''Meine Oma fährt im Hühnerstall Motorrad'' ("My Grandma Drives Her Motorcycle In The Chicken Coop") is a German humouristic song. It dates back to the 1930s, probably stemming from two older works: the refrain of the Rheinländer dance '' Wir versaufen unsrer Oma ihr klein Häuschen'', authored by Robert Steidl in 1922, constitutes most of the melody, while the text is a variation of the

Foxtrott Foxtrott is the recording name of Canadian electronic music artist Marie-Hélène Delorme.

''Meine Oma fährt Motorrad, ohne Bremse, ohne Licht'' ("my grand-mother rides a motorcycle without brakes nor lighting"), a 1928 work with words by Ernst Albert and music by Erwin Bolt.

Origins and variants

The

Deutsches Volksliedarchiv The Deutsche Volksliedarchiv, a research institute for Volkslied (folk song) in German, was founded in 1914 and was integrated into the University of Freiburg in 2014, now called Zentrum für Populäre Kultur und Musik (Centre of popular culture ...

(German archives of popular songs) have conducted extensive research into the origin of the song. They describe it as "an instance of absurd humour, as well as a typical example of the songs that developed in parallel to the media musical culture of the 20th century, constantly mutating under their own dynamic." When exactly the two works mixed is not known. The earliest known instance is an incipit in a magazine containing the words of the song in 1935 or 1936. The earliest document held by the Deutschen Volksliedarchiv dates from 1942.

1958 version

In 1958, ''Meine Oma fährt im Hühnerstall Motorrad'' was printed for the first time in a songbook, ''Der Zündschlüssel'', by the Fidula-Verlag printing company, from the recollection of editor Johannes Holzmeister.

1980 version

In 1980, Fredrik Vahle published a 25-stanza version in ''Liederspatz'', where the grandma sits behind the wheel, watches the TV series ''Tagesschau'', and goes to the disco.

2019 WDR parody

In 2019,

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broad ...

(WDR) had a new version sung by the children choir of the Choral Academy of Dortmund, authored by one of the hosts of WDR-2 as a

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...

of intergenerational tensions. The new version appeared on 27 December 2019 on an online video. The file was removed shortly thereafter, following criticism of the refrain that states "My grand-mother is an old environmental pig" (in original German: ''Meine Oma ist 'ne alte Umweltsau''). However, the video remains available from YouTube. The next day, in a special broadcast on WDR, Tom Buhrow and the head of programmes Jochen Rausch apologised without reserve for the video, which he called a "mistake". The choir director, Zeljo Davutovic, issued a statement praising the youth movement

Fridays for Future School Strike for Climate ( sv, Skolstrejk för klimatet), also known variously as Fridays for Future (FFF), Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate, is an international movement of school students who skip Friday ...

, commenting "this is not about grand-mothers, this is about all of us". On 29 December, Right-Wing groups started demonstrating in front of the WDR headquarters in protest of the song. Counter-protests by Left-Wing groups soon followed, as well as a police presence. In total, around 100 people were involved.

Notes

References

External links

* * Xaver Frühbeis
Ohne Bremse, ohne Licht: "Meine Oma fährt im Hühnerstall Motorrad".
BR-Klassik Mittagsmusik extra, 31 December 2010, retrieved 17 June 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Meine Oma fährt im Hühnerstall Motorrad Comedy songs 1930s songs German folk songs German children's songs Schlager songs Volkslied