Pending moderation
Hi. In the live version of his song 'Auf der Straße der Vergessenheit', Udo Jürgens sings:
Von Kaiser Franz ein kleiner Lord
Von alten Kanzler ein ehrenwort
Von Christoph Daum ein Buschel Haare
Big Brother-stars: Kontainer Wahre
I'm not 100% sure that 'Wahre' is the word used but it certainly sounds like 'vah-reh'. I've seen a translation which gives the English as 'container products' but that doesn't make a lot of sense. Is anyone able to tell me what exactly Udo is saying about these Big Brother Stars?
While I'm here, I understand the references to the Kanzler and Herr Daum but what's the story behind 'from Franz Beckenbauer a little lord'?
Thank you to anyone who can assist.
Not really my métier.
I would assume he sings "Containerware", i.e. "container goods" and thereby calling them factory products, interchangeable with no personality.
And "Big Brother-Stars" would be celebrities who participated in the show Big Brother.
The lyrics contain obvious typos, I'll take a look at them.
Seems like there are several versions of the song.
The lyrics of the 1971 and 2000 versions can be found here: https://www.udojuergens.de/lied/auf-der-strasse-der-vergessenheit
The lyrics added seem to be a mix of those, closer to the 2000 version but with many mistakes and with an extra verse at the end. Where can it be found to listen to? I see no version on Youtube. The other two versions can be found on Deezer.
Btw, since many of the lyrics of this artist can be found on his website it would be best if you'd check there whether the others of his lyrics you added are correct.
Hi, Sciera, and thank you for your time. I know the website well and it does indeed contain some lyrics from live performances as well as studio. Not in this case though - my version comes from Udo's 2001 DVD. I would upload an mp3 but there doesn't appear to be a way of doing that here (which is odd for a site with a main purpose of translating songs...)
I knew he was having a dig at Big Brother-style 'stars' but just couldn't think of a decent English version of 'containerware'.
Thanks again.
I would suppose uploading mp3s is not supporting both due to copyright problems and due to server space.
Maybe you could add it to Youtube or Soundcloud or some filehoster (e.g. Dropbox)?
For you, Sciera, here's the lyric in question:
https://kiwi6.com/file/3pnq8srjrr
If hearing it changes your opinion on what 'Kontainer Wahre' means in English, I'll be pleased to hear it.
Also, is the lyric definitely '...ein kleiner Lord'? I still don't get the significance of saying 'a little Lord' about Franz Becenbauer. Vielen dank!
Thank you. I have edited the song's formatting and orthography to reflect what it says on the official website. Some words are different but I'll trust you on those as I don't have access to those parts of the song to make sure it's all correct.
Here is another transcription which differs a bit: http://forum.udojuergens.de/read.php?5,450
Regarding the part you linked, I have only changed typos and formatting there.
I have no clue about the "kleiner Lord". But I also didn't know that Franz Beckenbauer was called Kaiser Franz, so...
And it sounds like Containerware to me, i.e. packed goods, mass products.
"Der kleine Lord" is a movie well known in Germany because it is broadcast every year around christmas. I guess the reference in Udo Jürgens' song is about the revelation that Beckenbauer confirmed at the end of the year 2000 that he would have an extramarital son, who was born in 2001 (he later divorced from his second wife and married the mother of said son).
Yes, that makes sense as the song is all about scandals. And I'm going to use 'mass produced!' in my translation. Many thanks to you both.