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Topic: Folk Music Question for German F-T Members

Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 12-01-2004 07:08 PM

Hi All

I have a question about a particular German folk/beer drinking song for German F-T members. I am interested in the historical significance of this song, and am not interested in a political discussion/debate. Also, I sincerely hope that no one takes offense to my question.

I had always wondered about a particular song quite often associated with films about Nazi war-criminals. The song is "Schwarzbraun Ist Die Haselnuss", and was a major part of the overture for "Judgement at Nuermberg", as well as included in "The Odessa File".

I'm just interested in the translation of this song, it's history, any significance it may have had to the Nazi party, and whether it contained any significant racial overtones.

Regards and thanks in advance for the insight....

K.

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Ron Keillor
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 166
From: Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 12-02-2004 11:50 PM

For a page in German go to
http://www.pranke.de/holdrioo.htm
To get a "translation" use put the title in quotation marks in Google and use the Google automatic translator. The products of translation-by-machine often seem to need another level of translation to be understood.
I can't resist a short quotation;

quote: Will Kutler was the last to post

The last line of the first strophe reads as follows: "Holdri o, juvivallerale RA, hectar-hectar-hectar, holdri o, juvivallerale RA, hectar-hectar-hectar, RA". With this salient call the author states his joy over it, a right-wing extremist to be.

The second strophe begins then with the words: "girl has me Busserl to give, me heavily insulted, insulted." If we experience us from the hanebuechenen rape of the German language to refrain and on the contentwise statement to concentrate try, we that the author was very much hurt by the kiss of a girl. From the fact we must conclude that the author is homosexual; the song could represent thus the attempt of a Coming Outs.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 12-03-2004 05:48 AM

That website is not really meant seriously. It is more a satirical reaction to the brainless folk music programs which are unfortunately regularly aired on German TV and where the eye and ear gets attacked by permanently grinning people in folk costumes yodeling away.
The text doesn't have any deeper significance at all. It is just typical folk music doomdeedoom.
I don't know if it was particular popular in the Nazi era (I wasn't around back then). But it probably appealed to drunken Nazis because of the color association. Political groups were associated with certian colors (and still are, in Germany and elsewhere): red was for communists (therefore also "Red Army" or "Red October"), white for monarchists, yellow for liberals, black for conservatives and brown for the extreme right (fascists in general and Nationalsocialists in particluar). So they liked the line "blackbrown is the hazelnut, and so am I". But there is no deeper meaning to it.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 12-03-2004 10:16 AM

quote: Michael Schaffer
yellow for liberals

An interesting color choice, that one. [Big Grin]

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Christian Appelt
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 505
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Registered: Dec 2001

posted 12-04-2004 02:49 PM

Everything you wanted to know about this song (in German, don't know what online translation will do to it):

Research on a volkslied under suspicion (universitiy of cologne)

The music was first mentioned around the year 1770 in Switzerland, the lyrics around 1830. There are different versions of these lyrics, and I would call them all nothing but pure kitsch .

As Michael remarked, the "corporate design" of the Nazi party and movement was brown (and red). For that reason, many people in Germany think that the song was a Third Reich phenomenon, which is not true.

The most famous volksmusik singer in Germany is a guy called Heino, loved by the grandma generation, but perceived as extremely square and trashy by younger people.

This is Heino

In the most successful German comedy of the 1980s, Heino lookalikes appeared in a strange parody of Michael Jackson's THRILLER video, chanting a bizarre techno version of SCHWARZBRAUN IST DIE HASELNUSS while doing a robot-like dance that reminds of Nazi soldiers marching.

But as I said, the lyrics are quite harmless, about as political as an Elvis love song.

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