Goodbye Johnny
Goodbye Johnny is a song that was written by Hans Fritz Beckmann (text) and Peter Kreuder (music) for the adventure film Wasser für Canitoga (1939) and interpreted there by Hans Albers .
This happened in the saloon on the occasion of the New Year's Eve celebration in 1905/06. Albers first sings the second verse with a modified chorus ("Goodbye Lily") and only at the express request the first quoted below. Here, however, on the orders of the Propaganda Ministry, “England's flag” was replaced by “Our flag”. The original text was not used again until after World War II . The third stanza was omitted in the film.
The melody of the song sparked controversy in the 1950s. West German newspapers wrote that the GDR anthem , Resurrected from Ruins (text: Johannes R. Becher , music: Hanns Eisler ) was a plagiarism of Goodbye Johnny . In fact, the first nine notes of the two melodies are the same. However, one could also find common role models for this, for example the beginning of the song Freudvoll und sorrowful from Ludwig van Beethoven's music for Goethe's tragedy Egmont . Whether Hanns Eisler deliberately quoted or copied can no longer be determined since he did not comment on it himself. The request of Peter Kreuder's legal representative to investigate the allegation of plagiarism ultimately did not pursue the Austrian Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers that was contacted. There are no statements from Kreuder himself on this matter.
Goodbye Johnny has been interpreted by numerous renowned artists, including a. by Iska Geri , Lale Andersen , Hildegard Knef , Freddy Quinn , Johannes Heesters , Udo Lindenberg and Joe Jackson .
Quote
My friend Johnny was a fine boy,
he was a tramp and had no home.
And he's in the grave near Rocktown,
and flowers grow out of his bones.
We carried England's flag
and my Johnny carried it forward.
A bomb fell and it targeted
25 men.
...
Goodbye Johnny, Goodbye Johnny, you were my best friend,
one day, one day, we'll be together again.
literature
- Heike Amos: Resurrected from ruins ... The national anthem of the GDR 1949 to 1990 Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1990. ISBN 3-320-01939-2 .
credentials
- ↑ Amos, pp. 72-76.