Dear Friends,
I’m so happy to offer you
Kanonen Song (Artillery Song) from Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera)
Text: Bertolt Brecht (1898 — 1956); Music: Kurt Weill (1900 — 1950)
Performed by Ishmael Wallace, tenor and pianist
In the opera, this song is sung by Macheath, a notorious gangster, and Tiger Brown, Chief of the London Police; the two are old friends from service in India.
John was below and Jim to the side,
And Georgie had become a Sergeant.
But the Army asked no one whom he was;
It marched to the North.
In his play A Man’s A Man, Brecht had explored the idea that human beings were interchangeable (in A Man’s A Man, a British soldier gets stuck inside the image of a Buddha; his comrades have to replace him, so they brainwash a porter into taking his place. It is only the slot which matters, not the person who fills it).
As for marching to the North, this does not bode well; one is approaching the border.
Soldiers dwell upon the cannons
From the Cape to Cutch Behar.
Should it rain, and they encounter
A new race — brown or white —
They make of it, perhaps, their Beefsteak Tartar.
The whisky was too warm for Johnny,
And for Jimmy, the blankets too few.
But Georgie took them both by the arm
And said, the Army cannot perish.
John has died, and Jimmy is dead,
And Georgie is missing, lost his nerve.
But blood is still red,
The army will bring more in.
(translation by IW)
Original text:
John war darunter und Jim war dabei
Und Georgie ist Sergeant geworden.
Doch die Armee, sie frägt keinen, wer er sei
Und marschierte hinauf nach dem Norden.
Soldaten wohnen
Auf den Kanonen
Vom Kap bis Couch Behar.
Wenn es mal regnete
Und es begegnete
Ihnen 'ne neue Rasse,
'Ne braune oder blasse,
Dann machen sie vielleicht daraus ihr Beefsteak Tartar.
Johnny war der Whisky zu warm
Und Jimmy hatte nie genug Decken.
Aber Georgie nahm beide beim Arm
Und sagte: "Die Armee kann nicht verrecken".
John ist gestorben und Jimmy ist tot
Und Georgie ist vermisst und verdorben.
Aber Blut ist immer noch rot
Für die Armee wird jetzt wieder geworben!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Castalia to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.