"Es Ist An Der Zeit"

[Buenchico]

For those here who recognise that good music doesn't necessarily have to be in English, I give you Hannes Wader's "Es ist an der Zeit" ("It is Time"). He's joined here, in this beautiful rendition, by Reinhard Mey and Konstantin Wecker).

The song is worth listening to even if you don't understand the lyrics but it gains far greater poignancy if you do. So here's a rough (Google) translation of them:

"Far in the champagne in the midsummer green
Where poppies bloom between grave crosses
The grasses whisper and sway lightly
In the wind that gently strokes the burial ground
I find dead soldier on your cross
Not your name, just numbers and someone has
The number painted nineteen sixteen
And you weren't even nineteen

Yes, they lied to you in the same way
As they still do with us today
And you gave them everything:
Your strength, your youth, your life

Did you, dead soldier, ever love a girl?
Certainly not, because only where there is peace
Tenderness and trust can thrive
You were a soldier to die, not to be young
Maybe you thought to myself, I'll fall soon
Take my pleasure as it comes, by force
You were determined to do this, but then you did
Ashamed of yourself and never did it

Yes, they lied to you in the same way
As they still do with us today
And you gave them everything:
Your strength, your youth, your life

Soldier, did you go into death believing and fond?
Or you were too desperate, bitter, brutalized
Your real enemy not recognized until the end?
I hope you got a clean shot?
Or has a bullet torn your limbs?
Did you cry out to your mother until the very end?
Did you keep running on your leg stumps
And your grave, does it hold more than one leg, one hand?

Yes, they lied to you in the same way
As they still do with us today
And you gave them everything:
Your strength, your youth, your life

Only the cross remained as the only trace
Of your life, but hear my oath
To fight for peace and to be vigilant:
Does mankind fall for lies again?"
Then it can happen that soon nobody will be alive
Nobody who buries the billions of dead
But more and more people are ready
It's time to stop this war

[roopower]

Sorry, I'm sure its beautiful. I can listen to Italian, French and Spanish but this was a step too far. Thanks for posting though. Good to hear something different occasionally.