A yellow lemon | There was a yellow lemon

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

Translation © by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)

Es war eine gelbe Zitrone

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Es war eine gelbe Zitrone,
Die lag unter einer Kanone,
Und deshalb bildete sie sich ein,
Eine Kanonenkugel zu sein.
Der Kanonier im ersten Glied,
Der merkte aber den Unterschied.

Bemerkt sei noch zu diesem Lied,
Ein Unterschied ist kein Oberschied.

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Text Authorship:

by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz, no title, 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), "Eine gelbe Zitrone", 2006 [ medium voice or high voice and piano ], from Strumpfsinn Lieder, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "A yellow lemon", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-05-12
Line count: 8
Word count: 41

A yellow lemon

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

There was a yellow lemon,
That lay under a cannon,
And therefore imagined itself
To be a cannon ball.
The artilleryman of the first rank
Noticed the difference.

Take notice of this in this song,
A difference is no great divergence of opinion.

Text Authorship:

by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "A yellow lemon", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz, no title, appears in Die Schnupftabacksdose - Stumpfsinn in Versen, first published 1912
- Go to the text page.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 43