About "mermaids"

RLynn

Active Member
I was listening to the song and my 3 year old asked me to turn it off; he said it was scary:oops:I liked it:)
There is a somewhat disturbing sense of loneliness and isolation about the tune because the melody largely consists of descending scales. For sure it ain't Jingle Bells. :) It's gratifying when a 3 year old has a sensitivity to music. :)
 

RLynn

Active Member
It is interesting that Heinrich Heine was Jewish and, although he seemed so perfectly to understand the German attitude toward the old legends, he did not personally share exactly the same nostalgia. The references to the "golden hair" and "golden comb" of the Lorelei were likely sarcastic. Yet, my understanding is that the German people accepted this poem (and others) so lovingly that the Nazi's, when they gained power, did not dare censor performances of the song. Like the song itself, there was both beauty and sorrow in it's creation and history.
 

RLynn

Active Member
......
In his little boat, the boatman
Is seized with a savage woe,
He'd rather look up at the mountain
Than down at the rocks below.

I think that the waves will devour
The boatman and boat as one;
And this by her song's sheer power
Fair Lorelei has done.
I have just now realized that my German lit teacher was probably hinting at the possibility that Heine may have been alluding to the collapse of the notion of German supremacy, the alluring myth (of golden Aryan superiority) leading to it's ultimate, inevitable demise.
I wish I could be back in her class right now! (That was a looooong time ago. She might even be dead by now. Aaaarrrggh!:() I had a minor crush on her, even though she had buck teeth. :)
 
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