Erlebnis | Ich fuhr einmal durch Baltimore

by Countee Cullen (1903 - 1946)

Translation Singable translation by Josef Luitpold Stern (1886 - 1966)

Incident

Language: English

Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee;
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.

Text Authorship:

by Countee Cullen (1903 - 1946), "Incident" [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Incident", 2007 [ medium voice and piano ], from Five Poems of Countée Cullen, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Tom Cipullo (b. 1960), "Incident", 2000 [ voice and piano ], from Climbing: 7 Songs on 8 Poems by African-Americans, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Kurt Pahlen (1907 - 2003), "Incident" [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Josef Luitpold Stern (1886 - 1966) , "Erlebnis", subtitle: "nach Countee Cullen" ; composed by Kurt Pahlen.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-10-12
Line count: 12
Word count: 67

Erlebnis

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Ich fuhr einmal durch Baltimore,
O Knabenglück und Maienlicht,
Ein weißer Junge neben mir,
Der sah mir ins Gesicht.

Acht Jahre waren beide wir
Ich ohne Argwohn lach' ihm zu.
Da streckt er seine Zunge aus:
"Verdammter Nigger, du!"
Ich habe Baltimore geseh'n
Vom Fliederblüh'n zum Flockenschnei'n,
Von allem, was auch sonst gescheh'n,
Fällt stets nur dies mir ein . . .

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Text Authorship:

Singable translation by Josef Luitpold Stern (1886 - 1966), "Erlebnis", subtitle: "nach Countee Cullen" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in English by Countee Cullen (1903 - 1946), "Incident"
- Go to the text page.

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

by Kurt Pahlen (1907 - 2003), "Erlebnis" [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2018-01-04
Line count: 12
Word count: 62