The ants | The were two ants in Hamburg

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by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz

Translation © by Linda Godry

Die Ameisen

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

In Hamburg lebten zwei Ameisen,
Die wollten nach Australien reisen.
Bei Altona auf der Chaussee,
Da taten ihnen die Beine weh,
Und da verzichteten sie weise
Dann auf den letzten Teil der Reise.

    So will man oft und kann doch nicht
    Und leistet dann recht gern Verzicht.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• H. Große-Schware

H. Große-Schware sets stanza 1

Text Authorship:

by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz, "Die Ameisen", appears in Die Schnupftabacksdose - Stumpfsinn in Versen, first published 1912 [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), "Die Ameisen", 2009 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Hermann Große-Schware (b. 1931), "Die Ameisen", stanza 1 [ men's chorus a cappella ], from Von allerlei Getier I, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Lionel Rogg (b. 1936), "Die Ameisen", published 2007 [ soprano and piano ], from Wellen. Sieben Lieder für Sopran und Klavier, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Linda Godry) , "The ants", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Linda Godry

This text was added to the website: 2008-12-23
Line count: 8
Word count: 47

The ants

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

The were two ants in Hamburg,
who desired to travel to Australia.
When they reached the Highway near Altona¹,
their legs were hurting,
and wisely they abandoned
the final bit of their journey.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Altona: the western part of Hamburg.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2008 by Linda Godry, (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 Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz, "Die Ameisen", appears in Die Schnupftabacksdose - Stumpfsinn in Versen, first published 1912
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2008-12-30
Line count: 6
Word count: 35