What songs would you have heard in a Berlin Cabaret in the mid 30's????

[Blackjack]

I've always been fascinated with the thought of being in a Berlin nightclub in the mid-thirties. What would have been a top 20 list of songs that would have been popular? Would there have been any cross over with American music at that time like Ellington and Armstrong?

 

[Saint-Just]

Joel Grey's...

[video=youtube;_D7AebhY4qg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D7AebhY4qg[/video]









I'll get my coat.

More seriously, I believe that jazz came to continental Europe with the GIs.

 

[Miss Moonlight]

There's an album/CD called Berlin by Night that might be what you're looking for.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Berlin-Night-Various-Artists/dp/B000026GPJ

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Siegfried Arno -- Was Kann Das Sigismund Dafür, Dass Er Schön Ist? (1930)
with Marek Weber und sein Orchester

[video=youtube;0EihQHmFcdQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EihQHmFcdQ[/video]

Tanzorchester Dajos Bela -- Ich Brauch' Für Sonntag Eine Neue Braut (1928)
(I Need A New Bride For Sunday)

[video=youtube;BbgQHOL_uhU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbgQHOL_uhU&feature=related[/video]

 

[Blackjack]

Thank you Miss Moonlight. thats just what I was looking for!!!!

 

[Shangas]

Jazz and English music was banned under the Nazis, I believe, so I doubt you'd hear very much. The time to be going to Berlin for a night out was during the Weimar Republic of the mid-late 1920s, early 1930s. By 1935, Hitler was beginning to shut everything down. A lot of the music performed in Germany was not American or British, it was German or French. And a lot of the songwriters and musicians were Jewish. So they fled the country in droves between 1933-1939. Those who didn't flee either went into hiding or more likely, died in the death camps.

I would suggest going to YouTube and looking up a band called Max Raabe & Palast Orchester (Max Raabe and The Palace Orchestra) a German swing-band that's bringing back Weimar Republic-era German pop-music of the 1920s and 30s. Here's some of their tracks. Raabe is quite a singer...

"Mein Kleiner Gruner Kaktus" ("My Little Green Cactus"), a popular German pop-song from 1934...
[video=youtube;qB1_DDv7iF0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB1_DDv7iF0[/video]

"Bei Mir Bist Du Schorn"
[video=youtube;KuNkwmNdv90]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuNkwmNdv90[/video]

He also does covers of English songs, here's "You're the Cream in My Coffee", a popular song from 1928 (and one of my favourites):
[video=youtube;21yzXbPGhWc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21yzXbPGhWc&feature=related[/video]

...and another popular 1930s number, "Over My Shoulder":
[video=youtube;ty63-KhGKzc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty63-KhGKzc&feature=related[/video]

"Cheek to Cheek":
[video=youtube;zNBxJMg28OQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNBxJMg28OQ&feature=related[/video]

 

[HadleyH]

Probably this song from 1932 would have also been heard in a cabaret, it was very popular!..."Richard Forst - Wenn ich sonntags in mein Kino geh..."



[video=youtube;GLjxss-_-RU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxss-_-RU&feature=related[/video]

 

[Harp]

Probably this song from 1932 would have also been heard in a cabaret, it was very popular!..."Richard Forst - Wenn ich sonntags in mein Kino geh..."

und nein Du bist schone?

 

[Shangas]

German cabaret and jazz clubs really died out by the mid-1930s. From the 20s to about 1934/5, things were sweet, but the rise of Nazism really killed off the German music-scene. Like I explained, a lot of the popular German jazz-tunes of the 20s and 30s were all written by Jewish songwriters and musicians. Not only did the musicians and songwriters have to flee with the rise of Nazism, but all their music was destroyed. It became illegal to perform, purchase or play "non-Aryan" music. One of the songs I included up there, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen", was written and composed by a pair of Jewish men for a stage musical. It became wildly popular throughout Europe and beyond during the early 1930s (1932 specifically) and it even survived into the Nazi era, but when the Nazis found out that the song was created by Jews, it was immediately banned...

 

[BinkieBaumont]

[video=youtube;GXu4P6KpoLU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXu4P6KpoLU[/video]

Sounding a little like the 'Muppets" theme

 

[Shangas]

It's time to play the music,
It's time to light the lights,
It's time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight!
(bum-bum-bum...)
It's time to put on makeup,
It's time to dress up right,
It's time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight!...

[video=youtube;Uh_aG5MzPVM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh_aG5MzPVM&feature=related[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Didn't look at the previous page but it looks like someone posted Ich Brauche Keine Millionen. Practically everybody compares it to the Muppet Show theme. :rofl:

 

[Shangas]

Just remember that it was Binkie who did it. I merely provided the reference...

 

[vitanola]

I'll get my coat.

More seriously, I believe that jazz came to continental Europe with the GIs.

With the Doughboys, actually. Jim Europe's 365 Infantry band made quite a sensation in France and Belgium in 1918 and 1919' as did the little recording band, made up of
American soldiers "L'Orcheste Scrap-Iron Jazzerinos" who were recorded iParis by Pathe in early 1919.

jazz music particularly American jazz music was all the rage in Europe from the early 1920's onward. I have records taken in Warsaw, Kaliningrad and Berlin dating to the early 1920,s
which are creditable examples of more-or-less successful attempts at recreating Jazz. American musicians could always be certain of a warm welcome (and remunerative employment) in any of the larger cities on the Continent, and a fir number of really good though sometimes idiosyncratic local bands sprang into being, groups like the Belgian Charles Ramue and his Stompers, or the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. All of this activity long presaged Lend-Lease, let alone the arrival of our boys.

 

[scotrace]

Probably not much swing music.

 

[Mahagonny Bill]

Ute Lemper - Berlin Cabaret Songs

Ute Lemper has a great collection of Weimar era cabaret songs in two versions:

Lyrics in German


Lyrics in English


I have both since I love the songs in the original German, but I also like to play the songs in English so that others can hear the political lyrics.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

John Brigs und sein Jazzensemble -- My Golden Baby (1931)
featured in the operetta Die Blume von Hawaii

[video=youtube;PSOGvwGsYgM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSOGvwGsYgM[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Lilian Harvey & Willi Fritsch -- Ich Tanze Mit Dir In Den Himmel Hinein

[video=youtube;U5MdEEYafC4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5MdEEYafC4&feature=related[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Brigitte Mira
Brigitte Mira (1910-2005) was a German actress and singer whose career encompassed stage, cabaret, film, and television. She would achieve greater popularity in her later years when she appeared in a number of films directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Was Machst Du Mit Dem Knie, Lieber Hans? (1925)
(What Do You Do With Your Knee, Dear Hans?)

[video=youtube;NzZSMnVsuvg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzZSMnVsuvg[/video]

Wo Sind Deine Haare August? (1926)
(Where Is Your Hair, August?)

[video=youtube;CsPPU6-SVdk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsPPU6-SVdk[/video]

Die Männer Sind Alle Verbrecher (1943)
(Men Are All Criminals)

[video=youtube;vQm93OJ3XHw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQm93OJ3XHw&feature=related[/video]