Stuff about German

A lot of 60s pop groups and singers (who you might not expect) cut German versions of their hits to capture that market. Who knew they could all speak German?! The Beatles and the Beach Boys did it, and here are some more (click on the titles):

           The Supremes                              Marvin Gaye                                       Petula Clark                         "Wo ist unsere Liebe?                "Wie schön das ist"         "So wunderbar verliebt zu sein"

              Dusty Springfield                           Dionne Warwick                              Hans Hass Jr.

            "Warten und hoffen"                        "Geh vorbei"                                   "American Pie"

Apparently, Don McLean didn't speak German, but Hans Hass Jr., an actor/singer/inventor, had a success with a pretty cool "translation" of the weird words. (But I think they should have translated the title of the song as "Auf Wiedersehen, Fräulein amerikanischer Strudel.") Hass was the son of a famous diver and marine biologist. Unfortunately, he suffered from bad depression and hanged himself in the basement of his Munich residence about 6 years ago. 

Petula sang lots of foreign language versions of her songs, in several languages.

Some more recent efforts (Taio Cruz, Eminem) are here. And here are a bunch more (Johnny Cash, The Temptations, theme from Mr. Ed).

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German language in early America

When I started doing German for fun, I never expected some of the weird things that would start to show up on my computer screen. 

This is the January 30, 1824 edition of the York (Pennsylvania) Gazette, a German language weekly. German was still commonly heard in the streets of Allentown, Reading, Lancaster and York, right up to the end of the 19th century. In addition to ads for livery stables, boot makers, acreage for sale, lost horses, and notices about candidates for county sheriff, this issue of the paper included the following article:

"The big military ball or dance held by Mrs. Adams, wife of Secretary of State John Q. Adams on January 8th in Washington to honor General Jackson, was exceptionally splendid -- all the dishes were prepared in the French manner. The number of ladies and gentle people that were served numbered nearly one thousand. I am quite sure that the bill could not be paid with just 30 kreutzers! [≈ "two bits"] All of this shows the high regard in which "The Hero of New Orleans" is held in Washington." 

[Later that year, Adams defeated Jackson for president and Jackson started hating Adams's guts. Anyways, wasn't it nice of John Q. to throw this big party for the general just before he kicked his ass?]

Isn't that weird? It was a regular regional American language talking about regular American things. There were German dailies and weeklies in most large U.S. cities. When I was in college in the '60s. I would occasionally go to the downtown library to read the Detroiter-Abendpost (now defunct). There is still at least one U.S. German newspaper, the Nordamerikanische Wochen-Post.

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