GermanHarpist
955 posts
Jan 13, 2010
9:41 AM
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I know that this kind of thread was up in the past a couple of times already... however I thought I'd take it away a little from the racial connotations.
This song was posted by Gwythion in the "traditional german music" thread as a typical german song. It is known as 'Ach, du lieber Augustin', and means as much as 'Oh, you poor old Augustin'.
It is about a guy of the old vienna 300 years ago when the city was stricken by the plague. The guy falls into a pit of plague corpses one night when he's drunk and left there to die because people thought he's done for. [reed the rest of the story on wikipedia]
Nobody really thinks about the macabre meaning or origin of this song anymore. But still it is sung to children every day...
I just thought it was funny... it is a song that would definitely not be acceptable if written today, but because of tradition it is obviously ok...
These apparent paradoxes remind me of the following story of a school kid I heard a short while ago... he was suspended from school and had to visit a psychiatrist because he had... drawn Jesus on cross (with bloody hands and everything). LOL
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germanharpist on YT. =;-) - Resonance is KEY!
Last Edited by on Jan 13, 2010 10:57 AM
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shanester
61 posts
Jan 13, 2010
9:45 AM
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Yeah, funny how that is with children's songs. "Ring around the Rosie" is about the plague as well. I think children's music for a long time has had some "dark" material, I think the original intention was to frighten children out of making poor decisions regarding their survival.
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http://www.youtube.com/1shanester
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toddlgreene
452 posts
Jan 13, 2010
9:53 AM
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We somewhere along the lines changed our kid's bedtime prayers...The line was, when I was a kid':
'if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take'(man, that was heavy for a kid to swallow, and at bedtime)
Now, it's'see me safely through the night, so I may wake with morning light'.
Also, look at Looney Tunes, Heckle & Jeckle or any of the older cartoons-man, were they violent(but the old ones ruled!)-someone always getting blown up or shot...ah, the good ole days;-)
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ZackPomerleau
489 posts
Jan 13, 2010
10:01 AM
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Who cares? Twelve year old girls are singing LoveGame, Bad Romance, and Poker Face by Lady Gaga. I recommend you listen to them, and you might change your views a little bit on a little bit of 'macabre' in music.
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toddlgreene
455 posts
Jan 13, 2010
10:05 AM
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Zack, 'racy' pop tunes vs. songs about falling in a pit of dead people...as parents, we can't win!
BTW, Zack, Randy Landry of Lone Wolf will be in Memphis, and he's gonna come see you play.
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ZackPomerleau
490 posts
Jan 13, 2010
10:10 AM
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Are you lying or you being serious?
And, Todd, I think it's okay for a twelve year old girl to sing those old songs, they're meant to be funny. "Lets have some fun this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick." That's not racy, that's as blunt as you can be!!!
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toddlgreene
457 posts
Jan 13, 2010
10:57 AM
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Yeah, Z, you're right. Luckily my daughter is only 6 and listens to Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, etc...annoying, but clean.
And yes, Mr. Landry is going to come check you out. He was already heading up for the event, but wasn't aware you were playing until I told him, so call him when you get the schedule. He might be at our club meeting tonight as well, hopefully with MY HA pedal.
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Gwythion
59 posts
Jan 13, 2010
11:14 AM
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Interesting thought, German Harpist.
I think most of the folk songs and nursery rhymes we sang as small children at school in the UK were definitely not politically correct. We were told all about the origins of the songs, too. Something that would be frowned upon immensely now. I remember us being taught to sing "What Shall we do With the Drunken Sailor?" while miming the various tortures we would inflict on the sailor.
However, left to our own devices, the new words sung by children to these songs were even more "unsuitable". You can read at the end of the Wikipedia article what children sang to the tune of 'Ach, du lieber Augustin'
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Honkin On Bobo
166 posts
Jan 13, 2010
11:25 AM
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I think we view children as far more mentally fragile then they really are. Janet Jackson's boob pops out during the superbowl for a split second and people went nuts, with the most frequent comment being "OMG my kids were watching!!"
Yeah, I can see the 15 years into the future visit to the psychiatrists office now, "Well Dr., I was a perfectly fine kid until I got that split second peek at Janet Jackson's breast...and then all hell broke loose. I never really recovered"
IMHO
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ZackPomerleau
493 posts
Jan 13, 2010
11:38 AM
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That's awesome Todd! Thanks for letting him know!
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toddlgreene
461 posts
Jan 13, 2010
11:50 AM
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No prob, Zack...and don't be looking for that video of Janet Jackson's boobs-gotta keep your mind right!
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ZackPomerleau
494 posts
Jan 13, 2010
12:02 PM
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I was actually worrying you were watching it as you typed your response.
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GermanHarpist
965 posts
Jan 13, 2010
2:26 PM
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Uuups, seems as if I've just encrouched some fragile sensiblities... but thats cool, mickil, I'll be politically correct about it. ;) LOL. Just kidding. :)
"back to the Blues" word!
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germanharpist on YT. =;-) - Resonance is KEY!
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Gwythion
62 posts
Jan 13, 2010
7:01 PM
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Is Mick not referring to the question which starts in the title of the post and continues through the text?
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Hobostubs Ashlock
320 posts
Jan 13, 2010
9:01 PM
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I just had a preteen christian girl subscribe to my utube channel it got me to thinking i have some cussing in a couple of my songs,Not much but some so i decided to rate the G-PG-PG13-R in the discription,Acid planet, where i post most the time has a rating system im not sure if utube does,Any one know how they handle it? Im new to utube.Im trying to find the ones i posted on here and rate them I dont know ifit will help or not but it makes me feel a little better
Last Edited by on Jan 13, 2010 9:02 PM
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Ryan
65 posts
Jan 13, 2010
9:22 PM
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"Is Mick not referring to the question which starts in the title of the post and continues through the text?"
Ah, now I see. Thank you.
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ElkRiverHarmonicas
347 posts
Jan 14, 2010
6:36 AM
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Of course it's OK, it makes an actual experience of society more accessible, more personable. Take the darkness out and loses that. That song probably wouldn't fly if written today, which is a shame. Music in general has lost its darkness, which is sad. Hardly anybody mainstream anyway, sings about pain anymore.
I love how dark the song is with that wild-ass giddy waltz beat it has... "Geld is weg, Maedl ist weg, Alles Weg, Alles Weg!"
Which translates, "Your money is gone, your girlfriend's gone, all is gone, all is gone." Pretty much the theme of any good blues song, right?
When I was a kid, we sang it all the time on the school bus to the horror of the school bus driver:
"Three cheers for the bus driver, bus driver, bus driver
Three cheers for the bus driver, the bus driving man.
He drinks and he cusses and wrecks all the buses,
Three cheers for the bus driver, the bus driving man."
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www.elkriverharmonicas.com
Last Edited by on Jan 14, 2010 12:57 PM
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