On Monday, July 12, 1999 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-5, Kendall G. Clark wrote:
Does anyone know the name of the beer drinking song in Odessa File? It's heard
in the scene where Jon Voight's character attends, and is thrown out of, a reunion of the Siegfried Division.
The tune is very catchy, and I'd like to acquire a copy of it; I'm hoping it's
just some traditional German song, not some Nazi dreck.
I've not seen the complete list of tracks on the Odessa File soundtrack, but what I have seen leads me to believe that this song is not included there.
I'd appreciate if you could Cc: me if you have any clues about this, as I'm not
able to read this group very regularly. I will summarize and post any pertinent
information I get by mail directly.
Best,
Kendall Clark, kclark@ntlug.org
--
". . . sometimes, when I think of it, I seem / Two consciousnesses,
conscious of myself / And of some other Being." (Wordsworth, 1805
_Prel._ 2.31-33)
Yes, while others MAY have answered, correctly or INcorrectly, I can assure you without question that the music is "Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuß" (literally "Black-brown is the hazelnut"). It is a German folk song, which first dates to the 19th
century Franconia, and its composition has no direct connection to national socialism or the SS. That said . . . .
The song, “Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuß“ (“Dark brown is the Hazelnut”) exists in many forms, likely due to regional differences, but a version of the song on a record from 1960, and a version online described as a “German Military
War Song” contain some interesting differences that appear to be intentional, when considered from the standpoint of Nazi ideology.
Both songs speak of falling in love with a girl of a tanned complexion, although in the Wehrmacht version a stanza about “a girl that once lived in a little town in Poland...she was the most beautiful child one could find” is left out.
The sentiment is decidedly against the Aryan ideal of the time, but it is difficult to trace whether the omission was purposely done in the 1930’s. The Wehrmacht version is also written from a much more male-dominant perspective, as it says “girls
have neither court nor house, girls have no money;" a line that does not appear in the other version. The non-Wehrmachtversion of the song seems to put the female character of the song on a more equal plane with the male, singing: “I’ll not kiss you,
she said,” implying a certain empowerment for the girl; something that also did not factor into the ideology. Furthermore there is no mention of property in the version on the record. This may not be conclusive evidence that the song was converted
by the Nazis in order to be used in the army, but there are further instances where the changes have been confirmed as altered for use by the Hitler Youth.
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