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ZEITEN & ZEICHEN

Freunde ... (Friends ...)

Music: F. Lehár / Arr. Hubert von Goisern
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

This is the story of Bedrich Löwy
He was born in Bohemia
And had the gift of crowning lyrics with his rhymes

When he turned five, his family moved to Vienna
For within the monarchy, they said, you could move anywhere
In the city on the Danube he went to school and studied law
He played football, but early on he was kissed by the muses
And from that moment no longer called himself Bedrich Löwy
but simply Fritz – Beda – Löhner

He wrote pieces for theatre
Poems, songs and schlager too
About a little place in the Lobau
Of a girl with eyes blue like violets
Of people who lost their hearts in Heidelberg
Blissful and head over heels in love with each other
In 1913 Fritz Beda met the already famous Franz Lehár
His Merry Widow had made him
An absolute superstar
Together with Franz, Fritz now wrote
Operettas for the whole world to the glory of them both
Works like: The Stargazer and Friederika
The Land of Smiles, The World Is Beautiful and finally – Giuditta!

Friends, life is worth living

With such a song, whose thoughts would ever turn
To the no longer distant Armageddon

Franz dedicated the work
To Benito Mussolini. I would've liked to ask him why, to maybe understand
It's from Giuditta, what we are hearing now
About how wonderful it is to be among the living
Yes it was a land of smiles, but unfortunately not for long
Because all signs pointed to Armageddon

Yes, Fritz and Franz were two friends, but when it came to it
And the banality of evil spilled across Austria
Franz, the master of melody, became a master of cowardice
For although he knew Goebbels and Hitler personally
And they both called him their favourite composer
He didn't have the courage to speak for his friend
But let he who is without sin cast the first stone…

It was March the twelfth, when the hounds were released
The beast fell across the land, gathering a great haul
Not just of gold and riches, but steadfast people too
The very next day the Nazi mob fetched
Fritz Beda Löhner too, for he was a Jew.
And two weeks later, with the so-called celebrity transport
He was carted off with 150 others
First they were taken to Dachau and from there soon
They headed north to Buchenwald, and there
In this unspeakable place he wrote together with Hermann Leopoldi
His final song – his words of farewell:

Of mornings of horror and hearts full of worries
Of short nights and long days
Of not lamenting one's fate
And in spite of it all, saying yes to life
Until the day, be it far from now
Life would hold freedom for all again
Of not letting anybody rob you of courage
And above all not beginning to hate oneself
And of the songs that long ago
They sang in a distant, distant homeland

Friends, life is worth living…
Who would think on hearing this song
Of dark times and the armageddon

Then Fritz came to Auschwitz, where he was slain
And what remained was burned or buried in the ground
The man, who in these fateful years
Had given the world such beautiful songs, never learned
That his daughters Eva and Lotti, together with his wife Helene
Had already flown to heaven ahead of him like burning swans

When it was all over, Franz protested that
He had known nothing about his friends' dance of death

Oh signora, oh signorina,
Tender sounds the cavatina
And the most beautiful of its songs
Still sound the way they always have
Life is beautiful
So beautiful!

Sünder (Sinners)

Music: Trad., Hubert von Goisern
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

Sinners

Hey, tell me – where will we run
Hey, tell me – where will we run
Where will we run
On the final day

Will we run to the woods?
But the wood cries, I'm already burned down
The wood cries, I'm already burned down
I went up in smoke long ago

And I cry to the woods
Who started the fire
Who started the fire
Tell us, who it was

Nobody knows how long this can continue
Nobody knows how long this can continue
Nobody knows how long this can continue
Nobody knows how long

Nobody knows what the oaf has in mind yet
Nobody knows what the oaf has in mind yet
Nobody knows what the oaf has in mind yet
Over there in America

Nobody knows when the next one will go crazy
Nobody knows when the next one will go crazy
Nobody knows when the next one will go crazy
Nobody knows that now

Hey, come on tell me, where are we heading
Hey, come on tell me, where are we heading
Where are we heading
On that final day

Even the children are pointing at the sinners
Even the children are pointing at the sinners
The children point at the sinners
Every Friday

Power …!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nobody knows how long the world can take this
Nobody knows how long the world can take this
Nobody knows how long the world can take this
Nobody knows how long

Everyone knows how long we'll have a shelter
Everyone knows how long we'll have a shelter
Everyone knows how long we'll have a shelter
Nobody knows for how long

Where shall we run when everything is burning
Where shall we run when everything is burning
Where shall we run
On the final day

Even the children are pointing at the sinners
Even the children are pointing at the sinners
They point at the sinners
Every Friday

Brauner Reiter (Brown Rider)

Music: Hubert von Goisern / Alex Pohn / Helmut Schartlmüller / Alessandro Trebo / Severin Trogbacher
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

Come, tired rider
You've been travelling much too long
And you won't find it
The Holy Grail, or the Philosopher's Stone
So climb down from your steed, open your eyes
Then lay your tired head
On the soft, green moss and let go

Don't you see the writing on the wall
Don't you smell the blood on some people's hands

Come, brown rider
Your horse is tired and it
Doesn't want to go much further
The dream of pure blood people
And of chosen nations has failed
Awake now and laugh
And don't cling to these sick ideas
Let us sing and dance to new songs

Tired brown rider
Your horse doesn't want to go on

If your mother could see you now
She'd smile and fan you with cool, fresh air
And she would say: no reason to complain
The war's long over, you're back home again
Come, take off your heavy, leather, black boots

Don't you see the writing on the wall?
Don't you smell the blood on some people's hands?

Future Memories

Music: Hubert von Goisern
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

Once in a while time hides itself from me
As if the world is holding its breath
And for a moment everything stands still
As if a heartbeat has been missed

Only years later
An image comes along with a memory long gone

Then there are days that go so fast
And you can't grasp what's going on
And just before you know what happened
You realise a year went by

Only years later, a wind brings along a scent
And with it comes a memory of days long gone

What remains of our chase
Just hides from time to time
And waits until the noise has ebbed away
Then in the moment when
Your mind is free and lazy
A memory so faint and silent for so long
Finds its way to you

In every moment of my life
There has been something I received
I often didn't realise
What made me poor, what made me rich

Until much later on the wind comes a song
From old times and brings a memory along

What remains of our chase
Just hides from time to time
And waits until the noise has ebbed away
Then in the moment when
Your mind is free and lazy
A memory so faint and silent for so long
Finds its way to you

Dunkelrot (Dark Red)

Music: Hubert von Goisern
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

I don't know from whence I've come
I don't know where I'm going
I have many thousands of names
And don't know for what they stand

I'm not the one I'd like to be
I'm neither bow nor arrow
I just know that I belong to you
I'm your dancer on the tightrope

And my love knows no beginning
And neither does it know death
Even when I'm long gone
It shines on for you, dark red

I show you crying and laughter
The downfall and paradise
I'll carry you with my strong hands
And fetch the golden fleece for you
I'll go with you through ups and downs
The low tides and the high
And I will hold you and escort you
To the heavens
If you want

And my love knows, no beginning
And neither does it know the death
Even when I will be long gone
It shines on for you dark red

Our love knows no beginning
And neither does it know the death
And even when we're long gone
It will still shine, dark red ...

Meiner Seel' (Upon My Soul)

Music: Hubert von Goisern
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

For many thousand years
Truth has been simply clear as day
But suddenly it's awry
Warped and relative

Upon my soul
Upon my soul
How come there are so many fools

Blue after all ain't yellow
And red ain't green
The Danube ain't the Rhine
And Linz ain't Vienna

Say, is it just a dream
Where do they all come from
And have the fools all now
Conspired with each other?
Will it leave of its own accord?
Is a purpose perhaps fulfilled?
Or is stupidity a mere privilege?

Blue after all ain't yellow
And red ain't green
The Danube ain't the Rhine
And Linz ain't Vienna
One person has a parrot
Another has a crow
If we don't feed them, they might
Fly away again

El Ektro (Electro)

Music: Hubert von Goisern / Alessandro Trebo/ Wolfgang Spannberger
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

I don't want to dance
Dance! I don't want to dance!
And where are all the plants?
I need the plants to barricade myself in!
Does anybody have a clue, do you have a clue?
Does anybody have a clue?

Electro
Where's the champagne, yo

And what kind of substances are these then
Is this within tolerances?

I don't need any pills
To fulfil my wishes
I can chill without pills

When will the end come?
When will the bend come?
When will the electric shock come?

Do you have a long lead?
Digital …

Electro

This isn't Chicago
Nor yet Dusseldorf

That isn't electricity either – right?
And certainly not a river current – right?
What is it then?
It's a brook – man!!!!
Brook? Oh brook ...

Eiweiß (Protein)

Music: Hubert von Goisern / Alessandro Trebo / Maria Moling
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

Imagine, a polar bear
Strolling towards you
A very elegant fellow
And conspicuously slim
He reaches out to you
With his oh so threatened paw
And before he takes a bite out of you
He says: I just need some protein!

Protein, protein
I just need a little protein
Protein, protein
At any price

He'd love to be vegan
And be content with just sucking pebbles
But he prefers bones
Why doesn't anybody understand that
He'd like to become a Tibetan
Some day in the future
But for now, he lives in the Arctic
And is a polar bear

Protein, protein
I just need a little protein
Protein, protein
Protein at any price

Peas, lentils, choco bananas
His ancestors never knew
Nuts, tomatoes, fruit, bean sprouts
Are out of the question

Protein, protein
I just need a little protein
Protein, protein
Protein at any price

He doesn't want your loving
Wants no sweet kisses
He doesn't want a mango
Or meat substitute
The protein he wants
Has to be bloody
Otherwise a polar bear
Doesn't like to take a bite

Yabba dabba do …

But can anyone tell me
What the Mexicans are doing here?

And what rhymes with Mariachi?
Count 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 …
Fibonacci

Grönlandhai (Greenland Shark)

Music: Hubert von Goisern
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

A Greenland shark once dreamed
Of a holiday in Hawaii
Of a hot shark wife
And sometimes of two

He was the last of his kind
For a good five hundred years

It was time he took a mate
That was clear to him

(not sung – only thought:)
"From his head to his tail fin, he was attuned to eating
Yes, that was his world and there was nothing else
But now there's love, yes only love counts
In his cold, dark world and nothing else"

He was the last of his kind
For a good five hundred years

And since being on holiday
Had dreamed of a troupe of shark children

Novemberpferde (November Horses)

Music: Hubert von Goisern / Maria Moling / Alessandro Trebo
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

November horses stand at the lake
They're dreaming of the first snow
And waiting quite calmly

Their manes,
Lit by the first rays of the morning sun
Are reflected in the dark, clear water

When quietly begins the journey of snowflakes
Ascending like stars from the depths below
And with their brothers sinking from heaven
Bring forth innocence to us once more

And every mountain, the whole wide world
And with it the herd of white, dreaming horses
Will sink into the white and disappear
So poets and dreamers can reinvent them

And when the muses of fantasy
Slacken the reins
On people, the plants and all the creatures

Then a new tale will arise
A new star, in a fresh new light
A new world will be recreated

Do you hear the quiet, innocent airs
Ascending as rhymes from deep down below
And with their brothers sinking as songs
Together they're bringing forth life once more

And every mountain, the whole wide world
And with it the herd of white, dreaming horses
Arises again and won't pass away
'Til poets and fools insist once more

November horses stand at the shore
Dreaming up the first fall of snow…

Glück ohne Ruh' (Joy without Peace)

Music: Hubert von Goisern
Lyrics: J. W. Goethe / Arr.: Hubert von Goisern

Through suffering
I'd rather struggle
Than renounce so many joys
So many joys of life
How can I escape,
And move towards heaven?

All the drifting
From one heart to another
Oh, how strange
Oh, how strange
It causes such pain!

How should I escape,
And move towards heaven?
All is in vain!
'Cause joy without peace
That's what love is!

Against snow and rain
Through wind and through pain
Across steaming gorges
Enchanting scents
Always onward moving
And never resting
And never at peace

How should I flee,
And move heavenwards
All is in vain!
'Cause joy without peace
That's what love is!
That's what love is!

Dunkelblau (Dark Blue)

Music: Hubert von Goisern / Alex Pohn / Helmut Schartlmüller / Alessandro Trebo / Severin Trogbacher
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

You don't know from whence I come
And you don't know where I'm going
You don't know my name either
And don't know for what I stand

I'm not the one you'd like to have
I'm not your bow, not your arrow
And having never belonged to anything
I'm the opposite of nothing

My love is like the desert
Made only for a goddess
And I want to kiss only her
My queen of the night

I am the weeping, not the laughter
I am not paradise
I don't carry you in my hands
And don't fetch for you the golden fleece
I live only one of the tides
Know only the ebb, not the flow
And if you want to accompany me
You'll need all your courage

My love is like the desert
Made only for a goddess
And I want to kiss only her
My queen of the night

Quick, quick, slow

Music: Hubert von Goisern
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern / A. Zaglmaier

Attention: Posture!
1 and 2 and 1 and 2
Hop, 1 and 2 and 1 and 2
Hop, crossover step
Hop, crossover step
1 and 2, hop, 1 and 2

Left around
Right around
Attention: Hand circle
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 tour de main
And round in a circle
Now right again

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and back again
1, 2, 3, 4, two step, double hand
Quick quick, slow slow
Quick quick, slow slow
Basic step quick slow
Slow quick, quick slow

1 and 2 and 3 and hop and
1 and 2 and 3 and hop
Crossover step

Chassé step, hop, chassé step
Incline left, incline right
Incline left, incline right
Chassé step and chassé step
Attention!

Heel – toe – heel – toe
Attention ... and once more
Quick quick slow slow
Quick quick slow slow
Quick quick slow slow
Quick quick slow slow
Quick quick slow slow
Quick quick slow slow
Quick, quick, then the turn
And turn, turn, turn ...

Left around, right around
With a little incline

Attention! And .... hand washing!!!

A Tag wie heut (A Day Like Today)

Music: Hubert von Goisern / Maria Moling
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

Where are the saints, where are the sinners
Where are the old ones, where are the children
Where are the deaf, where are the blind
Where is the right wing, where is the left crowd

Where are the Muslims, where are the Buddhists
Where are the Jews, where are the Christians
Where are the hoodooists, where are the voodooists
Where are the Baha'is and where are the Ras-ta-fari?

On a day like today
When they are ringing all the bells
And when the sky is wide
Come everybody now let's celebrate it
It's a big delight

g'sundheit - skol - cheers – salute – viva – na zdravie - masel tov - prost !!!

Come on, sit down with me, no matter who you're with
Perhaps the capitalist or a lost communist
If you're from Hinterstoder, chewing organic grains
If you're the super duper, winner, champion of the world
Or coming on the very last train

On a day like today
When the music plays
When the sky is wide
Come everybody, now let's celebrate it
It's a big delight

Join in
Take a break
Raise your glass
Be it water, juice or wine
Fill your tankard
With beer
Come sit with me here...

Tierische Polka (Animal Polka)

Music: Hubert von Goisern
Lyrics: Hubert von Goisern

Do you know where oceans lie
Where the humpback whales beguile
each other down below
Can't you hear them singing
As they're tenderly beginning
to bewitch and schmooze
And set themselves aglow

Do you know where deserts lie
Where scorpions along the Nile
Make love in the warm sand …
How their pincers quiver
And their stings do softly shiver
As they softly, tenderly entwine

Love is when you have no more fears
When even poison refreshes you and just makes you leer

La, la, la, la, la…

Love, that is when
The world embraces you
When you feel pity even for the schnitzel on your plate
When all the world's abloom and you just want to croon
When foxes kiss the rabbits and forget their hunting habits

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...

Show me where winds are blowing
And where the eagles are soaring
High above the land
Where they circle in the sky
There the edelweiss flowers
And the marmots whistle cheekily
Pinching one another

Ouch!