LL-L "Songs" 2008.06.07 (09) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 07 June 2008 - Volume 09
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Songs

Moin, Ingmar!

You asked about another song and thought it might be in Low Saxon:

>> /bEtS@ batS@"beit@
>>  Indi ouvI"Steit@   (this part sounds German)
>>  "vIksti si
>>  "vIksti su
>>  kamdi kEtsl@"ale su
>>  a"deima ma
>>  a"deipa pa
>>  "hupsa lisa hupsa sa/
>
> Ingmar:
>
> betsje batsje beete
> in de oven steet e
> wiksti si
> wiksti su
> kam de ketsle (?) alleen su
> an de mama
> an de papa
> hupsa, Lisa, hupsasa
>
> the first is a nonsense rhyme sentence
> then: in the oven he stands
> nonsentence ??     it won't be XTC ;-)
> nonsentence ??
> came the kettle all so
> to the mama
> to the papa
> whoops, Lisa, come on

This is more likely to be a German variety, and it's about kittens (*Kätzle*).
("ale should be *alle* 'all', not *alleen* 'alone')

Might it be an German American variety? Pennsylvania German?

Talking about such, there is a website dedicated to English and "German"
varieties of the United States. (Native American ones will be added.)

http://csumc.wisc.edu/AmericanLanguages/

There are recordings with English translations.

Under "German Dialects" there are four Low Saxon varieties:

Ostfälisch (Eastphalian)
Holsteinisch
Pommersch (Pomeranian)
Oderbrüchisch (mixed with German)

OK, Ingster, I think I'm getting warm regarding your song request. There is
a children's song of Untersteinbach, Upper Palatinate (*Oberpfalz*),
Bavaria, near the Czech border, recorded in 1910 (
http://www.heinlenews.de/geschl10a.htm):

Bitsche, batsche, Peter
hinterm Ofe stehtr,
hol a schleckigs Hütle uf,
klopft mit'm Prüchele allweil druf.

My translation:
Patty, patty, Peter
Standing behind the stove,
A floppy hat upon his head,
Keeps hitting it with a cudgel.

Apparently there are several variants of this song, probably from several
places; e.g. with a cat:

Bitsche, batsche Peter
hinterm Ofen steht er,
Flickt sein Schuh und schmiert sein Schuh.
Kommt die alte Katz dazu,
Frisst die Schmeer und frisst die Schuh,
Frisst die Schuh und frisst die Schmeer,
frisst mir alle Teller leer.

My translation:
Patty, patty, Peter
Standing behind the stove,
Mending his shoe(s) and greasing his shoe(s),
And the old cat walks up to him,
Eats the grease and eats the shoe(s),
Eats the shoe(s) and eats grease,
Eats and cleans up all my plates.

Another one with a cat:

Pitsche, patsche Peter,
hinterm Ofen steht er,
putzt die Stiefel, putzt die Schuh,
kommt die schwarze Katz' dazu,
frisst den Peter samt die Schuh'.

My translation:
Patty, patty, Peter
Standing behind the stove,
Brushing boots, brushing shoes.
The black cat walks up to him,
Eats our Peter shoes and all.

An adult has a small child on their lap facing them. They clap their hands
and the adult lifts and lowers their knees in the rhythm of the song. When
it comes to the eating part, the adult makes the child fall backward.

Usually without the clapping, we used to sing another song, and the action
is called "Hoppe Reiter machen", "to play gee-gees" in English:

Hoppe, hoppe, Reiter!
Wenn er fällt, dann schreit er.
Fällt er in den Grapen,
fressen ihn die Raben.
Fällt er in dem Sumpf,
(dann) macht der Reiter plumps.

 My translation:
Bouncy, bouncy rider!
If he fell he'd scream.
If he fell into the ditch
The ravens would devour him.
If he fell into the swamp
The rider 'd go down with a thud.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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