In
the very first episode of the excellent Babylon Berlin TV-series,
there is a scene between Charlotte Ritter (one of the main
characters) and her little sister. Charlotte is doing her morning
grooming. The little sister watches her. Through the window of their
apartment (they live with their family in a working-class slum
district in the north of Berlin) we hear a song. The little sister
discovers that the music comes from a neighbor, who is also washing,
or more precisely shaving his armpits ...
The tune we hear and which the two sisters sing, is Deine Augen sind Magnete (Your eyes are magnets). Simple words, a little romantic, as usual in a Germany that loved sentimentalism, but also elements of a material reality, with terms derived from the twentieth century technique. "A little technique, a little love," as Erwin W. Spahn's text puts it.
The tune we hear and which the two sisters sing, is Deine Augen sind Magnete (Your eyes are magnets). Simple words, a little romantic, as usual in a Germany that loved sentimentalism, but also elements of a material reality, with terms derived from the twentieth century technique. "A little technique, a little love," as Erwin W. Spahn's text puts it.
Here
are the lyrics, in the original and in translation :
Deine
augen sind Magnete
Und sie strahlen den
sternen gleich
Deine küsse
Verbindungsdrähte
Zwischen erde und
dem Himmelreich
Bisschen Technik
Bisschen Liebe
Bisschen wonne und
bisschen Schmerz
Sind der motor in
dem Getriebe
Und betriebsam ist
das dumme Herz
Your eyes are
magnets
And they shine like
stars
Your kisses are
connection wires
Between earth and
sky
A little bit of
technique
A little love, a
little happiness, a little pain
Are the engine of
the machine
And so the stupid
heart starts up.
The
music was composed by Hermann Leopoldi (1888-1959) and the lyrics are
by Erwin Wendelin Spahn (1898-1941), both born in Vienna. After the
annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, both were sent to
concentration camps. Leopoldi managed to be released but Spahn was
assassinated by the Nazis
The version we hear
in the series is by the orchestra of Bernard Etté’, a violinist
and conductor (1888-1973). The singer is Fritz Berger.
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