Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes?

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Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes asks the refrain of a fox trot bat , which the composer Ralph Erwin Vogl wrote under his stage name Ralph Erwin as his opus 51. The text on it was composed by the librettist Robert Katscher . The song was published in 1923 by Bohème-Verlag (Otto Hein), Berlin-Vienna-New York.

background

The lyrics tell over three verses of Max, a “fine gentleman” who was “a billionaire” and “lost all his money”, but not his charm, the “navy blue look”, which is why he is still attractive to women . As if to prove that even if “his eyes are clouded a bit”, he still “knows how to beguile women”, he sings the refrain

Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from,
so loyal, so dear, so pure?
I almost think they are no longer eyes,
they must be stars!
I would like to bet, this blue splendor
It is not made by the good Lord.
There is nothing that is blue like your eyes,
so finally admit it.
Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes,
so loyal, so dear, so pure!

Time-critical writers like Josef Maria Frank made conscious use of the fact that blue eyes can be understood not only as a symbol of loyalty and stability, but also as a sign of simplicity, even ignorance, when the hit song was written.

Performers

The Shimmylied was sung in Germany by the tenorists Theo Lucas with Vox, Walter Herrling with Beka and Erich Zimmermann with Odeon on the gramophone record. As a dance piece, orchestras such as Dajos Béla (under his second pseudonym Sándor Józsi), Bernard Etté , Marek Weber and Efim Schachmeister played it instrumentally .

Kapellmeister Carl Woitschach took on choral singing with Vox, as did the house orchestras with Homocord , Star Record and Isiphon. The art piper Guido Gialdini , a well-known figure in the international variety business, also recorded the title. For owners of electric pianos, it also appeared in stores as a piano roll .

In Austria the chansonnier Jacques Rotter recorded the song on January 28, 1924 with orchestral accompaniment for Odeon A 306.779 (Matr. Ve 1130).

In America on March 13, 1924, tenor Adolf Engel sang the hit on the gramophone record at the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York. He was accompanied by the Victor Schrammel Orchestra under the direction of Nathaniel Shilkret .

Continue to work

The lyrics of the song, which quickly became popular and which therefore encouraged parodic alienation, were soon quoted in contemporary literature. B. by Alfred Döblin in his travel journal from 1924, in which he reports on a visit to Poland in search of his Jewish roots, and by Rudolf Presber in his 1926 novel Haus Ithaka. Siegfried Kracauer tried the line in his social novel Georg , which he had completed in 1933, but which was not published in Germany until 1971, five years after his death.

The lyrics are also quoted in recent narrative literature, e.g. B. by Wilhelm Nolting-Hauff in his 1966 novel Behind the Nothing, published by Friedrich Trüjen . In the same year Josef Vital Kopp also quotes him in his novel The Daughter of Sions. He is also mentioned on p. 38 in the only 58-page booklet Till still romps by Ernst Behrends , which was published in 1968 by the European publishing house.

Wolfgang Kaftan mentions the refrain line in his memories of a puppeteer , which he published under the title As if there was no head made of wood - in 1982 by the Europäische Verlag. Most recently she quotes Martin Genahl in his detective novel The day on which it rained capitalists , published by Emons Verlag in 2014 and set during the Weimar Republic .

After 1945 the song was still sung by Marlene Dietrich and André Heller on long-playing record. The Hans Last orchestra also recorded the title with the vocal group Die Rosenkavaliere on LP in 1963 with Polydor, as did the Béla Sanders orchestra with Philips in 1964 , which accompanied the “Rixdorf Singers”, and in 1966 the vocal duo “Kerry & Kaye” with the orchestra of Composer Peter Thomas , who became known for his music for the future TV series Raumpatrouille .

Sheet music editions

  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from? Song and shimmy. Text by Dr. Robert Katscher. Music by Ralph Erwin. Op. 51. Wiener Boheme Verlag (Otto Hein), Vienna / Berlin 1923. Publisher no. WBV 547.
  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from? Song and shimmy. Text by Dr. Robert Katscher. Music by Ralph Erwin. Op. 51. Singing and piano. BMG UFA Musikverlage, delivery no. UFA14737

Audio documents

a) sung

  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from? Song and Shimmy (Ralph Erwin). Tenor Theo Lucas. Record "Grammophon" 14 798 / B 42 079 (Matr. 1285 ax), attach. Berlin, February 1924
  • "Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from?" Shimmy (Ralph Erwin) Bohemian orchestra with vocals [= tenor Walter Herrling, conductor Johannes Lasowski]. Beka No. 32 255, up. January 11, 1924
  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from: Shimmy (Ralph Erwin) tenor Erich Zimmermann with orchestra C. Woitschach. Odeon 312.618 (Matr. XBe 3959), apply. Berlin, November 22, 1923
  • "Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from ...?" Foxtrot (R. Erwin) Vox orchestra with vocals. Direction: Kapellmeister C. Woitschach. Vox 1579 (Mat. 2170 B)
  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from? (Text by Rob. Katscher, music by Ralph Erwin) Homocord orchestra with refraing singing. Homocord B. 1660 (Matr. M 17321-1) im wax A 1 4 24; C 24 B
  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from? (Uhl) Isiphon wind orchestra with refraing singing. Isiphon Concert Record 126 a (Matr. 6379 *)
  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from? Shimmy Fox (Ralph Erwin) “Star” string orchestra with refrained vocals. Star-Record No. 2019 (Matrix No. 7004)

b) instrumental

  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from: Shimmy (Ralph Erwin) Kapelle Sándor Józsi. Odeon A 44 300 (Mat. XBe 3940), apply. Berlin, November 14, 1923
  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from? Song and Shimmy (Ralph Erwin). Efim Schachmeister with his artist ensemble from the Mascotte Pavilion, Berlin. Record "Grammophon" 19 158 / B 60 318 (Matr. 344 az)
  • "Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from?" Foxtrot (R. Erwin) Orchestra Bernard Etté. Vox 01550 (Mat. 1649 A)
  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from: Shimmy (Ralph Erwin) Marek Weber and his orchestra. Parlophone P. 1590-II (Matr. 2-6575). Berlin November 27, 1923
  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from? Shimmy from Erwin. String orchestra. Stradivari Record G 421-A (Matr. Zw 3345)

c) whistled

  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes from: Shimmy (Ralph Erwin) whistling artist Guido Gialdini with orchestra. Odeon 312.647 (Matr. Be 4047). Berlin, January 22, 1924

Piano rolls

  • Welte Mignon # 561-2 Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes, song and shimmy by Ralph Erwin.
  • Philag No. 5116 Dance roll ("PHILAG" piano roll by JD Philipps , Frankfurt am Main, around 1924): Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes, Shimmy op. 51 by Ralph Erwin

literature

  • Wolfgang Hirschenberger, Herbert Parnes: Discography of Austrian Popular Music. Dance, jazz and light music recordings 1900–1958. Vienna 2013. (grammophon-platten.de)
  • Helmut Kirchmeyer: Igor Stravinsky - Contemporary History in Personality. Basics and requirements for modern construction technology. (= Cologne contributions to music research. Volume 10). G. Bosse Verlag, Regensburg 1958, p. 412.
  • Berthold Leimbach: Sound documents of cabaret and their interpreters, 1898–1945. Self-published, Göttingen 1991, DNB 911350551 .
  • Richard Mentele, Mercedes De Acosta: Prepared for love: Marlene Dietrich's fine art. (= Bollmann Library. Volume 11). Verlag Bollmann, 1993, ISBN 3-927901-31-8 , p. 178.
  • Karin Ploog: When the notes learned to run ...: History and stories of popular music up to 1945. First part, Verlag BoD - Books on Demand, 2016, ISBN 978-3-7347-4508-9 , p. 209.
  • Charles Davis Smith, Richard J. Howe: The Welte-Mignon: its music and musicians. Vestal Press for the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association, 1994, ISBN 1-879511-17-7 , pp. 255, 465, 919.
  • Rudolf Ulrich: Austrians in Hollywood. Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, 2004, ISBN 3-901932-29-1 , p. 228.
  • Manfred Weihermüller, Heinz Büttner, Rainer E. Lotz (eds.): German National Discography - Discography of German cabaret. Volume 6, Verlag B. Lotz, Bonn 2002, ISBN 3-9805808-7-3 , p. 1685.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Title of the sheet music with illustration by Otto Dely . at zvab.com (retrieved 11-09-16), also at Imagesmusicales.be
  2. ↑ cf. on line Duden : naive = naive, clueless, unworldly, innocent, faithful. Even today people who one would like to attest to lack of need are referred to as "naive". Cf. Lutz Röhrich : Lexicon of the proverbial sayings. Volume 1: A-jumping jack. New edition. Herder Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau / Basel / Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-9811483-8-1 , "blauäugig", p. 210.
  3. ↑ Frank quotes the refrain line in his satirical poem Abbau-Spiel , which he published in 1924 in the journal Die Glocke published by Parvus and published by the 'Verlag für Sozialwissenschaft' (Die Glocke, Volume 10, Issue 14-26, p. 532: "O Republic, it was your own strong will to preserve yourself when you called Abbau. [...] O Republic, where did you get those beautiful, blue eyes -?")
  4. ↑ Record factory "Star-Record", owner Ernst Hesse & Co., Berlin SO. 26, Elisabeth-Ufer 52, cf. user 'intoxicated' Wed Feb 15 2012, 11:00 at grammophon-platten.de
  5. ↑ cf. Hirschenberger-Pames p. 226.
  6. ↑ Victor 77 430, Matr. B-29 707, cf. DAHR (Discography of American Historical Recordings) at ucsb.edu
  7. ↑ Alice Scheerer passed down the joke verse from the 1920s (“my grandmother hummed when she was in a particularly good mood”) “Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes? No one bought it from Tietz! ”, In: Company stories : The recovery home of Tietz-AG, at slowlifelab.de ( memento from September 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), July 1, 2015; On joke postcards, the “blue eyes” of the lyrics were associated with the “violets” that can be bought in boxing, cf. Artist postcard 1927 at akpool.de (accessed September 12, 2016)
  8. ^ Trip in Poland. Travel journal from 1924. New edition. S. Fischer Verlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-596-90478-5 : "And music will come soon:" When I see you, I have to cry "," Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes? " a reunion. "
  9. ^ House of Ithaca. Novel (1926). Neudruck Verlag BoD - Books on Demand, 2015, on p. 21: “As if on command ... the old organ man came in, who twice a week ... rattled the bathroom with the out of tune organ and with one that had never been beautiful , rusty voice sang: 'Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes!' "
  10. ^ Siegfried Kracauer: Georg. Society novel (1933, first published posthumously in 1971 in Schriften, Volume 1 ). Suhrkamp Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-518-46459-5 : “It all happens automatically ... where did you get those beautiful blue eyes -" Hello, Toni "... It said, always new from the dancers covered, a young woman whose blue, tight-fitting smock was buttoned up to her neck. "
  11. ^ Wilhelm Nolting-Hauff: Behind the nothing. Novel. Verlag Friedrich Trüjen, 1966, DNB 457710209 , p. 242 “'Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes?' he asked himself, filled with scorn, in silence. "
  12. ↑ Josef Vital Kopp: The daughter of Sions. Novel. Rex-Verlag, 1966, DNB 457273275 , p. 212: "... to some elderly Schlager Lenzinger heard:" Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes? "
  13. ↑ Till is still mad. Cheerful stories by Ernst Behrends. European publishing house, Vienna 1968, DNB 456050892
  14. ↑ Wolfgang Kaftan: As if it wasn't a head made of wood -: memories of a puppeteer. European publishing house, Vienna 1982, DNB 840240015 , p. 26: “Hanno, the» court jester Haus Heyden «, who as Kasper almost competed with me, has to sing his favorite hit» Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes «at my suggestion ”
  15. ↑ “This time it was even allowed to sing. The choice fell on the tried and tested shimmy 'Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes!', Actually a safe bet when it came to winning over a lazy audience ... "
  16. ↑ on her LP album “Marlene singt Berlin”, Berlin (1965). Lyrics and sound recording at lyrics.wikia.com
  17. ↑ on the vinyl LP album “Heller, of all things. André Heller sings Schnulzen, Schlager, Chansons from the 20s, 30s and 40s ”, Label Mandragora # 38842, published 1979, page B 1.4
  18. ↑ Vinyl-LP Polydor, label number 237 142, track A 4.3 Where Have You Only Die Schönen Blauen Augen Her, (discogs.com)
  19. ↑ LP Philips P 48 003 L, “Do you remember?”, Track 40, cf. musik-sammler.de
  20. ↑ Vinyl-LP Polydor, label number 249 102 STEREO, track A 4.3 Where Do You Have Only Die Schönen Blauen Augen Her. Written By - Erwin, Katscher
  21. ↑ listen on youtube.com , label released. at ebaystatic.com (retrieved 11-09-16)
  22. ↑ label shown. at alt-berlin-archiv.de
  23. ↑ label shown. at discogs.com  ; “Uhl” probably means the arranger Martin Uhl , who is given here instead of the composer Erwin
  24. ↑ cf. Smith-Howe p. 255.
  25. ↑ to be heard on youtube.com (Collection Jörg Einert)