Klabund
(Nach Carl Michael Bellman):

Das Notabene

Holt mir Wein in vollen Krügen!
(Notabene: Wein vom Sundgau)
Und ein Weib soll bei mir liegen!
(Notabene: eine Jungfrau)
Ewig hängt sie mir am Munde.
(Notabene: eine Stunde...)

Ach, das Leben lebt sich lyrisch
(Notabene: wenn man jung ist),
Und es duftet so verführisch
(Notabene: wenn's kein Dung ist),
Ach, wie leicht wird hier erreicht doch
(Notabene: ein Vielleicht noch...)

Laß die Erde heiß sich drehen!
(Notabene: bis sie kalt ist)
Deine Liebste, sollst du sehen
(Notabene: wenn sie alt ist...)
Lache, saufe, hure, trabe –
(Notabene: bis zum Grabe).

Klabund
(After Carl Michael Bellman):

Notabene

Bring me wine in fullest measure!
(Notabene: Rhinewine splurgin')
And a woman for my pleasure!
(Notabene: still a virgin)
Always blooms for me her flower.
(Notabene: for one hour...)

Lyrical the life pre-empting
(Notabene: in the young days),
When it smells so awful tempting
(Notabene: if no dung stays),
Oh, how easy to agree yet
(Notabene: a maybe bet...)

Keep the fiery earth a-spinning!
(Notabene: until tepid)
And my love I shall be winning
(Notabene: when decrepit...)
Laughing, boozing, whoring, hurried -
(Notabene: until buried).

---

Klabund was the nom de plume of Alfred Henschke (1890-1928), a kindred spirit to Sweden's famous poet, composer and carouser Carl Michael Bellman (1740-1795).

"Sundgau", they tell me, refers to a region in Southern Alsace. However, this Upper Rhine region produces no wine (just delicious carp)! Perhaps Klabund was after the "Jungfrau" with his rhyming. "Sundgau" and "Jungfrau" do produce a slant rhyme in German. Like the wine and the virgin that, well, quite weren't.

Bellman's poem refers to wine from the Rhine valley - "hock" for the non-discriminating - and that's what I finally used for the translation.

Since it threw me a few more curve balls, I got an old friend of mine to bat for me. Thanks to him, you can now have a look at Bellman's original poem with its authentic translation into German.