CatsandJammer

Long hair appreciation.

Meine Schwester liebt den Buster [My Sister Loves Buster]

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/N84NZZlg1QA

In 1928, Friedrich Hollaender [little guy to Buster’s right in photo] wrote a cabaret tune, “Meine Schwester liebt den Buster”. After I found this video, I was determined to get, on my own, an English translation of the lyrics. After jumping through many hoops – including using a Portuguese translation, which was the only form of the lyrics I could find online, and running them through a few online translators – I think I have the gist. It’s really amusing, especially when you consider how aptly it describes many of the tumblr Keaton fandom, including me!

[Photo of Buster with Hollaender, circa 1930]

Enjoy:

My sister’s lost her way. She’s insensitive. Oh, very modern! She couldn’t care less about love or men. People even think she’s got a slight tilt to the other side. Unfortunately it’s not like that. She only has “it” when she goes to the movies!

[Chorus]:  Because my sister is in love with Buster Keaton, and she sees him in all men! And all men are nothing compared to Keaton, and that’s why she watches him every day. No man can compare to Buster, and she idolizes him year after year! My sister loves Buster Keaton and get this – more than Chaplin!

My sister’s lost her way. She spends on Buster to her last cent. And she also says, “With dick*, it’s not the same thing, not even half the effect!” Oh, that sister of mine, you will laugh. She does the melancholic line just because Buster is melancholic. Then she buys several pictures of him and devours them with salt and pepper!

[Chorus]

Oh, that sister of mine…words escape me… She doesn’t need pleasure to feel pleasure… She is so disturbed and perverse, as the youth of today must be… God! She’s so bleak, so sensual, so stubborn, so full of ennui. But she’s like a silly little bird that craves the Rothschild fortune! Because…

[Chorus]

Anyway. Hi, native German speaker here - no idea if somebody went over the translation already, but if not, allow me. You did mostly get the gist, but I’m a perfectionist, I guess.

(honorable mention to my weird-ass brain: I normally really dislike German, but I listened to this, and a little voice piped up: “this? This is beautiful. True Art™”. It’s the kind of music I loved more than anything as a kid, sure, but still - brain, nooooo.)

It’s still a bit rough, mostly because I couldn’t be arsed, and also because 1920′s and 30′s song texts are notoriously hard to translate for some reason, “some reason” probably having a lot to do with the very dense rhymes, wordplays, outdated idioms and a certain cadence that just doesn’t work in English.

Anyway, here you go:

There’s nothing to be done about my sister, she’s emotionless, oh how modern. She’s interested in a thousand things, but not in love and not in men. You might think she’s got the slightest, faintest inclination towards the other side (read as: men), but sadly you’d be mistaken - only the cinema screen excites her

(Chorus) My sister loves Buster Keaton (literally “loves the Buster, loves the Keaton,” but “the+name” isn’t really a thing in English like it is in German) and she sees him in every man. All the other men are losers next to Keaton and she watches him every day. All the other men are losers compared to Buster (yes, it’s the same thing again, just with a different rhyme and the fact that those don’t work in English annoys me), and she swoons over him from new year to new year’s eve (so, every dang day of the year) My sister loves Buster Keaton and she prefers him over Chaplin!

There’s nothing to be done about my sister, she’d spend her last penny for Buster (and if she goes to the cinema every day to watch him, she’ll probably have to, anyway) She says, “With dick it’s just not the same, not even half the effect!”  (okay, fun thing there: In the version you linked, it really does sound like that. In every other version of the lyrics I could find, it’s “with [insert-name-of-other-actor-here]”. No idea if somebody had some fun there at some point or if everybody just misunderstood the singer (her German sounds good, but not perfect)… I’ll just leave it at that) Oh, that sister of mine, you’d be amazed (”you’ll laugh” is literally correct, but idioms, you know…). She does the melancholic line just because Buster is melancholic. (sure, let’s keep that one) She buys all his photos (ALL the photos \o/) and devours them with salt and pepper (very much figuratively of course)

(Chorus)

Oh, that sister of mine, words escape me (verses, technically speaking, but why not) She doesn’t need pleasure to feel pleasure (that sounds so clunky in English, but I don’t have a better option, really. Maybe “she doesn’t need pleasure for her enjoyment”, or “she doesn’t need pleasure to be pleasured *nudge nudge wink wink*”) She is so sick and perverse, as kids these days are wont to be (very freely translated, of course, but “die Jugend von heute” very much carries that same get-off-my-lawn-young-whippersnapper vibe) God! She’s so gloomy, so sensual, so stubborn, so full of ennui (try “misanthropy”, but ennui is such a nice word) and yet so silly/goofy is my sister. But she’s like a silly little bird that craves the Rothschild fortune! (literally, it’s just “yes, her bird (the feathered kind, not the “20′s slang for woman” kind) and Rothschild’s fortune”, but that’s missing a verb and honestly doesn’t make a lick of sense)

(Chorus)

Mon, May 4th, 7:30pm PDT

Retroformat, Flicker Alley LLC, Lobster Films and Blackhawk Films are pleased to continue  #SilentMovieMondays! Each Monday night at 7:30PM PDT, right here on Facebook, we’re screening silent films with special guests and real-time musical accompaniment by Retroformat Musical Director Cliff Retallick. ** Monday, May 4 ** Max Linder in “Seven Years Bad Luck” (1921) Featuring a Q&A with our Special Guest, direct from Paris, film preservationist and founder of Lobster Films, Serge Bromberg! “7 Years Bad Luck” (1921) is a great screen comedy just waiting to be rediscovered!  Max Linder, silent film’s most original comedian, wrote, directed and stars in this brilliant comedy filmed in America, about a superstitious young man who accidentally breaks his full length mirror, then crosses the country to escape the bad luck that hilariously follows him. Especially chosen by this week’s special guest, film preservationist Serge Bromberg, who will provide a Q&A direct from Paris after the film! In this film, Linder originates the famous “mirror gag, soon “borrowed” by Chaplin (who once inscribed a photo to Linder, “To the Professor, from his Disciple”), the Marx Brothers and even Lucille Ball.  Many consider Linder’s execution of the routine to be the greatest of them all.

Warning, don’t let Buster near your stage.