Songs

Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?

by Kurt Weill

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Translation

And what did the soldier’s wife get?
English translation © George Robarts

And what did the soldier’s wife get
From the old metropolis of Prague?
From Prague she got the high-heeled shoe,
And greetings too with the high-heeled shoe
That she got from the city of Prague.

And what did the soldier’s wife get
From Oslo upon the sound?
From Oslo she got the muffler of fur,
And hopefully the fur was good enough for her,
That she got from Oslo on the sound.

And what did the soldier’s wife get
From affluent Amsterdam?
From Amsterdam she got the hat
And how well it sat, the fetching Dutch hat
That she got from Amsterdam.

And what did the soldier’s wife get
From Brussels in the land of Belgium?
From Brussels she got the lace so rare,
And oh, to wear the lace so rare
That she got from the land of Belgium.

And what did the soldier’s wife get
From Paris, the city of lights?
From Paris she got the silken dress,
And the neighbours liked her less when they saw her in the dress
That she got from the city of lights.

And what did the soldier’s wife get
From southerly Bucharest?
From Bucharest she got the shirt
So exotically overt, the Romanian shirt
That she got from Bucharest.

And what did the soldier’s wife get
From the far-flung Russian lands?
From Russia she got the widow’s veil,
And the funeral mail with the widow’s veil
That she got from the Russian lands.

Composer

Kurt Weill

Kurt Julian Weill was a German Jewish composer best known for his collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. He studied under Ferruccio Busoni in the 1920s, at the Preußische Akademie der Künste in Berlin. He was part of the Novembergruppe, a leftist group…

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