This song breaks my heart, and I can't even understand all the words anymore. It's about a father who is riding like crazy through a forest to get his sick son home. The boy begins to see the Erl King, a kind of spirit of death, chasing after them, trying to lure him into joining him. The boy tells his father, who reassures him by saying that the Erl King really isn't there and to calm down. This happens several times, and the boy gets more and more frightened. The Erl King shows the boy his daughters who are dancing and singing, and invites the boy to join him. Then he finally tells the boy that if he won't join him willingly, he will take him by force. Terrified, he relates it to his father, who tries again to reassure him, but spurs his horse on even faster to try and save his son. Finally, he arrives at home, only to find that his son has died in his arms.
It's so sad, and I love how expressive the singer is. I first heard it and read the words (including the translation--my German is pathetic. I can pretty much say, "I have to do my homework" [Ich mus meine hausaufgabe machen.] and that's about it. Apparently I spent a lot more time talking about my homework than doing it.) in my freshman Humanities class. Hmmm. Maybe that class wasn't as worthless as it seemed at the time.
4 comments:
What a sad song. What made you come across it or listen to it again?
I LOVE this song! I love it so much! I can say spitzen aus dein kaugumi. spit out your gum. That's what I heard most in class.
I know uf da, and housfrau. That's about it. It's a neat song.
Babydoll- I heard a classical song on someone's blog and decided to search for all my favorites on Playlist. I forgot the Mouldau though. I'll try to put that one up soon.
Post a Comment