Building Song of the FDJ | No one labours gladly, but we know

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by Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Keiner plagt sich gerne, doch wir wissen

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Keiner plagt sich gerne, doch wir wissen:
Grau ist's immer, wenn ein Morgen naht
Und trotz Hunger, Kält und Finternissen
Stehn zum Handanlegen wir parat.
     Fort mit den Trümmern
     Und was Neues hingebaut!
     Um uns selber müssen wir uns selber kümmern
     Und heraus gegen uns, wer sich traut!

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Text Authorship:

by Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956), no title, appears in Aufbaulieder, no. 1, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, first published 1981 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Paul Dessau (1894 - 1979), "Aufbaulied der FDJ", 1950 [ voice, orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Building Song of the FDJ", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2011-05-31
Line count: 8
Word count: 48

Building Song of the FDJ

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

No one labours gladly, but we know:
It is always grey when a morning approaches
And despite hunger, cold and darknesses
We stand ready to set our hands to the task.
    Away with the rubble
    And let us build something new in its place!
    We must look after ourselves by ourselves
    And let whoever dares, try to oppose us!

FDJ (Freie Deutsche Jugend - Free German Youth) was an organization of East Germany. See http://www.fdj.de/FDJ_Homepage_08/Seiten/Startseite.html (outside link)

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2014 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956), no title, appears in Aufbaulieder, no. 1, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, first published 1981
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-04-16
Line count: 8
Word count: 59