Thanks a Lot!

Yesterday, I was thanking Joyce for something (there's always something!), and, for a reason I can't define, I leapt back to German I (Hiram High School, 1959-60) and said, "Danke schön."

At which time that old song--"Danke Schön"--popped into my head, where it has reigned ever since. (Perhaps this post will expel it?!?)

For those of you who don't know/remember/recognize the song, here's a link to YouTube so you can see/hear it. I had totally forgotten who had sung it--and was surprised to see that it was the young Wayne Newton, who in 1963 (the year of release) was a mere 21 years old. (He's still alive; do the math.) It reached #13 on the charts that year, but it seems as if it was on the damn radio all the time.

I was a freshman in college that year (1962-63) and was taking German 101 (got an A, if you want to know). My teacher was John Bohi, who, to my delight (and later regret), taught the course in English. I had started German, as I said, back at Hiram High with Mr. Brunelle; then he retired, and I took German II from Mrs. Grace Hurd (who, like Mr. Brunelle, conducted the course in English). I was happy about all that English-stuff until later, when I realized I couldn't really speak the language very well--or carry on a conversation of much consequence.

In the 1982-83 school year I taught German I and II at Aurora High School (and was also enrolled in a "refresher" course at Akron U). I was incompetent. And terrified (I had a couple of terrific students, and, as I've written elsewhere, I feared Parents' Night when I was sure someone from the Old Country was going to start reeling off German and expecting a reply somewhat more complicated than "Ja" or "Ich auch."

I visited Germany a couple of times. In 1999 I was there for a few days visiting some sites related to Mary Shelley and Frankenstein. (I was able to order, sans translation, a wonderful sundae at the restaurant that now stands among the ruins of Castle Frankenstein!).

I'd been there a few years earlier, too, doing some Anne Frank research; I visited the site of Bergen-Belsen, where she died in 1945, not long before the liberation of the camp. There, I saw a film about the camp, and I wanted to buy a copy to show my students. I approached the information area, and, in my most amazing German, said, "Kann man diesen Film kaufen?" ("Can you buy this film?") (I'm pretty sure I didn't say any of it right--or construct the question correctly.)

The attendant looked at me as if I were, you know, something to worry about. And then said--in flawless English: "No, this film is not for sale."

I found this to be the case throughout Germany (and the Netherlands, by the way): People spoke great English.

And in the early 1990s when, amid my Jack London obsession, I was hiking the Chilkoot Trail between Dyea, Alaska, and Lake Bennett (in the Yukon), I joined up after the first day with a young German man, Joachim Altvater (he insisted on "Joe"), who'd recently completed his military commitment. I tried some German on him. He said--in flawless English: "Let's stick to English."

Good idea.

I did feel superior a little farther down the trail, though, when he couldn't think of the English word for magnify. And I supplied it. Very quickly.

And here are the lyrics to "Danke Schön"--and Bert Kaempfert wrote the lyrics!

Danke Schoen

Wayne Newton

Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen

Thank you for all the joy and pain

Picture shows, second balcony was the place we'd meet

Second seat, go Dutch treat, you were sweet

Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen

Save those lies, darling don't explain

I recall Central Park in fall

How you tore you dress, what a mess, my heart says danke schoen

Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen

Thank you for walks down Lover's Lane

I can see hearts carved on a tree

Letters intertwined for all time

Yours and mine, that was fine

Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen

Thank you for seeing me again

Though we go on our separate ways

Still the memory stays for always

My heart says danke schoen

Danke schoen, my darling, danke schoen

I said thank you for, hmm, seeing me again

Though we go our separate ways

Still the memory stays for always

My heart says danke schoen

Danke schoen, auf wiedersehen

Danke schoen.

Songwriters: Bert Kaempfert / Kurt Schwabach / Milt Gabler

Danke Schoen lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC