“Houses shouldn’t burn / You shouldn’t know bombers / Night should be for sleeping / Life shouldn’t be punishment / Mothers shouldn’t cry” : German singer Theo Bleckmann sings Das Bitten der Kinder, text by Bertolt Brecht with music by Paul Dessau, written about the bombardment of Dresden in February 1945 – the almost total destruction of a German city which presented no particular military interest. And it became the symbol – an embarrassing symbol for the Allies – of the horror of attacks on civilian populations from the air.
And, today, while European opinions are scandalized by the violence of the Russian bombardments on the Ukraine, we listen again with seriousness to this ultimately rather rare composition. For, curiously, popular music bears witness to the horror of the bombings – but ultimately quite little compared to the atrocity of the experience lived by millions of Europeans, some under the German bombs, others under the bombs allies – and in certain countries like France, under the bombs of the Nazis, then under the bombs of the liberators.
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In the first episode of These songs that make the news this weekend, you hear excerpts from:
Theo Bleckmann & the Westerlies, Das Bitten der Kinder by Bertold Brecht and Paul Dessau, 2021
Wee Phillie, Ten German Bombersrecording from 2010
Chelsea supporters on a street in Munich, Ten German Bombers2012
The Jacques Brothers, Barbara1950
Orelsan, In my city we hang out2007
The Wriggles, sorry granny2007
Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, Enola Gay1980
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Remember: during the summer of 2019, La Playlist de Françoise Hardy was a crossing of the musical baggage of an author, composer and performer considered as the arbiter of the elegance of pop in France.
In July and August 2017, we spent A Summer in Souchon, during which Alain Souchon guided us on a tasty walk through a lifetime of love for song.
All summer 2016, in the company of Vincent Delerm, we wandered around in La Playlist Amoureuse de la Chanson, truant exploration of popular heritage. You can also extend the delicacies of this summer chronicle with the French song lovers dictionary, co-published by Plon and franceinfo.