The little housekeeping ... says my husband

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The little housekeeping ... says my husband
Johanna von Koczian
publication 1977
length 3:05
Genre (s) Bat
Author (s) Hans Bradtke , Henry Mayer
Producer (s) Wolf Kabitzky
Publisher (s) Philips
album The little housekeeping ... says my husband
Label of the single Das bitchen Household… says my husband from Johanna von Koczian from 1977

The little housekeeping ... says my husband is a hit by Johanna von Koczian from 1977. He ironically targeting the male view of traditional roles in house and family work and is still quoted as a popular phrase in this context.

background

The film, theater and musical actress Johanna von Koczian also enjoyed success as a singer of hits like Der Lord von Barmbek (1973) or Keinen Pfennig (1974) from the 1970s . That little household ... says my husband was the single release of their third LP of the same name, which was released in 1977 by the music label Philips / Phonogram . The producer was her husband Wolf Kabitzky , who had already produced her last album You are my home . The piece was composed by Henry Mayer , and Hans Bradtke contributed the text.

text

In the text, a housewife quotes statements from her husband about what, in his opinion, women are less exposed to housework, i.e. the little household chores . He cannot understand how a woman can complain or even despair about it. After all, housework is “half as wild”, easy and easy to do. In the individual stanzas, the singer gives the man's opinion on cooking, washing dishes, washing clothes or ironing, which he always calls very little effort. He even finds the “little” work in the garden “beneficial” and “good for the circulation”, while he has to drive to the company every day. His wife rested at home during the time, for which she could "thank her Creator on her knees".

The song consists of five stanzas, of which the first four are structured identically: A line with a quote from the man (e.g., “The little household is no problem”) is always followed by the same assignment “says my husband”. This is followed by a second line of quotation with another utterance by the partner, which forms an end rhyme for the first quotation (e.g. "And ironing is also very easy"), followed again by "says my husband". The last pair of lines of these stanzas always contains the amazement at the woman's complaint ("How a woman of today can despair") who in turn enters into the final rhyme with the last "says my husband" of the stanza. For the first time between the second and third verse, the refrain provides an alleged confirmation of the male gaze:

“And what my husband says is exactly right; I need to know, I'm his wife "

There is no outspoken criticism of her husband's statements by the woman, so that the actual distancing from his disdain only unfolds through the stylistic device of irony .

The last stanza varies in structure and content. The man now talks about himself and his duty to go to the company every day. He contrasts the woman's “rest” at home and states that she should be grateful for “how good I am”. These statements are also assigned with “says my husband”. This last statement in three lines is repeated three times, then the piece ends.

Social classification

In the 1960s and 1970s, the traditional bourgeois family model was increasingly questioned, and not just in Germany . It was shaped by the male provider who worked outside of the home and his female counterpart, the housewife and mother who worked at home in her “natural job”. Accordingly, around twice as many men as women were employed in Germany in the 1970s.

In the year the hit was published, the First Law to Reform Marriage and Family Law came into force in Germany. Previously, the division of tasks between spouses in the Civil Code corresponded to the status of 1900, whereby the woman was only allowed to work if this did not conflict with her domestic duties in marriage and family. The new law introduced the partnership principle, in which there is no longer any prescribed division of tasks in marriage. In this legal and social upheaval, the consequences of which gradually had an impact on real everyday family life, the situation portrayed in the song plays, in which a husband who is apparently uninvolved in the household wonders about the complaints of women about their role.

music

The 3:05 minute piece is produced in 4/4 time with a tempo of 83 bpm (beats per minute). An intro using a banjo and an accompanying clavinet is followed by a continuous accompaniment played by drums , electric bass , various keyboards , rhythm guitar and banjo. The line “says my husband” is supported by a few trumpets with mutes in the background . From the second stanza a vocalizing choir is used.

Brass accompanies the refrain, and string instruments also play from the third verse . The dynamic climax of the song are the last lines, in which the choir, strings and wind instruments (without mutes) play together until they fade out. The rhythmic accompaniment remains unchanged throughout the piece. The title begins in the key of F major and moves to the fourth stanza after F sharp major .

reception

“That bit of household”, often without the addition “says my husband”, is used again and again as a catchphrase today, for example in media reports on the gender debate and gender equality or on the division of housework and family work.

Cover versions

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
The little housekeeping ... says my husband
  DE 16 10/15/1977 (33 weeks)

The single from the album of the same name, released in 1977, with the B-side A Walk in the Woods reached number 16 in the German charts. It was reissued in 1988. After that she appeared on several hit samplers. Koczian had numerous television appearances with the piece, including several in the ZDF hit parade , where Dieter Thomas Heck swept the studio stairs during one appearance.

As early as 1978, Jürgen von Manger had his character Adolf Tegtmeier sing an alternative version of the hit song in typical Ruhr German : In Dat bisken early shift , he had the miner Tegtmeier tell how his wife had the same lack of understanding for the efforts of his job in shift work as the husband in the original piece for housework. What at first looks like a return carriage is somewhat resolved in the last stanza - in which it turns out that Tegtmeier, together with many male colleagues, caricatures the image of the stressful job himself by regularly turning blue on Monday.

In the same year Rita Hovink brought the Dutch version of the hit … Zegt mijn man , as did her colleague Trisha in 2011. In 2003, the actress Andrea Spatzek performed Das bitchen Household on her album Man shouldn't praise the man before the evening, the topic of which was housework and gender relations. In 2007, Barbara Schöneberger published his piece on her album Jetzt she singt! in a jazzy arrangement. In 2017 the band Excrementory Grindfuckers released a satirical grindcore version of the song entitled A Bit of Grindcore on their album Please don't in front of the guests! .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ courage: "My life is very rich": Johanna von Koczian turns 70 today . In: THE WORLD . October 29, 2003 ( welt.de [accessed August 15, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Johanna Von Koczian - You Are My Home. In: Entry of the album on discogs.com. Retrieved August 15, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Christiane Kuller: Family Policy in the Federal Welfare State: The Formation of a Political Field in the Federal Republic 1945-1975. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2004, ISBN 3-486-56825-6 . P. 76.
  4. ↑ Peter A. Berger: Extent and gender-specific structure of employment . In: Destructured Class Society? Class formation and structures of social inequality in historical change (=  contributions to social science research ). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 1986, ISBN 978-3-663-01689-2 , p. 19-26 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-663-01689-2_2 .
  5. ↑ B John, E Stutzer: Employment behavior of educating vacationers . In: Journal of Family Research . 14th year, issue 3/2002, pp. 215-233.
  6. ↑ B John, E Stutzer: Employment behavior of educating vacationers . In: Journal of Family Research . 14th year, issue 3/2002, pp. 215-233.
  7. ^ K Dressel, S Wanger: gainful employment: To the situation of women on the job market . In: Handbook women and gender studies . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-91972-0 , pp. 481-490. doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-531-91972-0 57
  8. ↑ Prolonged housewife suffering through the Equal Rights Act? lto.de, June 18, 2017
  9. ↑ B John, E Stutzer: Employment behavior of educating vacationers . In: Journal of Family Research . 14th year, issue 3/2002, pp. 215-233.
  10. ↑ That little bit of household. January 24, 2020, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Tina Groll: It's not just a little household. In: ZEIT.de. Retrieved August 16, 2020 .
  12. ↑ "That little bit of housework": Women still clean more often. Accessed August 16, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Officialcharts.de , accessed on August 16, 2020
  14. ↑ a b Johanna von Koczian - The little household ... says my husband. Accessed August 16, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Much more than "The Little Household". Retrieved August 16, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Jürgen von Manger alias Adolf Tegtmeier - Dat bisken Frühschicht ... Retrieved on August 16, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Rita Hovink - ... Zegt my man. Retrieved August 16, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Trisha (20) - In blijde Verwachting. Retrieved August 16, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Andrea Spatzek - You shouldn't praise the man before the evening. Retrieved August 16, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Barbara Schöneberger - Now she sings too. Retrieved August 16, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Excrementory Grindfuckers - Please not in front of the guests! Retrieved September 11, 2020 .