Schunkelwalzer

It was what the Germans call a Schunkelwalzer, the kind of song to sing while buoyed up on Rhine wine, with a fraulein on either side, swaying to the music. It first turned up at the Cologne Carnival in 1935, called Du Kannst Nicht Treu Sein. Too brassy for smart dance orchestras (which have always stuck more to stickier tunes like Lili Marleen), village orchestras and brass bands blared it out, with a strong pair of lungs on the trumpet and a heavy hand on the drum. By the time the Germans invaded Poland, even the barrel organs had given it up.

Last week, the Schunkelwalzer--in English, You Can't Be True, Dear--was the U.S.'s top tune according to Billboard magazine's weekly poll. Last year, a Chicago organist named Ken Griffin had. recorded it, thinking it was an old folk tune. A record distributer looked it up, discovered it was only twelve years old, and held by the U.S. Office of Alien Property. Its big royalties now go to the U.S. Government. That would make little difference to its German composers: Tunesmith Hans Otten was dead; Lyricist Gerhard Ebeler had dropped from sight.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.