"Tomorrow belongs to me"

[Stephanie]

The sun on the meadow is summery warm.
The stag in the forest runs free.
But gather together to greet the storm.
Tomorrow belongs to me.

The branch of the linden is leafy and green,
The Rhine gives its gold to the sea.
But somewhere a glory awaits unseen.
Tomorrow belongs to me.

The babe in his cradle is closing his eyes
The blossom embraces the bee.
But soon, says a whisper;
Arise, arise,
Tomorrow belongs to me

[whistle]

1. Not a minority face in that crowd.....

[annabanana]

2. shiver.....chills down my spine....................n/t

[villager]

3. I hear this song all the time when...

...looking at pictures of, or reading news about, today's GOP...

Important to remember the scene -- in the film version at least -- where, after the Hitler Youth bursts in to song -- and all the "Good Germans" join in -- Michael York, Minelli, and their friend all turn to each other with words to the effect, "Do you still think it's just a harmless movement?"

[tanyev]

4. I've often thought it would be great

to get a group into a Bush campaign event and start popping up one by one from different locations and sing that song. The Bushbots probably wouldn't get it though. If any of them know it, they'd just sing along without any irony.

Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer.

:scared:

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Such a shame!

It's a beautiful, hopeful song. Look how it was perverted by the Nazis.

The Swastika -- at one time, customarily spelled svastika in English -- was a beautiful, energetic symbol of life. Now, it means nothing but death and misery and brutality.

And the Gospels of Jesus of Nazareth? Getting the same treatment, but in this case, there's still some time left to stop it.

Incidentally, there's a song that POWs used to sing in German camps, "Die Gedanken Sind Frei" -- "(My) Thoughts Are Free". It was even used in a movie about WWII. If anyone has the lyrics, please post them.

--bkl

[republicansareevil]

6. um... was it?

"It's a beautiful, hopeful song. Look how it was perverted by the Nazis."

I was under the impression that the song was written specifically for "Cabaret" for the Nazi characters to sing. Am I wrong?

[tanyev]

7. Nope. You are right.

I just went googling to check on that. It was written by Kander and Ebb for the show but it is written in the style of a typical anthem of that time. I think the contrast between the beauty of the song and the realization that the Nazis are using it as an anthem provides one of the most chilling moments of the show.

[Dogmudgeon]

13. I thought Kander and Ebb adapted it

I'll have check on that. I've been surprised a few times by similar things.

--bkl

[tanyev]

14. Here's what I found.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0790731983/104-1511648-8486330?v=glance&vi=quotes-trivia

I'll admit I didn't look any further once I found that. Scroll to the bottom--Trivia about Cabaret.

[Dogmudgeon]

17. Well, looks like that settles it!

I'm just a sucka for anything written in 3/4 :)

Thanks for the link ... some of the other trivia were pretty cool, too!

--bkl

[Arianrhod]

8. I thought it was "Arbeit macht frei". :)

The Swastika was often depicted as counterclockwise, as opposed to the NAZI version. In Sanskrit, it means "well being".

[republicansareevil]

9. I read somewhere that using the swastika backwards...

...as the Nazis did, was considered very bad "mojo" and that it was predicted by people who revered the (at-that-time positive) symbol that the Nazis would bring destruction upon themselves for reversing the symbol.

[BiggJawn]

10. here they are....

Die Gedanken Sind Frei (Our Thoughts Are Free)

Die Gedanken sind frei
My thoughts freely flower,
Die Gedanken sind frei
My thoughts give me power.
No scholar can map them,
No hunter can trap them,
No man can deny:
Die Gedanken sind frei!

I think as I please
And this gives me pleasure,
My conscience decrees,
This right I must treasure;
My thoughts will not cater
To duke or dictator,
No man can deny--
Die Gedanken sind frei!


And if tyrants take me
And throw me in prison
My thoughts will burst free,
Like blossoms in season.
Foundations will crumble,
The structure will tumble,
And free men will cry:
Die Gedanken sind frei!

Neither trouble or pain
Will ever touch me again.
No good comes of fretting,
My hope's in forgetting.
Within myself still
I can think as I will,
But I laugh, do not cry:
Die Gedanken sind frei!

Some sources say these lyrics date to the 1200's.

[Dogmudgeon]

18. Thanks, Jawn!

Here's my bit of trivia about the phrase Arbeit Macht Frei.

It was a cruel twist on an expression that was common among Jews who wanted to move from the country to the city -- Stadt Luft Macht Frei, or, "the city air will make you free. The idea being that living in the country was a dull, dead-end lifestyle.

It's the same kind of snarky sarcasm that went into pressing "People of Color" into the right-wing "People of Faith".

--bkl

[robertpaulsen]

11. The reprise is especially chilling.

I can just picture freepers singing:

Oh Fatherland, Fatherland,
Show us the sign
Your children have waited to see.
The morning will come
When the world is mine.
Tomorrow belongs to me!

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. Many moons ago

the graduating class of '73 at the small college I was at chose that song to be their graduation anthem.

Now THAT was freaky...

[Kingofalldems]

15. Ahh anyone notice

There is no bulge on his back? Of course there's no need--the speech is right in front of him. And this puts to rest the back brace story. So what was that square thing he wore during the debates?

[jackstraw45]

16. I like the crazed Bob Roberts-like young men in the front row

They are just missing their trench coats.