The Happy Wanderer - The Obernkirchen Childrens Choir

[rickmaskell]

I was 10 going on 11 in 1954, and have always adored this divine sound. Does anyone have any information on the girl with the high voice. Listen when the choir sings Faleri, she sings la la la la la - the most beautiful sound I have ever heard.

Rick Maskell

[Seiryuudo]

huh... I came hear while searching for "Love is war 合唱"

And weird enough, I used to live 5 years in Obernkirchen!

[Sweetmother6448]

I can remember singing this in Grade School

[FuckUtube4Life2010]

i like barney's version better!

[katesnake]

Und schwenke ich meinen Hut zurück!

Viele Grüsse aus England nach Deustchland von ein Englander!

[bookwyrmsrus]

Thanks for this lovely video in its original German. I grew up with my grandmother playing an English version made for children. This was my favorite, and I still love it today. Love to sing it while hiking! (Now to learn the German!) Thanks also for the story of the song--I wasn't born when the girls won the prize or when it was popular, but it's still a terrific song! :o)

[maccas1329]

haha i never knew this song was called happy wanderer :D i love it!

[jrcadet4]

I've heard numerous versions of this song, but this is easily the most charming. Thanks for posting it.

[winhuber]

das war damals der ursprungschor der "schaumburger märchensänger", das waren noch stimmen, denen kann der heutige "kinderchor" das wasser nicht mehr reichen .....

[isuckaman]

Ich bin ein Berliner!

[bobinobaker]

@isuckaman Nicht nur Du... :-)

[psviking1]

@isuckaman Ich bin Berliner= I am a Berliner. BUT Ich bin EIN Berliner= I am a Doughnut(Donut), That is what JFK said! (Ich bin ein berliner)

[Seiryuudo]

@psviking1 ...and so he said those famous words: "ICH BIN EIN KRAPFEN!"

[danniigraciexx]

Meh fave bit is prob the 'Valdera hahahahahahaha!' Awesome!

But then if you listen to it for real not just on this itseven better!

B-)

[lisbeth580]

i'm a member of the choir today!*__*

wednesday bbc recorded the happy wanderer again :)

[WarriorSage2]

This was my favorite song as a child. Now that I am a 64 year old RONIN it takes me back to simplier times. Thanx for posting. Namaste !!!

[MrsSchifferUlquiorra]

I never heard this song before. Yet, I love it! Thank You for posting this. The pictures are also very pretty!

[lanzanut]

As a young boy of 10 or 11 I used to listen to this on Childrens hour on the radio in the 1950s. It was a very popular request in those days and after just listening to it again I can understand why, absolutely charming. Also in my very early days as a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan this tune was played as the players came on to the pitch. Happy memories of a golden era, thank you for posting.

[rockgor]

Like a lot of other listeners, I remember when this was popular. I was in the

9th grade.

Other popular singers of the time: Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Guy

Mitchell, Doris Day, Eddie Fisher, Jo Stafford, etc.

Rock and Roll was in its infancy. Bill Haley recorded "Rock Around

the Clock" and Elvis made his first recording for Sun Records.

Tns 4 the nostalgic post.

[barbiefl09]

I remember this from childhood. Well done. Thanks!

[boardey]

Sang this song in The Happy Valley in Llandudno in the late fifties, after the event in mid Wales.

Won prizes myself. Top tune, and still singing it now,at 63.

[tritonusgesang]

Dieser Chor war/ist einer der besten Mädchenchöre, die ich kenne! - Ob er heute noch diese Qualität hat, wie in den 60ger Jahren, entzieht sich meiner Kenntnis. - Nach dem Tod der Chorgründerin hatte er eine andere Musikrichtung eingeschlagen, nämlich die leichte Muse auf Schlagerebene, was m.E. dem Chor in seiner Qualität zum Nachteil gereichte.

Kann mich jemand aufklären über den heutigen Stand der "Schaumburger Märchensänger"? - Vielen Dank für die Publikation!

[7Serendipity13]

@tritonusgesang

Die Schaumburger Märchensänger sind ein gemischter Chor bei uns aus Bückeburg. Der Chor singt Stücke aus allen Stilepochen - geistliche Stücke, Volkslieder, Madrigale...mittlerweile gehört aber auch viel weltliches Repertoire (Popstücke) dazu.

[tritonusgesang]

@7Serendipity13

Vielen Dank für die Information! :-)

[beatlesandbeyond]

this was one of my parents 78's - havnt heard it for about 45 years!

[Caribman9999]

Interesting notes, about the song being an international hit in the early 1950s!

It ALSO was "The Road March" for Trinidad Carnival in 1955, in Port of Spain. That remains if not a unique achievement for a song by a "foreign" (i.e. not West Indian) performer, surely a rarity among Trinidad's Road Marches.

Trinis "improved" the title by ignoring its formal English title (The Happy Wanderer), and renamed it, after the first 2 words of the refrain, as "Valerie, Valerah" (not "Valderie)

[torro454]

Oh, how wonderful! I haven't heard this since I was a kid. Wundershön!!!!!!!!! Danke.

[BrotherJulien]

What is the relationship between "The Happy Wanderer" (German) and a forest in Tasmania. (Australian)

[NachoMac1936]

@BrotherJulien

[NachoMac1936]

@BrotherJulien

[flyingtadpole]

Great!  Is there also a recording somewhere of "The Cuckoo Cries"?

[60knightsix]

Ref: "Simmhop" - go to "Rudolf Schock: Ach, ich hab' in meinem Herzen" and you'll see him sing with the Obernkirchen Children's Choir. There's a voice only version and a video one as well. The title above is "Alas, I have in My Heart" a beautiful love song - and Obernkirchen means "Upper Choir" - enjoy. Knightsix.

[elvenwishes]

I remember this when I was a little girl and my dad sung it with me..I only know the German lyrics...

Thank you for the memories and the video is beautiful...

You have made this german girl happy

[Spreemusik2]

Sorry! The translator wasn't right. I mean the City Bückeburg and not bending Castle.

[janschro]

You translation is very good Spreemusik2 ,thanks for the story of how the choir came to the attention of the rest of world .What angelic singers they were.

[Spreemusik2]

A very beautiful video! Obernkirchen lies near bending castle. The airlift was flown by the air base there to Berlin. I lived in Krainhagen on 1987-89. My old landlady often talked about the non-stop starts and landings of the Englishmen and Americans to Berlin in 1948/49. The brits were stationed because into bending castle, the choir came to England so. Your video resemble the collapsed galleries mountains very much on the bending. I cordially greet you!

[Spreemusik2]

Ein sehr schönes Video!

Obernkirchen liegt nahe bei Bückeburg. Vom dortigen Fliegerhorst aus wurde die Luftbrücke nach Berlin geflogen. Ich lebte von 1987-89 in Krainhagen. Meine alte Vermieterin erzählte oft von den pausenlosen Starts und Landungen der Engländer und Amerikaner nach Berlin 1948/49. Weil die Briten in Bückeburg stationiert waren-so kam der Chor nach England. Ihre Videobilder ähneln sehr den eingestürzten Stollen auf den Bückebergen. Ich grüsse Sie herzlich!

[pdxtran]

I used to have an LP of this group. They performed everything from folksongs to Mozart and madrigals.

[simhopp]

How come this is the only song on youtube by the Obernkirchen Childrens Choir?

I don't think this is their only song.

[jackierubberleg]

Orphans of the terrible war. God bless them all

[chance563]

wonderful

[chance563]

Absolutely great. I remember this song when i was seven and i loved it then.

[BelleVue1969]

Remember,quite clearly, hearing this as a 3yr old and Mam singing it regularly.Also a favourite on coach day trips from school in late 50s.

Emotional and heartwarming memories!

Million thanks and 5* for posting.

[yorksshirepud]

I saw them perform at The St George's Hall in Bradford Yorkshire, I still have the programme. They were wonderful

[chesterarebest]

i was born the year this came out and remebered it all my life, not hearing for 50+ years! John Peel the radio DJ referred to it in his autobiography and how he saw them perform in Liverpool! He rightly was suprised a german choir so soon after the war were such a hit. he also adored the lead girl in the group and enjoyed some 'self relief' thinking of her on lonely nights in his boarding school 'prison'. Its his book that reminded me of them and their name...great stuff

[shooterinthedark]

Excellent video, other-worldly qualities of soundtrack matched weird prehistoric flora of Tasmania perfectly. Well done.

[billdadd50]

I love the German language. I used to sing the English version in the School choir.

[xmurli]

FYI the English language is derived from German language. AND the British Royalty is Germanic.

[TheStubbleking]

Do you have to remind us?

[SchwarzesEdelWeiss]

@xmurli yes.. and the lyrics are... and i will wander until my cold dead grave....  ein wanderer zu sein... so maybe this is a song about what happened to the german people after ww2... esp from--what is now--called "the east"... and a father... and a history that is lost to me... and so many german orphans after the war

[capone710]

I never knew all the children in the choir were orphans of WWII

[sofiafille]

i like it. Inspite i cannot understand German language...But i can understand music language..Every one all over the world speak and understand the music language

[Schaumburgerland]

Meine Heimat!!!

[MrPlainsman]

Brings back memories from a time when things were simple and pure!

[fwengsolutions]

@MrPlainsman I read this sentiment so often in comment below old-time music of all sorts. Think about what you said! It was written in 1948 just after the most devstating world war we have ever seen, in Germany when that country was still partly in ruins and reeling from the horrors of that war. Was it simple and pure to attempt to wipe out an ethnic minority? Was it simple and pure to obliterate German cities when their defeat was already certain?

[lorgain2]

Brings back happy memories, thanks for posting.

[yenerowna]

If you like children´s choirs check out KINDEREN VOOR KINDEREN from Holland.

[feraltex]

I rember when it was No 1 on our Hit Prade in the 5o's  And I still have it on CD in my SRN 4x4

[ope7734]

One of my Father's Favorite Songs.

He requested it to be played at & during his Funeral..

[dieSchwarzeEdelWeiss]

mich auch

[Roughstylez]

@ JoeTheFicker:

Joa, nur schade bzw. auch sehr verwirrend

dass die Heimat des

"Obernkirchen Childrens Choir"

-wie die Medien die Schaumburger Märchensänger genannt haben-

in Bückeburg ist...

[ernievon]

Does anyone have a MP3 file of the Happy Wanderer? I remember hearing them in the 1950s, and in some ways it seems like not that long ago. No one sings like them!

[Steamer15hp]

at chip online is a utube to mp3 converter

[yenerowna]

download tubetilla and you can get it from youtune

[Diabwo]

The Obernkirchen Children's choir Christmas album is brilliant, and is the best Christmas aalbum ever produced. I still have my parents'copy, and play it every Christmas. Listen to it -- and try not to weep. Those children, many war orphans, sing like no one else.

[dieSchwarzeEdelWeiss]

you 'd said everything... was my father favorite song...

[Diabwo]

I have contacted the recording company, EMI, asking them to re-release the music of the Obernkirchen Children's Choir. The more EMI hears these requests, the more likely they will consider re-releasing it -- let's hope.

[ungilsan]

Wundershoen!!!

[CellarDoor06]

Excellent!

[filthybaggage]

does anyone remember Dennis Sheridan, the pianist at the Intimate Bar, Benidorm, performing this song?

[Glenmed]

Wonderful - and excellent information that I've now used in the notes to a video containing these voices that I did with a different song some months ago. I can still remember being bowled over by this song and these singers in the mid 1950s. It may be appropriate to make mine a video response to yours. I'll propose it to you.

[janschro]

Thank you Glenmed , a response would be welcome

[xMcLeodsFreakx]

wie peinlich für deutschland xDDD

[nonwatcyn]

Thank you so much for sharing this. I was at the Llangollen International eisteddfod when they sang this and won 1st prize. They were quite a hit as I remember. :)

[janschro]

cheers nonwatcyn

[geohar32]

my children are singing this soon in a school assembly, and we looked up different versions.

This is just wonderful

[janschro]

my pleasure

[europe2359]

Thanks for your sharing. I love this song very much.

[catirepintao]

Much thanks for posting the song and the well-done video. This song is the international anthem of backpackers, or at least of this backpacker. My grandparents gave me an album of the OCC when I was a child, including HW, which I listened to many times- I still remember several of the songs on the long-gone album. I also had the good fortune of hearing the OCC perform in the US when I was a child. I Any further OCC postings would be much appreciated. Their harmonies are outstanding.

[janschro]

Your very welcome catirepintao .Always a pleasure to get nice comments on a favorite ,and great old song like this one.

[grumbeast]

This is the first piece of music I ever remember listening to. My Grandmother had only 1 78 and this was it!.. I listened it again and again when a small boy. Its terrific to discover it again after all these years! thanks for posting this!

[janschro]

Your most welcome grumbeast

[Italiasalbion]

Beautiful!

[scrumpbee]

These children were mostly orphaned during the war.

[jimnrodger]

Yes, it did more good for unity than the European Union ever will

[rikkidelreeko]

I heard this choir sing at the Internatianl Eisteddfod in Llangollen, North Wales UK, I think in 1955 or thereabouts when they won 1st prize in the choral competition, shortly afterwards it made No 1 in the UK charts - this beautiful song and especially the choir won the hearts of the British people as World War 2 had only ended 10 years earlier

[Avenger987]

classic