Aus: "Popular Music", Vol.17, No.3, Cambridge 1998

Fred Ritzel (Oldenburg)
'Was ist aus uns geworden? - Ein Häufchen Sand am Meer .......'
Emotions of post-war Germany as extracted from examples of popular music

Kurt Tucholsky (Tucholsky, 1975, p. 187) states in 1923 in reference to an old 'Fasching' tune of that era that this song comprised the 'most complete expression of the German 'Volksseele' ('soul of people') that one could imagine' and that it 'truly reveals the day and age we live in, how this age has evolved and  how we ourselves come to terms with this age'. The collective character of the means of production as well as the commercial character of such hits may be founded in reference to Kracauer´s thesis on the effect of film (Kracauer 1979, p.11). The commercial character may be said to constantly correct the collective production mechanisms in a stream of feedback: Only productions which convincingly meet public expectations on either a latent or manifest level, become successfully received. If the heart of the masses gets wooed by a national rhythmic feeling, then the hit becomes a medium for needs of national expression, then the question of a national and of a political identity get bound in the daily emotional turbulence of the music industry.
Adorno (Adorno 1962, p.38) maintains that a hit's claim in being an effective source of entertainment therapy suggests at most its pretence 'of serving the psychic balance of the listener where deficits in reality seem to be lacking'. He underestimates, however, the importance of how the hit´s message evolves out of a recipient´s life´s chain of events and how this chain is able to resist the influence of the 'Kulturindustrie'. When after time successive hits begin to reflect on mutually shared social intimacies, the boundary that defines public and private affairs also begins to shift anew - each shift according to its socio-political context: The hit fundamentally never exceeds a criticism that cannot be dealt with by the society which collectively produces it. Being a genuine product of society, it never becomes questioned. Yet it possesses a principal pull towards the truth, even in it worst stages of hypocrisy. It has to be namely liked, it must please. The needs to be satiated are not to be understood only as being solely born out of a 'Kulturindustrie' or as being fictitious in origin. Yet hit music, even as a surrogate has some authentic quality. The surrogate does not allow itself to be substituted by reality. Wishful thinking a dual or parallel life, seems to be existentially necessary.
In this essay, some examples shall be presented of how the misleading content of a hit's  hidden feelings become expressed in post-war Germany, and how jovial music in its apparently harmless form conjures base ignorance and confusion. We shall also investigate how on the same token, inevitable feelings of psychic self-preservation reflecting the processing of the Nazi-era and the war become expressed.
The end of the Second World War did not spell a liberation for most of the Germans, it was viewed as a catastrophe. However, it can still be generally said that the overwhelming majority of citizens were to feel a simple sensory and emphatic relief that now the bomb attacks, dashes to the bunker, fear of collapsing houses, that fire and death ceased. And yet, all of a sudden the 'master race' saw itself deeply humiliated and at the mercy of their victors.
An effect of solidarity between high and low ranking Nazis started to become noticeable. Both parties were increasingly met by the sympathies of the remainder of the citizenry. The philosopher Karl Jaspers maintained that a prevailing mood existed after the war, which read: 'One should be evenly rewarded, if at all at least consoled after such horrible suffering. Never though, should we be allowed to be burdened with guilt.' Soon the traces of a guilt complex would become difficult to find. A survey conducted at the end of 1945 in the American zone revealed that 50 percent of those surveyed thought that National Socialism was a good idea, only that it was poorly executed. Only 20 percent accepted German responsibility for the war, while 70 percent denied any responsibility whatsoever (cf. Der Spiegel 1/1997).

After the catastrophe: condolence
A sort of musical medicine existed in a truly impressive quantity for the guilt-ridden German, with soft propaganda songs like the 'endurance hit' ('Durchhalteschlager'), which enjoyed playtime during and even after the war. (This type of song has survived in some examples even up until today in the collective conscious.) They serve to perpetuate those escapism dreams that were prevalent in post-war Germany. Such songs were: 'Es geht alles vorüber' ('Everything Will Come to Pass',  Raymond/Wallner/Feltz 1942), 'Davon geht die Welt nicht unter'  ('It's Not the End of the World', Jary/Balz 1942), 'Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen' ('I Know that Some Day a  Miracle Will Happen', Jary/Balz 1942), 'Mach dir nichts daraus' ('Don't Worry About It', Grothe/Dehmel 1943), 'Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon' ('Buy Yourself a Colourful Balloon', Profes/von Pinelli 1943), 'Gute Nacht, Mutter' ('Good-Night, Mother',  Bochmann/Lehnow 1938) as well as many others.  The effect that also ensued in the post-war situation was one that consoled the oppressed and comforted the suppressed. However, new songs existed also. 'Nach Regen scheint Sonne' ('After the Rain Comes Sunshine',  Beul/ von Pinelli, 1946) developed into a great hit.   Its message relates the changing times as well as the timid attempt of expressing joy that the war and its atrocities had finally ended. Weather was undoubtedly used as a metaphor for the situation after the war: '... As long as the world turns ...', '... After the rain comes sunshine, after crying laughter ...'. Many successful hits show a characteristic and multifunctional approach in their often vague messages. Countless everyday situations are imbedded into the refrain, which in turn functions in reaction to individual problems: after every catastrophe follows better times. Furthermore, the catastrophes that developed and effected the countless fates of German individuals, families and communities accumulated during this time.
The composer, Artur Beul, called his coy mixture of the rhythmical vibrations newly acquired from America, recently coupled with old traditional German dance styles 'Swing-Polka'. Swing was already a more or less standard style of most Nazi dance orchestras during the war. The refrain is embellished by a yodel and incorporates also into its middle section a boogie-style walking bass. The verse along with its accompanying text was played in a minor  mood and reminds one of  the lyrics in the verses that were sung by Zarah Leander in her big hit 'Davon geht die Welt nicht unter' ('It is Not the End of the World', Jary/Balz 1942). In typical songs such as these, where the verse is dominated by dismal tones in minor keys, the refrain becomes crowned by a friendly turn to clear and positive-colored major tones.
The history of the hit parade shows us that it is exactly these metaphorical pieces with their indirect, rather sublingually audible messages that appear to have been the more popular. This is not applicable to all the early post-war songs that were much to direct and overtly blunt. A song with the title, 'Freut Euch, wir leben noch!' ('Rejoice! We are still alive!', Ossmann/Heiland, ca. 1945/46) which portrayed on the title page ruins of old houses and jovial Germans amongst the rubble understandably never 'made it'. The texts deal with the war' s end, housing shortages, food rationing and peace - in a waltz time, yet undoubtedly without the necessary amount of vagueness, ambiguity and individualization (and also without any musical imaginativeness).

The Germans - an abandoned herd
German film production resurfaced immediately after the war, with a tested personnel stemming from the industry' s Nazi-era. Only a few emigrants and a few victims of the Nazi persecutions could again find work and persevere. This was especially prevalent in the entertainment branch, where hardly any expatriate could reestablish him /herself. Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, Franz Wachsmann (Waxman), Friedrich Hollaender, Donald (Douglas) Sirk, Mischa Spoliansky and many others either returned much later or not at all to the land where they achieved initial success. The filmmakers from the Nazi-era still controlled the scene, utilizing newcomers who had taken their first steps in German film during the war and who now were looking for a breakthrough. It was not only that many UFA-films of the war era were allowed to be shown again, but that even a number of war era films that had not yet been released were to also be shown ( with the approval of the allies) in the theaters. A new and conventional theme in the so-called, 'Trümmerfilme'  ('rubble film') took on central importance in a setting where war veterans were returning home and refugees wandered through leveled cities. It cannot be said that the Nazi-era was in any way intensely re-examined or re-evaluated, or that its cause and effect became verbalized and then processed: rather a sentimental victimization was the much more common way of drawing the rather stereotyped image of the Nazi villain who was to be held individually responsible. The upright German citizenry, meanwhile, became exploited by fate. Many popular well-received films during these years focused on these exclusively German emotions after having lost the war.
An example here, can be taken from the film, 'UND ÜBER UNS DER HIMMEL' ('And Above Us, The Heavens', 1947, D: Josef von Baky, M: Theo Mackeben): Hans Albers, who personifies the 'Blonde Hans' or the strong male stereotype in films of the 30' s and 40' s sings the title song, '... und über uns der Himmel' ('And above us the heavens', Mackeben/Freytag 1947) while ponderously walking among the ruins of the Potsdam square in Berlin where people are planting vegetables and 'Trümmerfrauen' clearing away rubble. Even though the song' s playing instruction requires a plain and simple manner ('schlicht und einfach'), a female chorus counters with a bombastic sugar-coated symphonic arrangement.   Nevertheless, a well-invented melancholic ballad of mourning. It picks up with a typical sixth note jump - similar to Michael Jary' s war time song of endurance, 'Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehn' ('I just know that a miracle will happen', Jary/Balz 1942). Reminiscences of an old folk song echoe in the melodic structure and quite possibly in its age-old optimism a sublingual message beneath the song's surface that imparts the picture of the German people being scattered by the North wind: 'Ich hab mich ergeben mit Herz und mit Hand, dir, Land voll Lieb' und Leben, mein deutsches Vaterland.' ('I have, with heart and hand, surrendered you, land full of love and life, my German "Vaterland"', traditional song 1821, words by Massmann 1820).

'...und über uns der Himmel'

A wind blows from the north. It blows us back and forth. What has become of us? A small pile of sand on the beach. The storm throws the grain farther, just like our lives. It sweeps us from the ladder. We are like dust so light. What shall be? Life must go on. There is still enough hope for us. We shall all start from the beginning, because this existence can also be beautiful. The wind blows from all directions. So let the wind blow! For above us the heavens won't let us down.

Es weht der Wind von Norden. Er weht uns hin und her. Was ist aus uns geworden? Ein Häufchen Sand am Meer. Der Sturm jagt das Sandkorn weiter, dem unser Leben gleicht. Er fegt uns von der Leiter. Wir sind wie Staub so leicht. Was soll nun werden? Es muß doch weitergehn! Noch bleibt ja Hoffnung für uns genug bestehn. Wir fangen alle von vorne an, weil dieses Dasein auch schön sein kann. Der Wind weht von allen Seiten. So laß den Wind doch wehn! Denn über uns der Himmel  läßt uns nicht untergehn.

Albers is portrayed as a dealer in the black market, who through reassessing his relationship with his war-wounded son, comes to recognize his inappropriate concept on life and changes his ways. The song marks a turning point. The egotistical criminal becomes reintegrated into a society of diligent Germans at 'day one' in this somewhat pompous ode to the inner and outer 'reconstruction' ('Wiederaufbau'). However, the Germans show that they have enormous identity problems. They feel like 'sand on the beach'. Even if the vow seems unconvincing, even if it seems defiant and ritual, a better future and trust in God become sworn ideals. Finally, The Lord's Prayer is heard at the end  of this sequence. It emanates from out of a school and is prayed by the school children. This part of the song can be directly applied to post-war Germany, '...and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!' The message sounds strangely fatal and dark for it to have become a hit. Neither causes nor the smallest reference as to feelings of guilt can be noticed  here. We witness only an abandoned herd, helplessly left out in the wind yet without remorse, without an understanding for the situation in which they find themselves begging for sympathy. A lesson in democratic morale can be extrapolated out of the film's context: Work in privation, renounce all black market activities and no cheating  during this time. Life must go on, the German is a victim of his time, but he may be allowed to start again from the beginning. All around the wind blows unpleasantly. Have no fear, the heavens will straighten things out...
Furthermore, the perspectives that are supposed to teach moral principles are much different than those in Billy Wilder's Berlin filming of 'A FOREIGN AFFAIR' (1948) . In Wilder's film the criminal everyday surroundings in the black market are taken as a matter of course and even necessary for survival.

'HALLO, FRÄULEIN': The model pupils
The American liberator was seen as an especially positive figure for many, in particular for young Germans: they were clean-cut, well-fed and in their snappy uniforms well-supplied with daily staples as well as luxury items. Their easy-going style was one to be imitated. Their modern dance music, which could be heard on the military stations AFN and BFN found their way to the top of the music charts. It was here that a listener could hear the newest hits from overseas: jazz as well as black pop (German broadcasting was a little more hesitant here). These served as symbols of modernity, progress, usefulness and refinement ...  The majority of Germans not connected to the scene, however, viewed the jazz fans back then more as an eyesore than as post-war heroes The prejudices accumulated over the past decades were still applied to them. Anglo-American lifestyle and music were sensed as being barbaric, decadent and culturally inferior by the German old guard. The Nazi paroles which had been hammered into the heads of the masses since the 1920's still held their effectiveness in denouncing jazz as being an uncultured and hostile gutter-music which belonged to Jewish Bolshevists ('jüdisch-boschewistische Afterkunst', cf. Ritzel 1987; Hoffmann 1995; Schröder 1990 et.al.). The 1949 filming of 'HALLO, FRÄULEIN' (D: Rudolf Jugert, M: Friedrich Meyer) is a case in point. The screenplay is based on the true-life experiences of the actress Margot Hielscher. This former costume designer with the UFA first appeared as a young actress in various films during the war and after the war accompanied bands, some of which were conducted by Americans in night club circuits.  Hielscher's notion to put into film episodes from her life was first initiated by an American control  officer named Erich Pommer. Pommer, himself an emigrant, served as a famous producer to the UFA before 1933. Another emigrant actor, Peter van Eyck, who, like Pommer, also served as an control officer in screening films, appeared as one of the two principal  actors in this particular production.
Van Eyck plays an American captain, who in the role of an acknowledged musician, checks the qualifications of German entertainers.  Margot Hielscher sings for him, yet he finds her singing lacking: 'That's jazz made in Germany', he states afterwards in a demeaning way. He then proceeds to show her how jazz ought to sound. He addresses the core of the problem: 'Jazz isn't necessarily a special kind of music, as it is a special sort of feeling! You sing everything much too sentimentally, don't take everything so seriously...(...)... Whoever doesn't understand what casual means, will never understand America!' The film is, fundamentally speaking, a propaganda film in its sense of serving as a tool of German reeducation. The American captain proves himself quite arrogant at the beginning of the film, but before it ends, the film goes on to eventually reveal how Germans and Americans can reasonably coincide with each other while at the same time preserving their respective identities. The captain mocks Hielscher's initial attempt at forming a jazz band. However, by the end, we find him playing in Hielscher's band for German and American audiences alike. Even though a major dissension erupts over jazz in this film account of Germany, musicians and artists go on to win over their audiences. Hans Söhnker, a German engineer and rival of the Americans in retaining Margot Hielscher's favour, boasts among the guests sitting at his table the following, concerning the music of the German-American band: 'That was for me the biggest success...( ) ...this music suddenly attained the highest goal: to bind what was once separated, to make friends out of enemies, and to form a harmony out of diverse solo voices, a modern harmony!' And another passage: 'I think all decent men should fraternize to form a counter balance against the fraternization of the indecent!

' The captain wholeheartedly agrees, which on the one hand, spells out how he trivializes the occupier's ban on fraternizing with foreigners, on the other hand we see a slight foreshadowing of how new fronts become formed which lead up to the Cold War. The film was shot parallel to the start of this global and regionally political debate. The West German monetary reforms resulted in Berlin becoming divided and blockaded, not to mention other hostilities. The month of the film's first release, May 1949, also saw the end of the Berlin Blockade, yet the real East-West conflict was just about to begin. Söhnker's moralizing speech seems to mirror the situation, when he says that West Germans and Americans should 'fraternize together against the indecent'. What he refers to here is, of course, the dubious communistic East.
The fraternising between the allies and their occupied, which was at first strictly forbidden, occurred more and more frequently with increasing day-to-day contacts between the groups. When we take into account the film's year of release along with its ironic handling of the fraternising taboo and its portrayal of a highly integrative German-American interaction, we may speak of a courageous accomplishment. We must also consider the possibility that a provocative attempt was being made at suggesting a normalisation. The concept of the film's plot entails the struggle between young musicians and a somewhat stubborn German audience that needs to be convinced of jazz music's qualities. The film's music is claimed as being 'jazz', however, it is still a far cry from what we understand jazz to be. The film administers 'Swing-swing-swing', for example, as if it were an American standard: the captain asks the German if the song were familiar to her. She affirms him by saying that she knows the song from hearing it on the BBC, a prohibited 'enemy station' during the war. The film composer Friedrich Meyer has written this 'jazz number', a harmless fox-trot interwoven with some conservative syncope-patterns.  The song's verse announces its musical message of fate.: 'A changing world is the fate of the world. And with the world, the music changes as well.' The refrain follows in the German cultural tradition: ''I like to go to the opera, because I think it's chic. Yet swing, swing, swing is for me the best music.' The public masses never went to the opera, nor could the music here be considered as being 'swing' - this mediocrity could nevertheless be certainly tolerated by the film public even with its hypocrisy.
This appears to be a tactical measure used by the film industry in claiming a verbal modernity. In actuality, an absolutely harmless German dance music is presented, which is much less jazzy, than the jazz played during the war and even after the war by the new broadcast-orchestras or other renowned big bands. If a full-blown kitsch was not being played, then a harmless standard dominated most music sequences for the most part. Such is the case with the pompous ballad 'When the Cotton Fields Bloom', where echoes of mannered black spirituals reminisce.
An interesting palate of jazz could be heard played by German musicians in the emerging jazz centres (like Berlin, Frankfurt, Dresden, Leipzig among others) as well as on the broadcast frequencies. Proof of this can be rendered, surprisingly enough, in an almost trivial sequence of this film (a backstage party after the show) where Bebop gets played (Helmut Zacharias and Freddy Brocksieper are just some of the musicians in the film to be mentioned).This was obviously a test in determining how the latest music currents would be received by the public masses. It can be assumed that the musical explosiveness probably went unnoticed.
Interestingly enough, the film's main songs didn't become successful - 'Nevergreens', as Margot Hielscher ironically remarked.
Jazz-orientated music emerged in other films also during these years. Songs popped up occasionally expressing a zest for life or as a medium complementing the latest dance craze. It was never to be understood as a form of degenerate art, like in the film, 'WER BIST DU, DEN ICH LIEBE' ('Who are you, the one I love?', 1949, D: Bolvary, M: Eisbrenner), although in the film a flabbergasted visitor to a bar asks: 'What kind of hellish music is that?' In 'DER APFEL IST AB'  ('The Apple has Been Plucked', 1948, D: Helmut Käutner, M: Bernhard Eichhorn), jazz is presented as an attribute of hell, though only in it's queer cabaret-style execution pertaining to the place of damnation. Jazz appears most commonly in connotation with things 'disreputable', with the underground, with lasciviousness and things erotic. One could say that it appears as an acoustic requisite in such relevant situations. Alongside the 'rubble film', those sentimental, self-pitying attempts at coping with the present, there existed a number of films that attempted to view the times critically and at the same time comically with sarcasm, humor and a touch of cabaretistic impudence. To this category, belong 'DER APFEL IST AB' but also 'BERLINER BALLADE' ('The Berliner', 1948, D: R.A.Stemmle, M: W. Eisbrenner, G. Neumann) or 'FILM OHNE TITEL' ('The Film Without a Name', 1947, D. R.Jugert, M: B. Eichhorn). Numerous more or less funny chansons exist that never achieved any real fame, yet as a rule proved to belong more to the sign of the times than did other comparable film hits of the same era.

Contraband: Old Melodies Wrapped in a New Cloak?
In some post-war songs relicts of even earlier times seem to have found their way into them. Is this a matter of coincidence, intention, refinement or trick ? Perhaps certain emotionally-laden repertoires incline towards borrowing from traditional music material. Perhaps old remnants of past emotions resurface to become lived out once again, albeit in a milder form and behind the camouflage of new songs. An especially strange case, is one where a very well-known hit came under the charge of having been plagiarized. The hit's message is tied to a political event, that being namely the monetary reform of 1948.
In order to combat the barter system, which then only served in hindering economic development, the old currency from the Nazi-era was replaced by the new German 'Deutsche Mark' (DM) in the three western zones or as it was called back then, in 'Trizonesia' on June 20th, 1948.This resulted in very serious consequences, such as the first Berlin Crisis, the division of the city, the Berlin Blockade, the emergency supply airlift, the increasing split between the east and the west sector and finally to the constitution of two German states.     Items which had been previously hoarded suddenly appeared on the market, but only in exchange with the new currency. Everything seemed very expensive considering the modest access most had at acquiring the new D-Mark. Unemployment also rose dramatically. Numerous protest strikes by the unions culminated on the 12th of November l948 in a general strike. One of the bigger 'Fasching' hits of the '49/'50 season entitled, 'Wer soll das bezahlen?' ('Who's supposed to pay?', J. Schmitz/ W. Stein = Kurt Feltz 1949) arose out of the Situation. The song can still be heard today: A deep big sigh, where all involved were allowed to unite in the face of their collective financial miseries. The third verse exemplifies the situation in the western zone in its direct appeal. What stands out in the song is the overriding mood of uncertainty concerning the founding of a new state and its effect confronting the singer/listener of the song.

'Wer soll das bezahlen?'

The press reported a charge of plagiarism, because the song which is known up till this day fatefully corresponds to a soldier's march: 'Sie hieß Marie und treu war sie' ('Her Name was Marie and True was She') was written in 1935 by Wiga Gabriel for the armed forces. It had a great following in the Rhine area (both authors of 'Sie hieß Marie' also came from Cologne!, cf. Der Spiegel, April 4th, 1950). Both the song's refrains correspond to each other  'true to the last note', only now in a three quarter's-time. The quick recall of the old soldier's song was most certainly an advantage in being able to sing this high-spirited tune. 'Marie' is the telltale expression for money and serves as a slang synonym throughout Germany. (Could it be that this usage was derived from this song?)

Wiga Gabriel, the man who composed the soldier's march, 'Sie hieß Marie' in 1935 (and the super hit 'In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus' in 1936!) also charged the authors Jupp Schmitz and Kurt Feltz with plagiarism. However, Gabriel himself was not inexperienced in the art of copying older hits. Only shortly before the litigation, Gabriel had offered the publisher Feltz the opportunity to release one of his titles - 'Mein blonder Hans' ('My Blonde Jack', Gabriel, 1949). Feltz refused the offer on the grounds that the song closely resembled one of the most well-known Nazi songs - the 'Horst-Wessel-Lied'. The basic harmonic rhythm and melodic gestures of both songs indeed show a strong resemblance to each other. The simple transformation of the 4/4 time march rhythm into a leisurely 3/4 time 'libation waltz' was applied here.
It is quite possible that the idea of smuggling memories out of the past into new songs moved Feltz and Schmitz to utilising similar measures when creating such tunes as 'Wer soll das bezahlen?'. It is amazing to think of the insolence these hypocrites possessed when juggling business opportunity with personal morals.
Another successful composer of pop music, Fred Raymond, who enjoyed success from the 20's onwards also managed to submit a 'Fasching' song skilfully comprised out of a collage of older music material.  Experts would be able to recognise the song's ironic contrasts as long as he were able to decipher the intricacies to be salvaged out of the older song material.The song's fitting title, 'Wir sind die alten geblieben' ('We're Still the Same Old Bunch', 1949, M: Raymond, W: Andersen) is a curious conjuration of the post-war German identity with its different traditions. It asserts itself almost defiantly: 'Wir sind die alten geblieben trotz alledem und grade erst recht' ('We are definitely the same old guys regardless of our past'). This claim is sung in a waltz  rhythm  and with a melodic phrase taken from the we1l-known proletarian hymn 'The Internationale'. The history of the song is, however, not only rooted in communism, social democracy or unionism. The Nazis also sang the song albeit with another text 'Brüder in Zechen und Gruben' ('Brothers of the Coal Mines and Pits'). (The Nazis also arranged other traditional labour songs to fit their own ideas). Does the melody's phrasing serve to counter the apparent clarity of the text's message? Does Raymond want to criticise ghosts of the past in a present day political context? The next quote beseeches German romanticism by smelting 'Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten' ('I Don't Know, What Shou1d it Mean?') - Heinrich Heine's famous 'Loreley' -   with the text 'Wir können noch lachen und lieben, auch sonst ist alles noch echt' ('We Can Still Laugh and Love, and Everything Else About Us is Also Sti11 Genuine'). Can it be claimed that German values of 'Gemütlichkeit' ('comfortableness') and romantic idylls are still attainable in post-war Germany? Have measures like the bans on Jewish authors  such as Heinrich Heine (in Nazi books the well-known author of the 'Loreley' was called 'unknown poet') damaged their reputations over years?
Is it solely sarcastic that additional verses to the German national anthem ('Deutschlandlied') read: 'Nach links geschunkelt, nach rechts gelacht...' ('Sway to the left, laugh to the right')?  Does Raymond suggest, by recalling another old melody 'Freut euch des Lebens' ('Life Rejoice!') to just joyfully forgetting?
Finally, a little self-sell comes into play. A small melodic titbit seems to have stemmed from Raymond's own hit, 'Es geht alles vorüber' ('Everything Comes to Pass') , namely the continuation of the headline: 'Es geht alles vorbei' ('Everything Comes to an End'). Now the old melodic phrase carries the message, 'Wir haben uns alles so lieb...' ('We Really Love One Another') ....?

The song's complete text is shown here as follows:  

'Wir sind die alten geblieben'

The innocent: 'We are the natives from Trizonesia'
'Fasching' songs often possess the ability to clearly address an issue that would normally stay tabled in otherwise sober circumstances. Analogous to the traditional function of 'Fasching' (shrovetide carnival) operates a psychic undercurrent where some of our latent or pent-up urges and desires are allowed to surface. The social etiquette and courtesies that bind us together in our day-to-day activities and dealings with each other are allowed to fall. For a short span in the year, civilisation's social mores are put aside in a frenzy of wild and joyous celebration. It is not necessarily that one drifts into any sort of realistic realm or domain of truth, rather one finds him/herself thoroughly immersed into regions of utopian wishful thinking and many times self-deception. A very interesting example, can be offered in a song composed by the shoe-maker and amateur singer, Ernst Neger. This Fasching's hymn was composed after the war, and is still sung today by the costumed jesters at the bulwark of Fasching celebrations in Mainz. The song has, in any case, dropped its 1947 post-war context and has been today adapted into a sentimental and friendly song sung at many occasions where condolence is due. Lines leading into the refrain, when heard in the 'Mainz' dialect emit a condoling effect on the recipient: 'Heile, heile Gänsje, es wird ja wieder gut!' ('Hail, Hai1 My Little Gosling, Everything Will Turn Out!').
At that time Ernst Neger's verses contained phrases, which have become forgotten today. In the original version Ernst Neger sang directly to Mainz about the immediacies confronting them directly following the war. He applied images of the destroyed city insolently suggesting: 'We are not to be held responsible'. The euphoria brought on by the Fasching celebrations, was obviously responsible for eliciting within its guilt-ridden celebrants the ability to deny any responsibility for the destruction - 'Hail, Hai1 My Little Gosling, Everything Will Turn Out!'

An even more blatant form of denial can be found in a song dating from the Fasching season 1948/49 in occupied Germany. Here, the sheer ingratitude, the unbelievable inner constitution of the Germans becomes revealed: 'Wir sind die Eingeborenen von Trizionesien' ('We are the Natives of Trizonesia', March Fox-trot, words and music: Karl Berbuer, Cologne 1948). Even up until this day, the war-time generation shows no difficulty in recalling this old tune out of the days of the airlift and monetary reform era. Back then, in 1949, the number was often requested in radio broadcasts and it became highly renown. It even ascended to the point of becoming a national anthem in its appearance at occasional international sporting events. Next to other national anthems the Trizonesia anthem was played in Cologne in 1949, for example. The song serves as an indication of how far the German people had displaced itself from the war, and as evidence that they could now laugh about their somewhat awkward position. The song is, musically speaking, a rather rough hewn march fox-trot. ¹⁸

'Wir sind die Eingeborenen von Trizonesien'

It should be remembered that these West German 'natives' were not yet actually citizens of a united federation, rather 'liberated' survivors. They were the defeated enemies of the allied forces. The east and west blocks were already taking form while siding up against each other. The west side was comprised of Americans, British and French, the east was occupied by the Soviets. Berlin became quartered into a quadrilateral power. A 'Trizonesian' then, should be understood as being a civilian who resides in one of the occupied zones of western Germany.
The Trizonesians are capable of producing only one short line in addressing the issues of the Nazi-era and in assessing it's consequences on their daily lives. 'The old days gone', throw them away, they only bother us, they must be forgotten. The 'world', on the same token, ought not to be bothered with these old sins, either. As if counting to three would make these wrongs disappear! Furthermore, we witness an ungracious treatment of our 'natives': a handful of diplomats issue license to operate political spheres as they please by creating zones and states at will. The word 'heut' ('now, today') in the original text provokes the listener into reconsidering the 'past'. Apparently things were different then? The pop text reveals here one of its most brilliant  (Freudian?) slips in its attempt at rewriting Germany's history of dictatorship and ruthless disregard of national sovereignty. The worst is yet to come in the refrain. It sends a shiver up one's spine when one encounters the blatant insensitivity held by these German 'Fasching jesters'. This becomes self-evident when considering the fact that after having violently murdered millions, that they can then state in a beer-invoked stupor that they are not cannibals! The contention that one is not a cannibal, already alludes to its converse. Must we not ask ourselves what these people did in order to have been called cannibals in the first place? Should not the Trizonesians perhaps expand on the idea by supplementing the original line, 'Yet actual cannibals we are not' with 'Even though we murdered millions: we are not cannibals!' The hymn evokes a reincarnation of the undiscovered German mystique: of an essentially good-natured being who wears a white hat. He additionally has much to offer the civilised world: Goethe, Beethoven and a highly refined culture. However, substituting these time-honoured achievements out of the German past with the cockeyed politically inspired aggressions of the war only shows an arrogant attempt at submitting to the bigoted colonial powers (the liberating armed forces) the message: We 'have culture as well as spirit, and of these nobody has more'. That means: We shall always be a worldly intellectual power to be reckoned with.
Would it be to bold to metaphorically associate 'Chinesia' in its symbolic reference to an obscure sense of foreignness with Judaism?  Are we to comprehend that this form of patriotism can only be accrued by setting oneself over and above other 'subhumans'? The text seems to illicit in its tone of hypocritical understatement the longing for creation of a new identity. Showing their 'pride' to an on-looking world, was for new German 'natives' a means of psycho-political survival.
The tune tinkers with similar substitute models in constructing a German identity like Friedrich Meinecke, the great-mind, who in his book, 'The German catastrophe' (l946) proposed taking a similar course (Kaes 1989, p.21). A Germanic revival could be salvaged out of the spirit of its classical tradition. A moral rearmament could be pursued, by staging Sunday afternoon 'Goethe ceremonies' on a weekly basis. Although German politicians and other statesmen were skilled in incorporating German intellectual achievements into contemporary settings (this was evident during the war, when low morals received a boost from the propaganda machine), this transfer took on a special amount of importance even after the war. Seen politically, Germany was a beaten nation, materially as well as ideologically. It seemed thus appropriate that the arts should al1ow the freedom necessary for articulating this newly won identity. The 'other' (=better) Germany should be al1owed to be presented - even if by concocting history anew in a neurotically suppressed form.
The Trizonesian song was intimately bound to its historical context, but it was able to stay popular for very 1ong. It could be properly surmised that in its function in exonerating guilt and in alleviating the strains of war it found its place in the charts. The song's reception, thus spelled the fol1owing: Germans were led to believe that they were al1owed to laugh again without being castigated. They felt, furthermore, sure that they were to be accepted into a world community where their humour, spirit and culture would again be appreciated.The validity of Tucholsky's statement becomes affirmed at this point in our inspection. Via analysis of post-war pop music, it can be said that one is al1owed introspection into deeper regions of German emotions. In pop music, German escapist tendencies take on some more definite characteristics. Hedged and metamorphic as it may seem in face of all the daily impediments met, a suppressed satisfaction over the prescribed peace becomes evident. Most importantly though, pop music serves as a mechanism in suppressing the undesired while attempting at the same time to build on the foundations of a new identity. The recent past stays relatively untouched. Participants of the song become cleared of any collective feelings of guilt they may have possessed during the war. Likened to an abandoned herd, the Germans wander astray in the desert north winds only to be protected by the heavens - an obvious case of victimisation.
An awkward construction reveals them as innocent and naïve primitives who nevertheless possess many sought-after cultural assets. We are led to believe that it is these cultural traditions and not the past barbarisms that should determine for us a picture of the present. In the meantime, a new 'foe' has materialised, against whom the staunch western alliance of the 'good'- to which of course the West Germans wished to belong -  began sharpening their instruments of aggression.
Numerous hits display an amazing willingness to compromise themselves for western tastes: the music is well received, the languages are learned, many terms or col1oquialisms become incorporated into the German language. And an ambient arrogance as well as a well-meaning comic effect never fail to accompany such acquisitions. A trace of condescension can also be sensed in this ambivalence, an ambivalence which allows the moral and catastrophic defeat to be more effectively psychically processed. The few critical, and some few self-critical tones were voiced out of the cabaret milieu. They went relatively unheard, however. A German mentality can perhaps be best inferred when one examines German post-war existence and how often ambivalent, vague and contradictory 'ghosts of the past' are brought back to life. Perhaps the most contradictory assertion can be stated thus: 'We are still the same old bunch!' (And this saying could basically also sum up what could be called good German tradition.)
At the beginning of the Fifties it appeared that pop messages were becoming tailored to fit the ideal world where everything seemed on the upswing. Even foes of the past become accomplices: 'Wenn ich will, stiehlt der Bill mit mir Pferde (Happy-happy Days)' ('When I Will, I Steal Horses With Bill', Jary/Balz 1950) sung by Vera Molnar and Gerhard Wendland in the film 'DIE DRITTE VON RECHTS' ('The Third From the Right', 1950). Does one hear in the 1952 hit 'Wir kommen alle in den Himmel' ('We All Come to Heaven', Schmitz/Feltz 1952) a hopeful sign?