Der Rattenfänger--The German Pied Piper talking blues

[DFW]

About 30 years ago, a German folk singer named Hannes Wader, who is
one of Germany's greatest lyricists, recorded a wonderful version
of the story of the Pied Piper of Hameln in talking blues form.
It was very political in nature (as was he at the time).

I was thinking of the relevance to today's Republican Party, and
thought I'd share one of my favorite verses of the song. One of my
fantasies was always to record an English version, but he told it
so well, I could never make it fit his easy rhythm:

This verse concerns that part where (he took some liberty with the
story line) the children of Hameln are angry with their elders for
not paying the Pied Piper (Der Rattenfänger) his wage for ridding
the town of the rats, and so the elders decide in the middle of the night
to gag and tie their children and remove them from the town. They then
claim that it was the Pied Piper who had kidnapped them. That is the
context in which the following verse is sung:


Und so es geschah wie es immer geschiet
Wo Ruhe mehr gilt als Recht
Denn wo die Herrschen Ruhe woll'n,
Geht's den Beherrschten schlecht


"And so it happened like it always happens
Where calm is worth more than justice
Because where the rulers want calm
Those who are ruled fare badly"

This has been the Republican line from Reagan's baton-wielding thugs
in uniform to Cheneybush banning Helen Thomas from the White House press
front row.

[bean fidhleir]

1. Stimmt, das.

Und schlecht wird's weiter gehn, uns.