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Friday, October 22, 2010

"Marlene Dietrich Overseas: American songs in German for the OSS" 1952




I got this 10" LP as a teen (filched it from my father's records, and he let me keep it). I had this thing about 10" records (no jokes about Bullmoose Jackson tunes, please...), I always liked the small format, etc...Anyway....an interesting history, here. La Dietrich did propaganda recordings of American songs in German for the OSS during the war. After the war, Mitch Miller at Columbia Records asked her if she would record them for commercial release. She did. I believe these were recorded in 1950, although this was released in 1952. Artistically, this is an interesting little collection, too. Actually quite good. Dietrich's vocals are as good as can be expected from her, the translations of the lyrics are a little unusual, but the gist of the songs get across pretty well, IHMO. Give it a listen.....I just dug this out tonight and put it on the turntable...hadn't heard it in quite a few years. I was looking online today, and saw it in the re-released format, on a 33rpm LP, entitled "Lili Marlene". I didn't like the cover art nearly as much as the original that I have (see below)

Nah....nice gams...but not nearly as cool as La Dietrich in dirty combat boots....lol.

So, here we go:

Lili Marlene
Mean to Me
Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Surrey With the Fringe on Top
Time on My Hands
Taking a Chance on Love
Miss Otis Regrets
I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night

http://www.mediafire.com/?6g1jha00t57hcx3

6 comments:

  1. Marlene was great actress and singer. And I agree with you, the combat boot LP cover is cool :)

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  2. I love that record. In fact, I was just singing it today. "Wo der (???) rollt, da steht der Weizen hoch wie Gold: denn irgendwer hat's nicht gewollt dass ich dich wiederseh'."

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  3. You know what? when I was a little kid I first heard this from my parents collection. I loved the cover and loved all the songs, too :)

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Any chance of re-uploading? I can't find this ANYWHERE. Would love to be able to listen.

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