Rock ballad from little Otto
Little Otto's rock ballad is a song by the GDR band Renft (also known as Klaus Renft Combo), which was created in 1974 and led to the group being banned in the GDR.
history
The composition comes from Thomas "Monster" Schoppe , who also sings the song. The text was written by Gerulf Pannach , who had already attracted attention as a songwriter for his songs critical of the regime. Other musicians were Klaus Jentzsch (electric bass), Christian Kunert (keyboard), Jochen Hohl (drums), Peter Kschentz (guitar) and Peter Gläser (guitar). The song was on a list of proposals submitted at the end of 1974 for the band's third album, which, as is customary in the GDR, had to be approved by an "editor". The topic of escape from the GDR dealt with in the song was, however, a taboo in the cultural field . Together with the song Faith Questions, which addressed the taboo subjects of building soldiers and conscientious objection in the GDR, it led to the band being refused the due audition. Gerulf Pannach was banned from performing in January 1975 . Nevertheless, Renft continued to perform with Pannach, also played the new songs and was also banned from performing in the summer of 1975, so that it then dissolved. A private recording from 1975 came to the Federal Republic of Germany and was broadcast there at least once on the radio. In 1980 the piece was released in West Germany as part of the 1975 recording on an LP with live recordings from 1972 to 1975.
description
The rock ballad from the small Otto is a fast, catchy hard rock song sung by nearly five minutes in length, of Schoppe is a rock voice. Rock instruments such as electric guitar, bass and drums dominate. Keyboards can be heard in the middle section.
The song consists of four stanzas, the chorus and a bridge .
The text is about "little Otto", a GDR citizen who is dissatisfied with his life, partly because of the officials. He therefore writes to the “big Otto” in Hamburg to send him the necessary foreign currency to pay for an escape helper . When the latter does not react, "little Otto" jumps on a westbound inland ship in Wittenberge . He is caught, is serving a prison sentence for fleeing the republic and later drowns himself in the Elbe, which may then drive him to Hamburg.
Editions of the recording from 1975
Albums
- 1980: Rock from Leipzig - Renft-Combo Live ( Teldec )
- 2003: We want to be uncomfortable ( Buschfunk )
Web links
- Lyrics at deutschelieder.wordpress.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Interview with Thomas Schoppe ( Memento from February 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Götz Hintze: Rock Lexicon of the GDR. 2nd Edition. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-303-9 , p. 242
- ↑ Lyrics at deutschelieder.wordpress.com, accessed on June 14, 2018