Franz Josef Degenhardt - Wenn der Senator erzählt (1968)

Franz-Josef Degenhardt (born December 3, 1931 in Schwelm, Westphalia) is a German poet, satirist, novelist, and - first and foremost - folksinger/songwriter (Liedermacher) with decidedly left-wing politics. He is also a lawyer, bearing the academic title of Doctor of Law.

After studying law from 1952 to 1956 in Cologne and Freiburg, he passed the first German state bar examination in 1956 and the second in 1960. From 1961 he worked for the Institute for European Law of the University at Saarbrücken, where he obtained his doctorate in 1966. Degenhardt joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1961, but was forced out in 1971 because of his support for the German Communist Party.

From the early 1960s onward, in addition to practicing law, Degenhardt was also performing and releasing recordings. He is perhaps most famous for his song (and the album of the same name) "Spiel nicht mit den Schmuddelkindern" ("Don't Play With the Grubby Children," 1965), but has released close to 50 albums, starting with "Zwischen Null Uhr Null und Mitternacht" ("Between 00:00 and Midnight," 1963), renamed "Rumpelstilzchen" ("Rumpelstiltskin"); his most recent albums "Krieg gegen den Krieg" ("War against the War") and "Dämmerung" ("Twilight") came out in 2003 and 2006.

In Germany, the "Volksmusik" (folk music) has been instrumentalized in the Third Reich by the Nazis. Following the war, there were decades of embarrassment and shyness about singing folk songs.

Franz-Josef Degenhardt refers to this phenomenon in his song '"Die alten Lieder" released on the LP "Wenn der Senator erzählt ..." from 1968. The first words are: "Wo sind Eure Lieder, Eure alten Lieder? Fragen die aus andern Ländern, wenn man um Kamine sitzt."... "Tot sind unsere Lieder, unsere alten Lieder. Lehrer haben sie zerrissen, kurzbehoste sie zerklampft. Braune Horden totgeschrien, Stiefel in den Dreck gestampft."

Tracklist:

A1	Wenn der Senator erzählt...
A2	So sind hier die Leute
A3	Zug durch die Gemeinde
A4	Peruanisches Fest (Fiesta Peruana)
A5	2. Juni 1967
B1	Die Kumpanei (Da hocken die Kumpanen)
B2	Notar Bolamus
B3	Die alten Lieder
B4	Der Talisman
B5	Für wen ich singe
B6	Leere Felder

Franz Josef Degenhardt - Wenn der Senator erzählt (1968)
(320 kbps, cover art included)