Beer Barrel Polka - The Song Playing on the Gramophone (2)

After a little bit of research, I finally found the original lyric of "Beer Barrel Polka" in Czech. The translated version will be posted here very soon, but first let's listen to the original version of this famous polka from the 40s.

and here's the lyric:

Kvetou růže, kdo ti za to může, 
žádný už ti dneska nepomůže, 
kvetou zvadnou lístečky z nich spadnou, 
jako slzy moje na tu trávu chladnou.:/

Teče, voda, dokola se točí,
to si nelitoval modré oči,
já bych byla pro tebe jen žila,
že mou lásku zklameš to jsem nemyslela

Škoda lásky, kterou jsem tobě dala, 
ty mé oči, dnes bych si vyplakala,
Moje mládí, uprchlo tak jako sen,
na všechno mi zbyla jenom, v srdci mém vzpomínka jen.

Škoda lásky, kterou jsem tobě dala, 
ty mé oči, dnes bych si vyplakala, 
Moje mládí, uprchlo tak jako sen, 
na všechno mi zbyla jenom, v srdci mém vzpomínka jen.

Well, the question is: why this song? what's the meaning behind this? and so in my opinion, this is one of the most famous songs during WWII and it was originated by Czech composer, as mentioned in the previous article. It is the song that imprinted on almost every Czech from the older generation; they carried this catchy tune with them when they emigrated to other parts of the world, making this song popular worldwide. Therefore, in some sense this can be the "pride" of the nation, and the director chose this song to be the last record left on the planet might be because he wanted to show this pride. The old man had his pride connect to this record. This song is his world: his home country, his culture and his life from the past. So yes, I believe he still clang to the past, in which he could mentally travel back as he listened to this record. It is his only hope, and it soothed him from the bitterness of current situation. In short, this record represented his "world'.

01:06:43

The tune is upbeat, which can represent the happiness the old man had in the past before the nuclear holocaust has begun. I can feel the contrast when the music was playing in the room among the girls: they never know this kind of happiness, they never experience "culture" before. As their excitement showed, the pride of the old man has regained. He said with pride that the song "was very famous" and even asked the old lady to dance with him. Unfortunately, she had died and so the old man never had a last chance to dance on this one last song for the rest of his life.

01:06:50

The lyrics of the song is also interesting. I retrieved the translation just for the chorus part (the highlighted verse from the above lyric) from the NTH Position Website, which is "wasted love which I gave to you/ I would cry my eyes out today/ my youth ran away as a dream/only memory remained/ in my heart of all this". This part of the song probably reflects the old man's life: his love towards the country, the civilized world, the culture and the old world has become wasted, nothing really matters anymore in the world after the apocalypse. His youth ran away as a dream, like what it has said in the song: 40 years passed by and now he was left with nothing and all alone, only sweet memory remained in this bitter world. Therefore, the other possible reason why the director chose this song might be that it can reflect the old man's life in as short as one verse. It shows everything that we have to know about the world before the apocalypse.



source: http://www.nthposition.com/skodalasky.php