From: hs@cns.umist.ac.uk (Harold Somers)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Subject: german lyrics (was Re: Rutles' lyrics)
Date: 14 Apr 92 16:10:38 GMT
Organization: UMIST, Manchester, England.

In article <1992Apr13.090820.18276@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> mcodogno@isis.cs.du.edu (Maurizio  Codogno) writes:
>
>PS: I would also like to get the lyrics of _Sie liebt dich_ and _Komm, gib
>mir deine Hand_. Their German accent is horrible, and besides I do not
>know enough German...

Here's a letter I sent a while ago to The Beatles Book; they never published
it, so I never found out the answer... (though I did post this - or something
similar - to r.m.b. - because I remember some of the follow-up; so apols for
reposting, but it WAS a long time ago)

I know roughly the circumstances of these recordings, but I'd like to
know who did the translation, because it's quite ingenious although
not always faithful to the original. Especially in ``Sie liebt dich'',
where the German version reveals in the first line that the rival to
whom the `you' in the song has lost `her' love is none other than the
singer himself: `Du glaubst, sie liebt nur mich' (You think she loves
only me), which gives a whole new perspective on the song.


Secondly, I'd like to know who coached the boys in their German 
pronunciation, because it's really quite good, except that
	they say K for CH throughout (e.g. DICK for dich), even though the
	German `ch' sound (like in Scottish `loch') is widely found in
	Liverpudlian;

	they do not pronounce Z as TS (as in Komm_zu_mir in the first line
	of ``Komm gib mir deine Hand'' - zu should be TSOO not ZOO);
			   
	there are one or two vowels which are too English: LIBT for liebt
        - should rhyme with `beeped', not `bibbed'; A in getan rhyming with 
	`fan' instead of `shah';

	there is even what linguists call a Linking R, that is, pronouncing 
	the usually silent R at the end of a word (like `father') when the 
	next word begins with a vowel (this is typical of British English 
	pronunciation, and is also found when there is no R in the spelling, 
	as in `law and order' pronounced Laura Norder), but is not correct 
	for German: an example is Sie_denkt_ja_nur_an_dich in which they sing 
	nur an as rhyming with Duran but it should be more like NOAH AN. 

My German colleague says their pronunciation is much better in ``Komm gib 
mir deine Hand'' than in ``Sie liebt dich'', something which might be 
explained by the fact that in the former they recorded the vocals over 
the original backing track, whereas in the latter they started from scratch, 
and (presumably) played and sang at the same time. Listen for the (correct) 
pronounciation of Hand as HANT at the very end of the song!
 
KOMM GIB MIR DEINE HAND            Come, give me your hand

Ah komm doch, komm zu mir          Ah come on, come to me
Du nimmst mir den Verstand         You seem to understand me
Ah komm doch, komm zu mir          Ah come on, come to me
Komm gib mir deine Hand (3)        Come, give me your hand (3)
 
Oh du bist so scho"n               Oh you are so pretty
Scho"n wie ein Diamant             As pretty as a diamond
Ich bin mit dir gern               I like being with you
Komm gib mir deine Hand (3)        Come, give me your hand (3) 

In deinen Armen bin ich            In your arms I am happy and glad
   glu"cklich und froh  
Das war noch nie bei einer anderen With any other girl it was never
Einmal so (3)                      Once like this (3)

repeats

SIE LIEBT DICH                     She loves you

Sie liebt dich yeah yeah yeah (3)  She loves you yeah yeah yeah (3)

Du glaubst, sie liebt nur mich     You think she loves only me
Gestern hab' ich sie gesehen       I saw her yesterday
Sie denkt ja nur an dich           She's only thinking of you
Und du solltest zu ihr gehen       And you ought to go to her
Oh ja sie liebt dich,              Oh yes she loves you
Scho"ner kann es gar nicht sein    It really couldn't be nicer
Ja sie liebt dich                  Yes she loves you
Und da solltest du dich freuen     And you should be glad about that
Du hast ihr weh getan              You hurt her
Sie wusste nicht warum             She didn't know why
Du warst nicht schuld daran        It wasn't your fault
Und drehtest dich nicht um         And you didn't turn back
Chorus
Denn mit dir allein                Because alone/only with you
Kann sie nur glu"cklich sein       She can only be happy
Du musst jetzt zu ihr gehen        You must go to her now
Entschuldig dich bei ihr           Apologize to her
Ja das wird sie verstehen          Yes she will understand that
Und dann verzeiht sie dir          And then she'll forgive you
Chorus
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