Beer Barrel Polka

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Beer Barrel Polka, also known as Roll Out the Barrel, is a song which became popular world-wide during World War II. The music was originally composed by the Czech musician Jaromír Vejvoda in 1927. Eduard Ingris wrote the first arrangement of the famous song, after Vejvoda came upon the melody and sought Ingris' help in refining it. At that time, it was played without lyrics as Modřanská polka (Polka of Modřany). Its first text was written by Václav Zeman in 1934 – Škoda lásky (Wasted Love).

The polka became famous around the world. In 1938, Will Glahé sold one million copies of its German version Rosamunde. Shapiro Bernstein published the song under the name of "Beer Barrel Polka" a year later. The authors of the English lyrics were Lew Brown and Wladimir Timm. Meanwhile, the song was played also by many others such as Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Benny Goodman, and Billie Holiday.

During World War II, versions in many other languages were created and the song was popular among soldiers, regardless of their alliances. It was claimed many times that the song was written in the country where it had just become a hit. Its actual composer was not widely known until after the war.

A former Foreign Minister of Germany Hans-Dietrich Genscher even made a bet that it was a German song. He lost.

1 English lyrics
2 Original Czech lyrics
- 2.1 Translation
3 Names in other languages
4 External links

[edit] English lyrics

There's a garden, what a garden,
Only happy faces bloom there
And there's never any room there
For a worry or a gloom there.
Oh! there's music and there's dancing
And a lot of sweet romancing
When they play a polka
They all get in the swing:

Ev'ry time they hear that oom-pa-pa
Ev'rybody feels so tra-la-la
They want to throw their cares away
They all go lah-de-ah-de-ay,
Then they hear a rumble on the floor
It's the big surprise they're waiting for
And all the couples form a ring
For miles around you'll hear them sing

Chorus:

Roll out the barrel
We'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel
We've got the blues on the run.
Zing! Boom! Ta-ra-rel
Ring out a song of good cheer!
Now's the time to roll the barrel
For the gang's all here.

"Beer Barrel Polka"

[edit] Original Czech lyrics

Kvetou růže, kdo ti za to může,
žádný ti už dneska nepomůže,
kvetou, vadnou, lístečky z ní spadnou
jak ty slzy tvoje na tu trávu chladnou.

Chorus:

Škoda lásky, kterou jsem tobě dala,
ty mé oči dnes bych si vyplakala,
moje mládí uprchlo tak jako sen,
na všechno mi zbyla jenom
v srdci mém vzpomínka jen.

[edit] Translation

The roses bloom, who is responsible for it?
Nobody helps you today anymore.
They bloom, fade, leaflets fall from it
like those your tears on the cold grass.

Chorus:

Wasted love, which I gave you.
I would cry my eyes today out,
my youth ran away as a dream.
Only a memory remained
in my heart for all of this.