The contented suitor | My sweet girlfriend has a black pussy-cat

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by Hugo Salus (1866 - 1929)

Translation © by Martha Elliott

Der genügsame Liebhaber

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG ENG FRE LIT

Meine Freundin hat eine schwarze Katze 
Mit weichem knisterndem Sammetfell,
Und ich, ich hab' eine blitzblanke Glatze,
Blitzblank und glatt und silberhell.

Meine Freundin gehört zu den üppigen Frauen,
Sie liegt auf dem Divan das ganze Jahr,
Beschäftigt das Fell ihrer Katze zu krauen,
Mein Gott ihr behagt halt das sammtweiche Haar. 

Und komm' ich am Abend die Freundin besuchen,
So liegt die Mieze im Schoße bei ihr,
Und nascht mit ihr von dem Honigkuchen
Und schauert, wenn ich leise ihr Haar berühr.

Und will ich mal zärtlich tun mit dem Schatze,
Und daß sie mir auch einmal "Eitschi" macht,
Dann stülp' ich die Katze auf meine Glatze,
Dann streichelt die Freundin die Katze und lacht.

Text Authorship:

by Hugo Salus (1866 - 1929) [author's text not yet checked 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), "Der genügsame Liebhaber", 2009 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg (1874 - 1951), "Der genügsame Liebhaber", 1901, from Brettl-Lieder, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Martha Elliott) , "The contented suitor", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "L'amoureux facile à satisfaire", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Santūrus meilužis", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Pilar Lirio

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 116

The contented suitor

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

My sweet girlfriend has a black pussy-cat
With soft fur, rustling and velvety,
And I, I have a shiny bald spot,
Shiny and slick and silvery.

My girlfriend's a lady of the voluptuous sort,
She lies on the sofa the whole year round,
Quite busily stroking the cat's fur for sport,
My God, how she dotes on that soft furry mound.

And when I at evening a visit make,
Then I hear the cat on her lap loudly purr,
While nibbling with her from the honey cake,
It trembles whenever I stroke its fur.

And if I desire to cares my darling
So that she might say "kitchie koo" to me,
Then I place the pussy upon my bald spot
So my girlfriend then pets it and laughs with glee.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2003 by Martha Elliott, (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 Hugo Salus (1866 - 1929)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 130