![]() ![]() I also have a failrly good knowledge of the soldaten songs "I Once Had Some Jam"! Our current Number 1, Jack! I am sure that it was effectively unknown, even as the original poem, until then. Oh and by the way, Lili Marlene did not really get going until it was recorded in the late 1930s. If you want to hear how some of these songs sounded, try an internet search with key words Soldatenlieder Erster Weltkrieg That will throw up plenty of suggestions. ![]() However, I have never come across the full lyrics and, unfortunately, most German writing on the subject seems to concentrate on material specially written and composed for use by or about soldiers, rather than the home made type. Ich hatt' einen Kamaraden (Uhland's famous 1826 farewell to a fallen fellow soldier) was transmogrified by hungry soldiers into Ich hatt' mal Marmelade. As far as parodies, equivalent to, say, 'When this lousy war is over.' are concerned, I know of only one for certain. For example, in a personal account of the recapture of Schwaben Redoubt at Thiepval on, the then Hauptmann Wurmb states specifically that when it went dark, both elements of his company advanced towards each other singing Die Wacht am Rhein in order to avoid shooting one another in the dark. There is also ample evidence that patriotic songs, folksongs and specific soldiers' songs were actually sung. There are plenty of pictures of regimental 'sods operas' in the histories showing men playing a wide variety of instruments - many of which were taken into the trenches. When it comes to singing, you cannot shut Germans up they love it, so I am certain that loads of songs were made up. (He did mellow in the 1920's and was a great and gentle dad.) ![]() After a couple of years as a storm trooper, and having been wounded in combat several times, he frankly was a short-tempered and violent guy, and would speak his mind, sometimes with biting wit, including to officers. My father, who was in the German Army in WW I, had a very sharp and rude mouth, and told me some examples of his biting wit, one of which even led to an investigation, but unfortunately I have good reason not to be specific about them. There is a song called "Ich hat ein Kamerad" that is very sad and was sung at the funerals of soldiers or veterans. Some are very romantic and even extremely sad, like one called "Three Lilies". A lot of them sound very militaristic and bombastic, but if you listen to the lyrics they often are about fields of blossoms blowing in the wind, or a young brother and sister holding hands and skipping down the road. I used to know about many German marching songs from WW II, but I don't know how prevalent they were in WW I I assume that they were, but I do not know. There were several very patriotic songs that one reads about a lot in connection with WW I and the troops singing them, like Wacht am Rhein. He said that there were many favorite songs, but these also each had saterical (or possibly rude?) variants. ![]() My father told me that when they drank in beerhalls they had singing books with wooden covers with hob-nails hammered into the covers so the book could lie open in a sea of beer on a beerhall table and not have the pages damaged. There still are singing societies that date to this period ( Sangerbuende) but they are a mere shadow of their former size and importance. After a week of performances the volunteers who built the building tore the building down and salvaged the timber and returned the lot to the City. In my hometown of Philadelphia, PA, USA, about 1900, there was a convention of German-American singing societies they borrowed a vacant lot from the City, built a wooden performance hall for the performances, complete with elaborate Victorian decoration, that was large enought to hold 1000 performers st once and an audience of 25,000. I am not precisely an expert here I know a bit about German civilian singing at this time, and a bit about German military music, more of WW II than WW I.Ĭhoral singing was a really big thing in German civilian culture of the time of WW I, so I would think that that extended to the military. Sorry that your questions have not sparked an answer. ![]()
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