Thoughts are free

This article deals with the folk song; for the television film from the Rosa Roth series, see Rosa Roth - The thoughts are free .

The thoughts are free is a German folk song about freedom of thought .

Text history

Melody and text, from: Silesian folk songs with melodies: From the Mouth of the People by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben , Ernst Heinrich Leopold Richter , p. 307; Published: Breitkopf & Härtel , 1842

The text was first published on leaflets around 1780. The melody for this was written between 1810 and 1820, and the song was printed in the collection of songs by the Brienz girls in Bern . In 1842 the song was published in Schlesische Volkslieder by Hoffmann von Fallersleben and Ernst Richter , this last version comes from Hoffmann von Fallersleben. The basic philosophy is already known from ancient times. The core motif of the later lyrics can be found as early as the 13th century in Freidank (Humility, 1229)

diu bant mac nieman vinden,
bind diu mîne thought.
man vâhet wîp ande man,
thought , can not give anyone

Nobody can find
the tie that binds my thoughts.
One catches woman and man,
no one can catch thoughts.

and Walther von der Vogelweide (yoke sint iedoch thought frî - thoughts are free).

Another verse was later added to the original four-stanza song .

text

Traditional versions

Version widely used today	Version around 1800	Version from 1856/1865
1. Thoughts are free, who can guess them, they flee by like night shadows. No one can know them, no hunter can shoot them, it stays that way: the thoughts are free. 2. I think what I want and what makes me happy, but everything in silence and how it works. Nobody can deny my wish and desire , it remains true: the thoughts are free. 3. I love wine, my girl above all, I like her best alone . I'm not alone with my glass of wine, my girl with me: thoughts are free. 4. And if I am locked up in the dark dungeon, these are all purely futile works; for my thoughts tear the barriers and walls in two: the thoughts are free. 5. That's why I want to give up worries forever and never want to bother myself with crickets again. You can always laugh and joke in your heart and think: your thoughts are free.	1. Cover the foot with ties and chains That he cannot save himself from frustration , So the senses work, which nevertheless penetrate. It remains true: The thoughts are free. 2. Thoughts are free Who can guess? They flee by Like night shadows; Nobody can know, No dungeon shut up Who knows what it is? Thoughts are free. 3. I will certainly never complain, if someone wants to deny me this, now that; In my heart I can always laugh and joke; It remains the same: The thoughts are free 4. I think what I want and what refreshes me, And that in the quiet And when it happens; Nobody can defend my wish and desire ; Who knows what it is Thoughts are free. 5. If seeing is denied like the face , I am not plagued by worries. I can remember, what should I be offended? It remains true: The thoughts are free. 6. Yes, I am tied up in the dark dungeon, so these are only futile works. Because my thoughts tear the barriers and walls in two: The thoughts are free.	1. Thoughts are free, who can guess them? They rush past like night shadows. Nobody can know them, No hunter shoot them. It remains true: The thoughts are free. 2. I think what I want and what makes me happy, but everything in the quiet and as it happens. Nobody can refuse my wish and desire . It remains true: The thoughts are free. 3. And if I am locked up in the dark dungeon, these are all purely futile works; Because my thoughts tear the barriers and walls in two: The thoughts are free. 4. Now I want to renounce my worries forever , And I never want to plague myself with crickets again. You can always laugh and joke in your heart and think: Your thoughts are free. 5. I love wine, my girl above all, she alone pleases me best. I'm not sitting alone with a glass of wine, my girl with me : Thoughts are free.

1. ↑ common text variant also: "to fly"
2. ↑ widespread text variant also: "with powder and lead,"
3. ↑ The word “grilling” in the fifth stanza is an old name for cloudy thoughts. Cricket. II. B. 4. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 9 : Greander gymnastics - (IV, 1st section, part 6). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1935, Sp. 322–323 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).

Literary recording: Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Under the title “Song of the Persecuted in the Tower” (After Swiss songs ) , the song was also included in the third part of the folk song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn published by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano in 1806/08 . In this version, the text has been expanded into a dialogue between the prisoner and a girl by inserting another stanza in a different stanza scheme between the prisoner's original four stanzas .

The prisoner Thoughts are free Who can guess them? They rush past like night shadows. No man can know them, No hunter shoot them; It stays there, the thoughts are free. The girl in the summer is good to have fun on high wild heaths, There you can find green places, my darling darling, I don't like parting with you.

The prisoner And if I am locked up in the dark dungeon, These are all but futile works. For my thoughts tear the barriers and walls in two, the thoughts are free. The girl in the summer is good to have fun on high, wild mountains You are all alone there forever, You don't hear any children screaming, The air may be there.

The prisoner So be it as it will, And if it happens, only everything in silence ; And what refreshes me, My wish and desire Nobody can stop me; It stays there, the thoughts are free. The girl, my darling, you sing here so early in the morning like a bird in the grass; I stand so sad at the dungeon door, if I were dead, if I were with you, oh, I always have to complain.

The prisoner And because you lament so. The love I renounce And if it is daring, I can't plague me like this, So I can always laugh in my heart , sometimes joking; It stays there, the thoughts are free.

This text version also served Gustav Mahler as the basis for his completely new setting from 1898, which was included in his collection of songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn .

Kommersbuch

The song was included in the text version that is widely used today in the General German Kommersbuch .

melody

The melody in the version of the Silesian folk songs from 1842 (see above):

Historical and political importance

Time and again, in times of political oppression or endangerment, the song was an expression of the longing for freedom and independence.

The father of Sophie Scholl was detained in early August 1942 for hitler critical remarks. Sophie Scholl stood by the prison wall in the evening and played the tune on the recorder for her father, who was sitting there.

On September 9, 1948, at the height of the Berlin blockade , Ernst Reuter gave his speech in front of over 300,000 Berliners in front of the ruins of the Reichstag building, in which he appealed to “the peoples of the world” not to surrender the city. After this speech, u spontaneously rang out from the crowd. a. the song The thoughts are free . The song is also often sung in the current political debate against state surveillance and restrictions.

Current use

• In 1972 Dean Reed sang this song in the DEFA film From the Life of a Good-for-nothing .
• In 1976 Leonard Cohen included the song in his program during his tour of Germany.
• 1981 appeared from the rock band KeinMenscH! Under the same title, an associative examination of the song theme Expel thoughts, because they are not free either ... at the end of which an electronically alienated choral version of The thoughts are free is heard.
• 1990 The thoughts are free is the official national anthem of the Jenensia fraternity in Jena.
• In 1990 the singer Nena recorded the song for her record Come Dear May ... together with 22 children's songs.
• In the film 23 - Nothing is as it seems from 1998, the song is sung by the two main actors during a train ride.
• In 1998 the folk group Siebenpfeiffer recorded the song on their CD "Singt das Lied der Freiheit" in German, English, French and Italian.
• In 2002 the folk punk band Die Schnitter released a version of the song on the album Purgatory .
• In early 2005, the New York music group Brazilian Girls released a version of this song on their album of the same name.
• Since 2005, the German internet service provider GMX has been using a version of The Thoughts Are Free, sung by a little girl, in a television advertising campaign to store scenic visual impressions.
• In August 2006 Achim Reichel released his version of the song on the audio carrier Volxlieder .
• A new version of the song was recorded on the Volkslieder CD by Bobo In White Wooden Houses with a prepared piano, clarinet and megaphone .
• In 2007 Evelyn Fischer published it on her CD of the same name with a collection of German folk songs revised in pop and jazz style.
• The quartet Maybebop released the song as an a cappella arrangement on their CD Superheld Live (2007) and on the concert DVD at the end of September (2009).
• In 2009 the Pirate Party of Germany used the song as one of their campaign slogans for the 2009 Bundestag election .
• The drinking song is a corruption of the song. The drinks are free .
• In 2010 the South Tyrolean German rock band Frei.Wild released a song entitled The thoughts are free on their album Gegengift . A reference to the classic folk song is clear.
• Many right-wing rock bands also released songs of that name, e.g. B. Sleipnir , storm defense and ancestor cult .
• On December 10, 2010, sympathizers of the detained writer Liu Xiaobo sang the song in English in front of the building in which Xiaobo was absent from the Nobel Peace Prize.
• In October 2013, the director Peter Kopp of the Dresden Kreuzchor canceled the song from the program for a China tour at short notice in order to avoid a scandal.
• The artist Tillmann Ohm used the song in his video work The thoughts are free from 2013.
• The music group Welle: Erdball released a version with a modified fourth verse on their 2014 album Tanzmusik für Roboter .
• In 2015, Konstantin Wecker released a retexted version of The Thoughts Are Free on the album Ohne Why .
• On May 21, 2017, a solidarity reading for the author Deniz Yücel , who is in prison in Turkey, took place in Frankfurt am Main , at which Jan Böhmermann gave his voice to The thoughts are free . At another event on May 23, 2017 in the Münchner Kammerspiele , he sang four verses of the song again in the completely darkened hall light.
• On February 15, 2019, the song was performed in German and French at the memorial service for Tomi Ungerer in Strasbourg Cathedral and applauded.
• In March 2019, the song was sung by many young people at several demonstrations as part of the protests against the copyright reform of the European Union .
• In 2020 the German singer-songwriter LEA recorded the song for the sixth part of the children's album series Giraffes .

Literature (selection)

• Des Knaben Wunderhorn Volume 3, Heidelberg 1808, p. 38 ("The thoughts are free ..."; a dialogue between a prisoner and a girl; allegedly "based on Swiss songs", that means here an adaptation of a song pamphlet with two stanzas of " Oberhasler Kühreihens ”and based on a pamphlet that Arnim probably brought back from his trip to Switzerland); set to music by Gustav Mahler in 1905.
• Steinitz, Wolfgang ( Wolfgang Steinitz ): German folk songs of a democratic character from six centuries , Volume 2, Berlin 1962, No. 202 (also: The great Steinitz , Berlin 1979) (No. 202 A and B "The thoughts ..." 4 stanzas after a socialist songbook, Leipzig 1922, with two slightly different melodies: No. 202 C "Cover your feet with bands and chains ..." / second stanza "The thoughts ..." with 6 stanzas based on a song pamphlet around 1800; No. 202 D "The Thoughts ... “5 stanzas after Mittler, 1865 [Franz Ludwig Mittler, German folk songs , Frankfurt am Main 1865, is not a reliable edition due to the uncertain sources]).
• Ulrich Otto: The historical-political songs and caricatures of the Vormärz and the revolution of 1848/1849. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1982, ISBN 3-7609-5100-7 (also dissertation at the University of Freiburg (Breisgau) 1981).
• Lammel, Inge ( Inge Lammel ) / Andert, Peter: And because the human being is human , Dortmund 1986, No. 1.
• German Boy Scout Association (Ed.) ( German Boy Scout Association (1945) ): CD Against the Current, songs from the resistance of the Bündische Jugend against National Socialism , Cologne 1996, No. 1 (with extensive documentation booklet).

Web links

Wikisource: Thoughts are free  - sources and full texts

• The thoughts are free in the song project by Carus-Verlag and SWR2
• Sheet music (PDF; 8 kB)
• Set for mixed choir (SATB) by Volker Nies (2014) at Wikimedia Commons
• Set for mixed choir (SATB) by Georg L. Sothilander (2013) : sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
• "The thoughts are free" with various sound recordings on freiklick.at
• Text and recording as MP3
• Student Songs - Thoughts Are Free . - on YouTube , uploaded September 5, 2008
• Xaver Frühbeis: Anthem of Resistance. "Thoughts are free". BR-Klassik, extra midday music, January 6, 2016

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hoffmann von Fallersleben , Ernst Richter : Silesian folk songs with melodies . Breitkopf and Härtel, Leipzig 1842, p. 307 ( digitized in the Google book search).
2. ↑ Cicero : Pro Milone , XXIX, 79: “Liberae sunt […] nostrae cogitationes.” (“Our thoughts are free”).
3. ↑ gedanc , II, 5 .. In: Georg Friedrich Benecke, Wilhelm Müller, Friedrich Zarncke: Middle High German Dictionary. Leipzig 1854-1866, Volume 1, Col. 354b-357a
4. ↑ Walther von der Vogelweide: whether I should regret the same, song of the "Neue Hohen Minne"
5. ↑ Hans Breuer (ed.): Der Zupfgeigenhansl . 90th edition. Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig 1920, p. 118, uni-duesseldorf.de .
6. ↑ Flying sheet in Achim von Arnim's collection of seven very beautiful new songs . (From the years around 1800). Quoted from: Wolfgang Steinitz : German folk songs of a democratic character from six centuries. Volume 2. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin (GDR) 1962, p. 163 f.
7. ^ Franz Ludwig Mittler: German folk songs. NG Elwert'scher Verlag, Hamburg / Leipzig 1856, No. 996 on p. 660, limited preview in the Google book search; Second inexpensive edition enlarged with a list of sources. Verlag von Karl Theodor Völcker, Frankfurt am Main 1865, No. 996 on p. 660, limited preview in the Google book search
8. ↑ Achim von Arnim, Clemens Brentano (ed.): Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Old German songs. 3rd volume. Mohr and Zimmer, Heidelberg 1808, pp. 38–40, deutschestextarchiv.de .
9. ↑ Werner Milstein: Courage to Resist: Sophie Scholl - a portrait . Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 2003, ISBN 3-7975-0056-4 .
10. ↑ Hermann Vinke: The short life of Sophie Scholl. Maier, Ravensburg 1980, ISBN 3-473-35222-5 , p. 112.
11. ^ Malte Lehming: McCarthy in Germany. In: Der Tagesspiegel . January 11, 2011; Retrieved April 30, 2012.
12. ↑ Treffpunkt Kino , 3/1973, on deanreed.de
13. ↑ GHeye & Partner lets thoughts fly for GMX . horizon
14. ↑ Kreuzchor defends itself against sharp criticism . ( Memento from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) mdr.de, November 5, 2013.
15. ↑ Jan Böhmermann sings in Frankfurt for imprisoned journalist Yücel. In: hessenschau.de, Frankfurt. May 21, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017 . 
16. ↑ Giraffenaffen 6 / Sampler / Neues Album / 2020. cd-lexikon.de, accessed on July 13, 2020 . 
17. ↑ Cf. Otto Holzapfel : Lied index: The older German-language popular song tradition ( online version on the Volksmusikarchiv homepage of the Upper Bavaria district ; in PDF format; ongoing updates) with further information.