FAWM: "Die Städte von Deutschland"

Die Städte von Deutschland

3 weeks ago by @gmcgath

Die Städte von Deutschland

gmcgath

00:00

Liner Notes

Since @marilisa did a song in German, I feel I have to too. This is a short thing comparing the qualities of various cities in Germany and concluding that the best one is wherever my friends are. It seemed to call for a very simple folk-like tune, so that's what I gave it.

German isn't my native language. Hopefully there are no important errors.
#filk #german

Lyrics

Die Städte von Deutschland
Lyrics and music: Gary McGath, Copyright 2025

Wenn ich nach Deutschland fahre,
Muss ich fragen, "Erst, wohin?"
Denn so viele schöne Städte
Hab' ich gerne in dem Sinn.
Wenn ich Zeit für alle hätte,
Wäre das 'ne schöne Tour,
Aber ich muss etwas wählen,
Welche ist die beste Spur?

Ein Wunderland in Hamburg,
In Berlin sind die Museen,
Nürnberg hat so viel Geschichte,
Und in Köln, den Dom zu sehen.
Bremen hat die Musikanten,
Und in München, warmen Wind,
Doch die allerbeste Stadt ist
Die, wo meine Freunde sind.

Comments

@dukemeyer 1d

Du singst wunderschön! Und Dein Deutsch ist sehr gut!

@willlll 1d

Old timey German song without a translation feels like a gamble. Fortunately this is a nice one. Good work

@akeli 4d

Hi @gmcgath your song has very good German! And I like the last two lines a lot! Maybe in the line ‚Muss ich fragen, "Erst, wohin?" one would say this instead: ‚Muss ich fragen erst: „Wohin?“. Also I would change details like „Und in Köln den Dom ansehen“; „Und in München warmer Wind“. „Hab ich gern in meinem Sinn“. Something I have not heard before is this particular rhyming of „Spur“ and „Tour“ - typical would be to say something like „wohin führt die Reise nur?“ But it’s absolutely „sayable“ how you phrase it. „Und in Leipzig muss man Bach hörn“ ;-)

@gmcgath 2w

@janeg Ich auch!

@janeg 2w

I was enjoying this throughout but the best two lines are at the end. Ich werde dorthin gehen, wo meine deutschen Freunde sind, wenn ich im Oktober zu Besuch bin.

@karan 2w

Ach, ist das schön! Da hast Du Dir wirklich eine exzellente Reise ausgedacht. Und die Musik erinnert mich an deutsche Lieder aus dem 19. Jahrhundert. (Dein Deutsch ist übrigens sehr gut!)

@edwinb 2w

Excellent, some more German listening practice! And I think I even understood it :). Nice tune, and a good one for a German filk con, surely.

@fairplay 2w

…great song! - great presentation! - and very nice lyrics - well done, i like it…

edit:
…hmmm? - after reading your comment in a thread that you think that some people commenting on your works might not actually have listened to your songs i checked my comment again, and i can see why you might think that it is ‚generic‘; for me ‚the thing‘ is that if i comment too detailed i will tell more about me and my perception than about what i am commenting on. So to avoid telling too much about things that do not really relate to the song i try to point out two-to-four things that stood out for me in keywords and let the artist know how much i liked the work…but i listen to works i leave comments for…sometimes i listen more than once…