"Wooden Heart", created by Fred Wise, Ben Weisman, Kay Twomey and adapted and arranged by German bandleader Bert Kaempfert, based on a German folk song by Friedrich Silcher, "Muss i' denn zum Städtele hinaus", originating from the Rems Valley in Württemberg, Southwest Germany. "Wooden Heart" features several lines from the original folk song, written in the German Swabian dialect, spoken in Württemberg. The Elvis Presley version was published by Gladys Music, Elvis Presley's publishing company." Read More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooden_Heart
Marlene Dietrich recorded a version of the song sometime before 1958, pre-dating Presley, in the original German language, which appears as a B-side on a 1959 version of her single "Lili Marlene"', released by Philips in association with Columbia Records.
Joe Dowell released a cover version in 1961 after Elvis and made it to No 1 in the USA.
here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNNwqm-joJM
The Elvis Presley version featured two parts in German, the first one is the first four lines of "Muss i' denn zum Städtele hinaus", whereas the second part appears towards the end and is based on a translation of the English version (therefore not appearing in the original German folk lyrics). This part being "Sei mir gut, sei mir gut, sei mir wie du wirklich sollst, wie du wirklich sollst..." This literally means "Be good to me, Be good to me, Be to me how you really should, How you really should..."
Friedrich Silcher- Composer of the German Folk Song - Muss i' denn zum Städtele hinaus
Philipp Friedrich Silcher was born on June 27, 1789, in a schoolhouse in the wine area of Schnait in Remstal, a son of the teacher Karl Johann Silcher.
As a teenager in 1803 he began a three-year apprenticeship as "Schulknecht" to Ferdinand Auberlen in Fellbach, who was well known as a good musician and valued arranger of men's choral music. In 1806 he became a teaching assistant in Schorndorf, where he also was a tutor in the house of the Kreishauptmann Freiherr von Berlichingen.
In 1817 Silcher became Musikdirektor at the University of Tübingen."
Read more about Friedrich Silcher here http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/bio/fritz2.html
Newcastle and International poet Keith Armstrong - The Jingling Geordie often travels to Tübingen for readings and poetic associations. He recently wrote this poem about Friedrich Silcher inspired by his statue
Keith Armstrong (Visit his website here http://keithyboyarmstrong.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/wooden-heart-new-song-in-morning-for.html?utm_source=BP_recent
Through an arch of towering plane trees,I reach to touch the hips
of an upright Swabian girl,
her lips
fresh with strawberries
from a breakfast bowl of kisses
sprinkled with sugar
and yesterday’s cream.
The birds of the Platanenallee
fly on the wings of melancholy,
the breeze of history
 |
| Photos by keith Armstrong |
It dawns on me
that the rain
will lash against our faces
as we push our way
through the saluting wood.
The day is crumbling already
around us
with the leaves memorably
crunching under our futile tread.
Half way along the soaking avenue,
the sun like a song
sparkles in my eyes
and lights my last hours
with the beauty of skies.
And suddenly
you are there
 |
| Philipp Friedrich Silcher |
bursting through the leaves,
a kind of terrible stone
trapping your crumbling tunes
inside rock.
To take a frail life
and carve it into something immortal
is a folly as well as a tribute
to the hypocrisy of pompous little leaders
seeking to employ music
for their brutal ends.
So I say
and so we sing
of beautiful glances
and military funerals
of dead songbirds
in the path of bullets.I climb in spiritto reach the flesh of this lovely girl,
for a moment
I am happy and then it is gone
behind the clouds of war.
And this is for you Friedrich
from my fluttering heart
in a sea of shaking branches,
reaching out
for humanity
to triumph
over the horror
of the mundane,
a gift of a song for you,
a lovely glass of wine
as the armies march again
into the blind alley
of a bleak despair:
Keith Armstrong
..............................
Wooden Heart - The lyrics
Can't you see
I love you?
Please don't break my heart in two,
That's not hard to do,
'Cause I don't have a wooden heart.
And if you say goodbye,
Then I know that I would cry,
Maybe I would die,
'Cause I don't have a wooden heart.
There's no strings upon this love of mine,
It was always you from the start.
Treat me nice,
Treat me good,
Treat me like you really should,
'Cause I'm not made of wood,
And I don't have a wooden heart.
Muss i denn, muss i denn
Zum Staedtele hinaus,
Staedtele hinaus,
Und du, mein schat, bleibst hier?
Muss i denn, muss i denn
Zum Staedtele hinaus,
Staedtele hinaus,
Und du, mein schat, bleibst hier?
(Got to go, got to go,
Got to leave this town,
Leave this town
And you, my dear, stay here?).
There's no strings upon this love of mine,
It was always you from the start,
Sei mir gut,
Sei mir gut,
Sei mir wie du wirklich sollst,
Wie du wirklich sollst,
(Treat me nice,
Treat me good,
Treat me like you really should,
Like you really should),
'Cause I don't have a wooden heart.
KEITH ARMSTRONG
*Swabian musician Philipp Friedrich Silcher originally composed the tune, based on a folk lyric, used in the pop song ‘Wooden Heart’. His statue by Wilhelm Julius Frick (1884-1964), erected in 1941, is in Tuebingen by the River Neckar.
The original version is here in English
"German folk song (Swabian / South-West German), first Appeared in print in 1827 Lyrics (in Swabian German / Swabian): Friedrich Silcherstraße (1789-1860) Chorus: Runkfunkchor Leipzig Scenes from "home" (1984): Homecoming of . a young soldier from the Great War. I did a rough translation of the lyric into standard Swabian German (High German) as follows: ----- Do I have to, I have to because away from the town, town away , And you, my darling stay here? If I come, I come, when I get back, get back, I return, my dear, to you. Even if I can simply be with you not all, relationships (gear) I but my joy (to) thee when I come, I come, when I get back, get back, I return, my dear, to you .. How are you crying as you cry, That I walk (go away) must, hike (go away) must As if love would be over now? Are just outside, just outside are many girls, many girls, My darling, I stay true to you. Do not you think if I see one other, immediately would love my past ; just are out there, just out there are many girls, many girls . My darling, I remain loyal to you over the year, throughout the year, when my grape harvest is finished, grape harvest is done, Here I am again (message me here me here again); Am I then, am I still your baby, baby still, So should (it) be the wedding. Over the year, when my (working) time is over, since (then) I belong to my and your (own person / available); Am I then, am I still your baby, baby still, So should (it) be the wedding over the year, when my (working) time is over, since (then) I belong to my and your (own available ); Am I then, am I still your baby, baby still, So should (it) be the wedding -----"
.................................
Scenes from "Heimat" (1984): Homecoming of a young soldier from the Great War.
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