The little lad | There was a nasty, little lad

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

Translation © by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)

Der kleine Junge

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Es war ein kleiner, böser Junge
Der zeigte jedermann die Zunge,
Ging statt zur Schule auf die Straße
Und drehte allen eine Nase.
Als seine Eltern beide tot,
Kam er in bitterliche Not.
Und lebt nun -- weil er sonst nichts kann --
Als armer Leierkastenmann.

Text Authorship:

by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz [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 kleine Junge", 2008 [medium voice and piano], from Kleine Wesen, no. 13 [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "The little lad", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-09
Line count: 8
Word count: 44

The little lad

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

There was a nasty, little lad
Who stuck his tongue out, which was bad.
On his way to go to school
He did those things both rude and cruel.
And as an orphan, he thought he would
Get away with what he could.
But for this -- for he learned the worst --
To be a poor organ grinder he was cursed.

Text Authorship:

by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The little lad", copyright © 2008, (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
- Go to the text page.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-14
Line count: 8
Word count: 60