Various Artists — German Drinking Songs (Recorded Live in Munich)

Author: tracysigler | Posted: October 4th, 2007 | | Tags: , , | 2 Comments »
Various Artists -- German Drinking Songs (Recorded Live in Munich)

Various Artists -- German Drinking Songs (Recorded Live in Munich)

  • Artist: Various Artists
  • Title: German Drinking Songs (Recorded Live in Munich)
  • Year: Timeless
  • Format: Vinyl 12 in.
  • Rating (1-10): 8
  • Owner: Tracy
  • Acquired: At some yard sale I think. Just got lucky.
  • Keeper: Yes

From the back cover:

“How to enjoy this album —

Pour yourself a stein of beer.

Put the record on the turn table and turn it on.

Sit down in a comfortable chair, take a sip of beer, close your eyes, and visualize this scene.

A small German village snuggled in a valley, surrounded by high snow capped mountains — a large circus tent pitched in the town square, completely encircled by stalls selling trinkets, games, and variations of German goods, sausages, and beer.

The sounds are those of thousands of people laughing, dancing, singing and in the tent are tables upon tables of happy beer drinkers, being served by waitresses dressed in traditional bavarian style, then weaving their way back for a refill — all the while the bands and singers are blaring forth with their intoxicating rhythms in three-quarter time.

For this is the traditional OKTOBERFEST, the most popular of all German Festivals.

Get the picture? — ENJOY.”

LEE PALMER

Take me there now! TAKE ME THERE NOW!

I’m celebrating all month long, maybe longer, at Siglerhaus and I have a couple apropos records that I’m going to share. German Drinking Songs (Recorded Live in Munich) has a number of classics. I love this record, even though everyone else finds it annoying. Maybe that makes me like it more. The good news for you is that there are a few copies on the German eBay. Don’t wait!

These are drinking songs but I have a feeling a couple are about world domination. I don’t Deutsches sprechen so that’s just a guess. This album contains the old classic “In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus” with the catchy chorus line “Eins, zwei… g’suffa!” That translates to something like “One, Two… Cheers.”

I use to work with a guy named Glen Council at a shipyard. Glen was a full-time professional model maker at the yard. I was only a model maker on an occasional, as needed, and sadly, temporary basis. There were only two of us. Glen rode a real chopper, not one of those goofy American Chopper theme bikes, or one of those sissy airbrushed trailer queens. This bike was legit. He also had a tubbed pro-street Camaro, three massive rottweilers, built clocks as a hobby, and played the flute. Yeah, he was that cool. I learned a lot about working with my hands from Glen. He was always cool under pressure.

One day Glen and I decided to call in sick later in the week, and go do something fun. We weren’t able to go the real Oktoberfest in München, but we did go to the Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, VA. “The Old Country.” From the moment we decided to play hooky Glen kept singing “Eins, zwei… g’suffa!” That dude couldn’t wait to get to Das Festhaus at Busch, get some brews, and listen to the live band play “In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus.” We also did the obligatory brewery tour and got our limit of free beer samples. All in all it was an excellent day of not working for the man.

“Visualize” that!

Here’s a great article about Hofbräuhaus and “In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus.” Read the whole thing.

This Youtube video is actually a still, but you can hear “In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus.” This version is not quite as rollicking as the live one on my record.