We're going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line
We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line (German: We hang our laundry out on the Siegfried Line , French: On ira pendr 'notre linge sur la ligne Siegfried ) is a parody-like song from the time of the Second World War and was Originally written in 1939 by Irish author Jimmy Kennedy while serving in the British Expeditionary Force .
The Siegfried Line referred to a system of bunkers and defensive positions in the west of the German Reich , and Kennedy plays with the term "line" in his text, which means both "line" and "clothesline" in English.
The song is about the joking announcement that one will "dry the laundry on the Siegfried line (= leash)", that is, a deliberate ridicule of the opposing defense force, as in German, for example, an inferior and weak person is often referred to as a "washcloth".
Due to its memorable melody and the fact that the word "ligne" has the same ambiguity in French , a French version of the song soon emerged.
On the German side, they responded to the provocation by the Western Allies with a song that, staying in the imagery of the “washing day”, tried to turn the tables propagandistically by announcing to the French and English that they would be “soap” them up soon. The melody was later adopted, only slightly changed, for the refrain of the hit song "Drive again with the Bimmelbahn" by Monika Hauff and Klaus-Dieter Henkler .
Original English text
We're going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line.
Have you any dirty washing, mother dear?
We're gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line.
'Cause the washing day is here.
Whether the weather may be wet or fine.
We'll just rub along without a care.
We're going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line.
If the Siegfried Line's still there.
German transmission:
We will hang our laundry on the Siegfried line (leash)
do you have any dirty laundry, dear mother?
We'll hang up our laundry on the Siegfried Line
because the washing day has come.
Whether the weather is good or bad,
we will rub the laundry carefree.
We will hang our laundry on the Siegfried Line, as
long as the Siegfried Line is still there.
French version
Un petit Tommy chantait cet air plein d'entrain
En arrivant au camp
Tout les p'tits poilus joyeux apprirent le refrain
Et bientôt le régiment
Entonnait gaiement:
Refrain:
On ira pendr 'notre linge sur la ligne Siegfried
Pour laver le linge, voici le moment
On ira pendr 'notre linge sur la ligne Siegfried
A nous le beau linge blanc.
Les vieux mouchoirs et les ch'mis's à Papa
En famille on lavera tout ça
On ira pendr 'notre linge sur la ligne Siegfried
Si on la trouve encore là.
German transmission:
The chorus is largely the same as the English version, plus the intro:
A little Tommy sang this lively song
when he arrived at the camp
so all the happy little Poilus quickly learned the chorus
and soon afterwards the regiment cheerfully joined him: (...)
German "answer"
In most of the surviving versions of the German “counter version”, a group of Allied soldiers can be heard at the beginning, intoning the English refrain of the “Siegfried line”; a spectacle that is abruptly interrupted by the attack of a German dive bomber . After his bombs have blown up the choir and the sound of the explosion has faded, the soldiers' wailing can be heard the first bars of the German- Prussian “Königgrätzer” triumphal march . Followed by the singing of the soldiers:
Yes, my boy, you thought that too easily
with the big laundry day on the German Rhine
you also got your pants full,
don't you need to be sad!
Soon we will soap you thoroughly
from above and below
when the German washing day will be over,
man, then you won't need any more laundry!
Sing along this little song, if you just
want to sing it
all the time
with the second war report company.
Until laundry day, yes, until laundry day
.
My girl, pour another pour
and dance and empty the glasses.
Because when the big washing day is over,
I'll return home, I'll return home across the sea.