Legende vom Toten Soldaten | Bertolt Brecht | German Song (1917) | Cover | English Subs

English and German subtitles available

My version is based on this version by a French orchestra: https://open.spotify.com/track/306vLZ...

"His sorry efforts, in which, among other things, he insulted the German soldier at the front, testify to the lowest disposition." - national socialist statement about Bertolt Brecht in regard to his expatriation, June 1935

A scandalous song about the First World War, written by a young Bertolt Brecht and later musically recomposed by Ernst Busch, whose version I covered. Its cynical and critical attitude towards the German war effort was shared by siginificant parts of the German population and military in 1918, best reflected by the military overthrowing the emperor in 1918, bringing an end to "the war to end all wars".

Brecht was only 19 when he wrote this story and would live on to become one of the most influential German poets of the 20th century.