Скачать или смотреть "Oh Mister Swoboda" by Fred Rauch - original 1954 Polydor 45rpm, West Germany

"Oh, Mister Swoboda! What are you doing in the U. S. A.?"
This Bohemian Polka was written by Rudolf Ordnung [as "Peter Igelhoff"] and Erich Meder, sung here by Fred Rauch, a fixture of Bavarian radio after World War II. Rauch had a decent career as a singer [and yodeler], songwriter, radio announcer, and media personality - he's not well-known in the United States beyond his music for "Answer Me", with English lyrics by Carl Sigman. In Germany, though, he performed characteristic pieces ranging from this topical bit to "Der Herr Skilehrer", "Ich Bin Kein Cowboy", "Lieber Franz", and more. He recorded well into the LP era. This 45rpm runout had 9.12.53 stamped, indicating it was mastered December 9, 1953. While the vinyl isn't the smoothest, I wonder if the 45rpm master was dubbed from tape or the 78rpm master...
The "Böhmischen Stadtmusikanten" [Bohemian Town Musicians] brass orchestra is accompanying here - it's not really clear if they were a studio ensemble or an actual Bohemian ensemble relocated to Bavaria, since they only appear on 1950s-60s Polydor and Philips pressings playing polkas, waltzes, and marches. Also interesting - the verse is based on "Im Kahlenbergerdörfel" polka by Philipp Fahrbach Jr.

This is one of Rauch's 1950s performances handling topics related to emigration and America [influenced by the US occupation of Bavaria?] - "Oh Mister Swoboda" is pretty explicit in its subject going "on the town" in NYC while Bohemia/Czechoslovakia and Central Europe were still hurting from the war. West Germany hadn't hit its stride of the Wirtschaftwunder just yet [though it was bouncing back quickly], and for some, leaving Europe for the Southern Cone or the United States seemed like the best option. Possibly not coincidentally, "Swoboda" is the Czech word for "freedom". Meder himself was from Brünn/Brno, and the recent, dark memories of ethnic Germans being forcibly expelled from Bohemia is masked by the comic tone of this piece. Stars like Peter Alexander and even Karel Gott & Andy Borg covered this piece up to present day.
https://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record...
There's even a Danish version... https://archive.org/details/78_h-mist...

This pressing has some neat post-war quirks; it's a bit gritty but well-recorded, and it sounds a lot better than my 78 version! This now has M45 on the label [to make it clear it's microgroove 45rpm - it was issued in both 78rpm and 45rpm formats], the copyright mark is still BIEM versus the later GEMA, the label is now the tricolor Polydor label, and the runout has Made in Germany stamped.
Why not West Germany? At the time, the West/Federal Republic of Germany viewed East Germany/GDR as an illegitimate government, propped up by Soviet occupation. West Germany technically laid claim to all German territories prior to 1937, officially holding the position that Poland and USSR were administering them for some temporary period of time; East Germans also saw themselves as Germans under a different government. Items made in West Germany were often marked "Made in Germany" to reflect the position that Germany was still one country, and items made in the West were made in the legitimate government's territory. Eventually, specifying West came into fashion to distinguish their products from those made in the East. In 1973, the West/Federal German court ruled that the FRG couldn't lay claim to "Made in Germany" exclusively [implying East Germany shouldn't use it to hide the true origin of their products, either], reinforcing the reason to distinguish between West and East.