Dark gray songs

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Dark gray songs
Studio album by Ludwig Hirsch

Publication
(s)

1978

Label (s) Polydor

Format (s)

LP, CD (remaster)

Genre (s)

Songwriter , singer-songwriter , Austropop , Bluesrock , Spoken Word

Title (number)

11

running time

48:26

occupation
  • Music and texts: Ludwig Hirsch
  • Sound engineer: Gregor Hornacek
  • Editor: Wolfgang Engel
  • Photography - Ralbovszky / Weiss, Vienna

production

Robert Opratko

Studio (s)

Austrophon Studios

chronology
- Dark gray songs Come Big Black Bird
(1979)

Dark gray Songs is the debut album of Ludwig Hirsch . It was released in 1978 under the Polydor label and is an important work of Austrian songwriting and Austro-pop .

style

Like most of Hirsch's works, the album is mainly characterized by the accompaniment of the lyrics by guitar and "bittersweet" string arrangements. Often romantic or melancholy melodies meet biting texts, such as in "Die Omama", "Der Herr Haslinger" or "Der Dorftrottel". On songs like “Spuck den Schnuller aus” or “Der Zwerg” the music drifts into rock music or blues rock . One of Ludwig Hirsch's trademarks is always his own kind of spoken chant, which, according to Kristoffer Leitgeb, makes use of “a frankly atypical rhythm and, above all, an extra portion of sarcastic loveliness that cannot be ignored”.

In terms of lyrics, Hirsch often dedicates himself to the morbid, the tragic or the brutalities of everyday life on dark gray songs . These topics are mostly wrapped up in black, humorous stories about largely imaginary characters. For example, “Die Omama” tells of the late life and death of a malicious grandmother who looked up to Adolf Hitler from the perspective of her grandchild. "I lieg am Ruckn" is written from the perspective of a corpse , which lies in the coffin, slowly rotting away and mourning a lost love, and in "Der Dorftrottel" a farmer in a rural village suffers a stillbirth , for which the village idiot from the peasant population being held responsible and lynched . Sexualization in early childhood ("Spit out the pacifier") and child murder ("Der Herr Haslinger") are also discussed.

Track list

Text and music by Ludwig Hirsch.

First LP side 
No. title length
1. The grandma 4:33
2. I'm lying on the back 5:02
3. Mr. Haslinger 3:08
4th The blade Bua 4:10
5. The track in the snow 3:19
6th Love song 4:00
Second LP side 
No. title length
1. The village idiot 6:22
2. The wolf 5:21
3. Spit out the pacifier 3:20
4th The dwarf 5:12
5. happy end 3:59

Chart successes

Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
Austria (Ö3) Austria (Ö3) 5 (59 weeks) 59

The album was awarded two platinum records in Austria .

reception

source rating
Amazon
jpc
Discogs

The album is regarded as a classic of Austro-pop and Austrian songwriting and has enjoyed praise from critics and listeners alike, then as now. The last time Dunkelgraue Lieder was in the Austrian charts was in 2012, almost 34 years after it was first published. It is at number 97 of the all-time best list of albums in Austria.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Kralicek: I wanted to return the Watschn to Vienna. “Dark gray songs (remast)” by Ludwig Hirsch. In: Falter. Falter Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2008, accessed on October 4, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Kristoffer Leitgeb: Review of "Dunkelgraue Lieder". In: musicmaniac.at. February 11, 2018, accessed October 4, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Karl Fluch: Ludwig Hirsch: The master of the dark gray songs - derStandard.at. In: the standard. Oscar Bronner, March 17, 2018, accessed October 4, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Lyrics of "Die Omama". In: ludwighirsch.at. Retrieved October 4, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Lyrics of "I lieg Am Ruckn". In: ludwighirsch.at. Retrieved October 4, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Lyrics of "Der Dorftrottel". In: ludwighirsch.at. Retrieved October 8, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Lyrics of "Spit the Pacifier Out". In: ludwighirsch.at. Retrieved October 8, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Lyrics of "Der Herr Haslinger". In: ludwighirsch.at. Retrieved October 8, 2018 .
  9. ↑ https://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Ludwig+Hirsch&titel=Dunkelgraue+Lieder&cat=a
  10. ↑ Barbara Petsch: Ludwig Hirsch: poet dark gray songs . In: "Die Presse" Verlags-Gesellschaft mbH Co KG (Hrsg.): Die Presse . ( diepresse.com [accessed October 8, 2018]).
  11. ↑ [1] on Amazon.de (accessed October 4, 2018)
  12. ↑ [2] on jpc.de (accessed October 4, 2018)
  13. ↑ [3] on discogs.com (accessed October 4, 2018)
  14. ↑ Austrian Charts - Ludwig Hirsch - Dark gray songs. In: austriancharts.at. Retrieved October 4, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Austrian Charts - Eternal Best List Top 100 Albums. In: austriancharts.at. Retrieved October 4, 2018 .