the other hand, it would be boring if everyone always made the same kind of music. And as we all know, there’s no accounting for taste. Only discuss. Thank you for your interest in German music.
Fischer’s biggest hit, I unfortunately found only in combination with footballers. On youtube there is also the official music video for it.
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Helene Fischer in a duet with Vanessa Mai. It is a cover version. The song was written by a German musician who basically had only this one hit: “Verdammt ich lieb’ dich”. (Damn, I love you)
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Jurgen, the singer in the PUR is the guitarist fro VolkeFrei.
I guesss he wanted to do something else.
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Juergen, when you were learning English in school, at what point (if any) did they begin to introduce the differences between the British and the American dialects? And which version was the default that you started out with?
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Well, good question David. I had English lessons for about 8 years and I don’t remember the differences ever being explicitly addressed. The teachers probably didn’t know much about the differences themselves. American English was never really an issue, the American accent didn’t play a role in their world view. In the last two years of English, current affairs from daily newspapers and political topics were discussed. Then we also listened to speeches by J.F. Kennedy or M.L. King. Yes, that sounded quite different. In answer to your question: We started with British English and finished with British English (sometimes oxford englisch). The generation of German English teachers I met, enjoyed Shakespeare and other historical writers.
I imagine myself sitting in an English pub and ordering a beer: “Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness”. And if I don’t like the beer, I simply say: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”. That’s just as helpful for everyday life as Jakob the cheeky bird.
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Well, I’m confessing to a few speech impediments I have in pronouncing certain words and letters in words such as in Massachusetts… I say rather “????s” at the end for I cannot pronounce the “sch’s” …lol… and along with a few other words, it’s like a tongue tied twister for my mouth to correlate pronunciation properly of the words … Part of my learning disability I struggled with throughout my school years and now still… just certain words still can’t say properly….
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And I can speak abit of Italian /read it and of course, I learn swear words no problem in Italian…lol…no issues there in pronunciation….lol
And same goes for French, I can read/speak basic minimal, know swear words …lol… Also have no problem in speaking with an Irish/Scottish/English accent when talking with people of English/Irish/Scottish heritage…
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You have gone your own way, Jacki. That is what is important nothing else matters. Scottish and Irish are very special again. Hats off to you that you can understand and speak these dialects. In northern Germany there are still a few dialects that are related to the English and Dutch languages. What the Scottish or Irish accent is for you, the North German dialect is for me. But I don’t understand these dialects and can’t speak them either.
By the way, Hamburger „schnaken platt“ or love “Klönschnack” (they speak “Low German” or „Plattdeutsch“) and greet you with: Moin, Moin (that means: good morning, good day, good afternoon, good evening, good night. Whatever you want). Just as Mona and Lisa greeted you in their video: Moin, Moin.
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Jacki,
you are my hero. Keep up the good work.
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