Im guten alten Glizz (In Good Old Glizz)

[lily_handmaiden]

Alert! Alert! storydice  is back up and running! My recap of "The Man with the Bone" can be found here!

I was going to post something entirely different today, but decided at the last minute that I was too tired to make it any good, so here is the second of my Wicked song translations instead.

Fun fact: Did you know that "Shiz" in German sounds an awful lot like a verb form of "scheissen?" On a related note, let's visit Glizz University for the German version of "Dear Old Shiz," which has become "Im guten alten Glizz," or, "In Good Old Glizz."


Im guten alten Glizz
(In Good Old Glizz)

Here is a clip which features not only this song, but also Willemijn Verkaik (Elphaba) and Lucy Scherer (Galinda) performing the entire ensuing scene, and even the beginning of "The Wizard and I."

OZIAN:

Glinda! Stimmt es, dass du ihre Freundin warst?! (1)

Glinda! Is it true, that you were her friend?!

GLINDA:
Also ... das kommt darauf an, was man unter "Freundin" versteht. Gekannt habe ich sie schon. Unsere Wege haben sich mal gekreuzt. Auf der Schule.

Well… that depends on what one understands by “friend.” I did indeed know her. Our ways did once cross. At school. (2)

STUDENTS:
Von Ruhm umglänzt,

Resplendent with glory,
Von Wein umkränzt,

Wreathed with wine, (3)
Ein stolzer Ort gewiss.

Certainly a proud place.
Wird grau das Haar und trüb der Blick

When the hair becomes gray and the eye becomes dull,
Schaun wir immerdar voll Dank zurück

We will always look back full of thanks
Auf die Zeit im alten Glizz.

On the time in old Glizz.
Im guten, alten

In good, old

GALINDA:
Ah-ah-ah-alten ...

Oooooollllllld…

STUDENTS/GLINDA:
... Alten Gliz-z-z-z

Old Glizzzzzzzz.


(1) In German, "Freundin" is a word which could mean either "female friend" or "girlfriend." I remember one of my high school German teachers (who was kind of a moron, bless her) saying once that usually "Freundin" would refer to a girlfriend, and it's the word Maureen uses to describe her relationship to Joanne in German Rent. Therefore, because I am twelve, I giggled imagining the line this way: "Glinda! Is it true, that you were her girlfriend?"

(2) "Well... that depends on what one understands by 'girlfriend.'"

(3) I know, I know, I'm a Puritanical American. I know that Oxford prides itself on its selection of wines in the dining hall. Still, this seems a weird thing to be bragging about in your Alma Mater, that's all I'm saying. Naive American me.