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Bolle reiste jüngst zu Pfingsten (''Bolle made a trip on whitsun'') is a
Bolle reiste jüngst zu Pfingsten (''Bolle made a trip on whitsun'') is a folk song
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
in the Berlin dialect. The song mocks the stereotype of Berliners as unrestrictedly revelrous.
According to music professor Lukas Richter the song is of the Schwank type common in German-speaking countries. (compare to Oh du lieber Augustin
"" ("Oh, you dear Augustin") is a popular Viennese song, first published about 1800. It is said to refer to the balladeer Marx Augustin and his brush with death in 1679. Augustin himself is sometimes named as the author, but the origin is uncle ...
). Lukas Richter (Hrsg.): ''Mutter, der Mann mit dem Koks ist da. Berliner Gassenhauer – mit Noten.'' Leipzig: Dt. Verl. für Musik 1977 The song makes references to Pankow
Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. P ...
which was a suburb of Berlin in the middle of the 19th century. At that time it was a common conduct for people from Berlin to board a Kremser van - the Berlin variant of a charabanc
A charabanc or "char-à-banc" (often pronounced "sharra-bang" in colloquial British English) is a type of horse-drawn vehicle or early motor coach, usually open-topped, common in Britain during the early part of the 20th century. It has "ben ...
- to drive out of town to one of the inns, in the case of this song one of the many around the Schönholzer Heide park that were a popular destination for day-tripper
A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location tha ...
s.
The name Bolle (meaning "onion" in Berlin dialect) refers to an indeterminate person, and there is no evidence that it refers to the Berlin merchant Carl Bolle or Fritze Bollmann.
As common for a folk song there are a number of recordings available which show variants in wording as well as the number of verses. The song is also changed deliberately when used to make a political statement by using the refrain "but whatever happened, Bolle had his fun" (Aber dennoch hat sich Bolle ganz köstlich amüsiert.)
Song
References