Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Pretty self-explanatory
johnfoyle
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Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by johnfoyle »

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Erich Sellheim has permitted me to prepare & pass on digital editions of his versions, in German , of Elvis's albums.



It's an ongoing project but these are the ones done so far.



My Aim Is True

http://www.mediafire.com/download/p8pz1 ... s_True.rar



This Years Model

http://www.mediafire.com/download/1m71r ... _Model.rar



Armed Forces

http://www.mediafire.com/download/f9brs ... Forces.rar


Get Happy disc 1

http://www.mediafire.com/download/tornp ... c_1%5D.rar


Get Happy disc 2

http://www.mediafire.com/download/80gue ... 2%5D.rar--



Trust


http://www.mediafire.com/download/cffyk ... /Trust.rar



Erich's youtube channel has a lot of the songs

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClXbwR ... zxsJIxWrog



I complimented Erich on his performances, how my lack of German meant I concentrated on & appreciated all the more the melodies. I also commented on my curiosity at how he managed to fit into German versions all those consonants that are in the lyrics of Elvis's tunes etc.

He answered -

Yes, I feel the same way about Elvis' songs; I've known them for decades, but re-recording the brilliant backing tracks makes me realise how many rhythmic and melodic details there are which I'd never really paid attention to.

Regarding my translations, I've tried to remain as literal as possible; but as you've guessed yourself, some compromises had to be made in order to keep the rhymes and the syllabic structure intact. As far as I could make them out, I even tried to use German puns where Elvis' original lyrics had English ones (though there would probably be precious few people in the world who'd appreciate this effort, as English-speaking listeners generally don't understand German, and German listeners generally don't speak enough English to understand Costello's wordplay). The biggest problem is: The English language has more one-syllable words than the German one, and thus you normally need less syllables to say something, so in translation it's often difficult to get the message across in the same space. "This Year's Girl", for example, would be translated into something like "Das Mädchen dieses Jahres" or "Das Mädchen des Jahres" - 3 syllables to 6 or 7. So I tried to find something shorter which would still catch some of the original's spirit: "Das Gesicht" ("The Face").

Currently I'm working on the next three albums simultaneously, but none of them are finished yet (I'm getting help by some friends for Almost Blue's steel guitar and Punch The Clock's brass section, and this kind of slows things down a bit).


More info on Erich - http://tinyurl.com/cvturxm
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krm
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by krm »

This is great! I like the german lyrics as well! Fantastic stuff!
johnfoyle
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by johnfoyle »

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DeathWearsABigHat
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by DeathWearsABigHat »

listening to his version of "Strict Time" I have now learnt that the German word for "handjob" is "handjob"

"trust the wizards, here we go" http://www.trustthewizards.com
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by taramasalata »

I' ve been wanting this for quite a while:

Give my highest regards to what Erich has accomplished! This is excellent!

With German being my mother language, I first thought "What a crazy idea!!!", trying to TRANSFER EC's masses of syllables, wordplays and meanings into another language... and doing it by chosing a language which is known for being very precise and an even heavier use of syllables, consonants and possibilities to construct sentences possibly as long as one complete EC album alone...

And Erich did it in an excellent way, maintaining the richness and variety of EC's lyrics as well as the strength and beauty of his melodies.

Splendid work!
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Harry Worth
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by Harry Worth »

Absolutely wonderful, brings a smile to my face hearing these tracks and not understanding a word of them.

Erich's XTC covers are also pretty entertaining too.
myaimistrue91
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by myaimistrue91 »

Amazing! I love German language.
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the_platypus
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by the_platypus »

I love what he's doing here. Fantastic job. Very impressive.

That said, does anyone find the extreme close-ups of his face on the youtube videos slightly unsettling?
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by johnfoyle »

Update on downloads , as of August 11th -

My Aim Is True - 48
This Year's Model - 25
Armed Forces - 14
Get Happy!! - 'Disc one' - 11 , Disc Two' - 12
Trust - 25
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by johnfoyle »

Erich is delighted with the above news & adds -

In the next few weeks, I'll finish my Imperial Bedroom recordings; I'll send them your way as soon as they're done.
johnfoyle
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums

Post by johnfoyle »

The latest of Erich Sellheim 's recordings in German of Elvis's albums has reached me. Imperial Bedroom - He hasn't skipped Almost Blue, he's waiting on some overdubs from a friend who plays pedal steel guitar.

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Here are soundfiles , shared with Erich's permission -

http://www.mediafire.com/download/k34y0 ... disc+1.rar

http://www.mediafire.com/download/1hu1b ... disc+2.rar
johnfoyle
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums - Imperial Bedroom just added

Post by johnfoyle »

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Hurrah! The latest of Erich Sellheim 's recordings of Elvis's albums in German has arrived!

Links to downloads etc. , as permitted by Erich -

http://www.mediafire.com/file/b3aewfrjr ... +Clock.rar

http://www.mediafire.com/file/lodm55sgv ... +World.rar

Here's the latest tally for downloads of the earlier albums -

MAIT 105
TYM 47
AF 38
GH!! disc 1 55
GH!! disc 2 80
T 59
IB disc 1 59
IB disc 2 34


Almost Blue is , I presume, awaiting overdubs, as earlier noted.
johnfoyle
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums - PTC & GCW just added, April 2017

Post by johnfoyle »

Wunderbar! The latest of Erich Sellheim 's recordings in German of Elvis's albums , in today's post. As permitted with earlier efforts, links to downloads will follow in due course.




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Image
johnfoyle
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums - KOA & TJL added February 2018

Post by johnfoyle »

Hurrah- the latest part of Erich Sellheim 's ongoing project to record German versions of Elvis's albums has arrived. Almost Blue and Blood And Chocolate .

Files for downloading will appear in due course.

Image

Image
johnfoyle
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums - Almost Blue & Blood And Chocolate , January 2019

Post by johnfoyle »

Downloads , as of December 31 2018

1. My Aim Is True 164

2. Get Happy!! Disc 2 157

3. Imperial Bedroom Disc 1 104

4. Trust 101

5. Get Happy Disc 1 98

6. This Year's Model 97

7. Punch The Clock 90

8. Armed Forces 90

9. Imperial Bedroom Disc 2 67

10. Goodbye Cruel World 52

11. King Of America Disc 1 18

12. The Juliet Letters Disc 1 17

13. King Of America Disc 2 16

14. The Juliet Letters Disc 2 12
johnfoyle
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums - Almost Blue & Blood And Chocolate , January 2019

Post by johnfoyle »

Erich has sent me texts of the German lyrics for MAIT & TYM. PM me a email address if you would like get them as attachments.
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums - Almost Blue & Blood And Chocolate , January 2019

Post by bobbydriver »

johnfoyle wrote:
Blood And Chocolate

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ynvlbep5c ... e.rar/file
OK - someone put me out of my misery - what is he singing on Blue Chair?

It's not the obvious straight translation of Blau Stuhl - sounds like
Wegen Stuhl (Because of Chair?)
Weigen Stuhl (Refuse Chair?)
Wiegen Stuhl (Weigh the chair?)

EDIT:
I figured it out - he's singing "in traurig en stuhl" - in the sad chair
so he's stripped the metaphor of the chair being blue because he's sad. The german language is funny sometimes
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums - The Juliet Letters, July 2020

Post by Man out of Time »

Erich has recently posted these seven fine cover versions of songs from The Juliet Letters to YouTube:


- Brauchtum für Fortgeschrittene - (Expert Rites)


- Wenn andre sie sehn - (For Other Eyes)


- Glaubst du, dass ich so leicht schwach werd? - (I Almost Had A Weakness)


- Sau - (Swine)


- Hast du mich ganz in der Hand - (Taking My Life In Your Hands)


- Was glaubst du, wer du bist? - (Who Do You Think You Are?)


- Wo? - (Why?)

Each page helpfully has the German translation of the lyrics for those of us whose German is a little rusty...

Possibly more from The Juliet Letters to come. There are many more covers of EC songs on Erich's YouTube channel, so check it out y'all!

MOOT
johnfoyle
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Re: Erich Sellheim's German versions of Elvis's albums - Spike & Mighty Like A Rose added .

Post by johnfoyle »

Image

Sehr gut!

Eight more discs from Erich Sellheim of his ongoing project , recording versions in German of Elvis's catalogue.

Kojak Variety to When I Was Cruel in this batch.

As with earlier material, Erich has given me permission to create and share sound files of these. They will follow in due course.
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