Internationale : Lyrics in English anyone ?
Yon Bonnie Laird of Cairn Robbing
Howdy!
I've got the Billy Bragg version of the Internationale, but it seems to be
missing something. Could some kind sould out there supply a copy of the
original English lyrics?
Thanks.
jeff
for ~.sig. see plan.............
Graham Walker, 227 West Old Main,268-3847,
> (Yon Bonnie Laird of Cairn Robbing) writes:
>
>>I've got the Billy Bragg version of the Internationale, but it seems to be
>>missing something. Could some kind sould out there supply a copy of the
>>original English lyrics?
>
of his albums that are out at the moment, he is a little less funny than
say Hamish Imlach, but is also a little less "gushie".
The album with the Internationale is called "North by North"; it also
has "Bandiera Rosa"(sp?) on it.
GW
Daniel Rosenblum
(Yon Bonnie Laird of Cairn Robbing) writes:
>I've got the Billy Bragg version of the Internationale, but it seems to be
>missing something. Could some kind sould out there supply a copy of the
>original English lyrics?
The original lyrics were written in French by Eugene Pottier, with
tune by one DeGeyter, a few years after the defeat of the Commune of
Paris. The English translation that is best known is stilted, which
is why Pete Seeger has for years been asking for someone to
retranslate the French into English. Billy Bragg's version is nice,
but he does change some aspects of the meaning of the song. Here's
the first verse and refrain of the "standard" English translation,
from memory:
Arise, ye prisoners of starvation!
Arise, ye wretched of the earth!
For justice thunders condemnation --
A better world's in birth.
No more tradition's chains shall bind us --
Arise, ye slaves, no more in thrall!
The earth shall rise on new foundations --
We have been naught, we shall be all.
'Tis the final conflict --
Let each stand in his place.*
The ************** shall be the human race.
'Tis the final conflict --
Let each stand in his place.*
The ************** shall be the human race.
*This is often changed into sex-neutral language these days.
************** This varies depending on the particular allegiances of
the singer. I THINK (but I'm not sure) that the original here was
just "The Internationale shall be ...". I've heard Communists sing it
as "The international working class shall be ..." and I seem to recall
that the Wobblies (the Industrial Workers of the World) have something
else in their little red song book, which, by the way, I think has the
rest of the verses. I'm sure that various Trotskyist and Maoist groups
change this in subtle ways (I seem to recall hearing someone once sing
"The international proletariat ...") to accord with hair-splitting
distinctions in meaning that seem to make a huge difference to certain
sectarian leftists.
--
Daniel M. Rosenblum, Assistant Professor, Quantitative Studies Area,
Graduate School of Management, Rutgers University (Newark Campus)
ROSE...@DRACO.RUTGERS.EDU ROSE...@ZODIAC.BITnet
d...@andromeda.rutgers.edu ...!rutgers!andromeda.rutgers.edu!dmr
Joseph C Fineman
(She probably learned it from a Stalinist friend.) I have also heard,
or seen, "The International party".
Joe
--
Joe Fineman j...@world.std.com
239 Clinton Road (617) 731-9190
Brookline, MA 02146
Daniel Rosenblum
>The way I heard it from my mother was "The International Soviet"!
>(She probably learned it from a Stalinist friend.) I have also heard,
>or seen, "The International party".
Which reminds me of the amusing variant on the refrain to
Woody Guthrie's "Union Maid" that I once heard:
Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union, that Soviet Union,
Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.