Chris did a little more investigative work on that question of why Chubby Checker sang a song based on an Schwabian folk song.

Actually, what he said was he did a little more checking.

😉

Anyway, he believes he found the answer in the Dutch Wikipedia entry for Chubby Checker.  According to that entry —  but not according to the English or German entries — Chubby was following in the footsteps of Elvis Presley.

You see, it turns out that Elvis had a big hit with a song called Wooden Heart, which was featured in the 1960 movie GI Blues.  Wooden Heart was a song that was based on an old Schwabian folk song called Muss i’ denn zum Städtele hinaus. It’s a song that’s still popular all across Germany; here’s a link one of the many versions of that song on YouTube.

Now,  Elvis plausibly could have learned that song during his time in the service in Germany (he did his military service in Hesse, a bit north of Baden-Württemberg and Schwabia). In the song, Elvis even sings a few lines from the original Schwabian lyrics. Note for all you linguists/German speakers out there: Elvis is singing in Schwabian in the middle, but the German he sings at the end is regular German, and not Schwabian dialect.

In 1961, Wooden Heart was released as a single in the UK, zooming to #1 on the charts, where it stayed for 6 weeks. Not too shabby.

OK, so back in the Dutch Wikipedia entry, it says that Chubby was inspired to record his own Schwabian folk song, to try to duplicate Elvis’ success. Unfortunately for Chubby, Troola-Troola-Troola-la did not have the same level of popularity, however.

But perhaps Elvis just picked a better traditional folk song to use as the basis for his hit. As it turns out, Muss i’ denn zum Städtele hinaus was written by Friedrich Silcher, one of the most famous 19th century German composers. He is internationally-known for the song Ich hatt’ einen Kamaraden, a lament for a fallen comrade that is traditionally played at German (and other) military funerals. Chris and I both thought we’d heard that this song was actually popular in both Germany and its enemies during WWI, but I couldn’t track that information down.

Anyway, it’s for that song – and not the one that’s connected to Elvis Presley, that is the reason he’s commemorated in a statue less than a kilometer from our house:

Friedrich Silcher Statue, Neckar Island, Tübingen

Friedrich Silcher Statue (detail), Neckar Island, Tübingen

Friedrich Silcher was not only a famous German choral director and composer, he was also a preeminent professor at the college of music here at the University of Tübingen.

A local connection to a crazy rock and roll tune that started with a mention of Chubby Checker by one of Chris’ students.

Really, fodder for blog posts just doesn’t get better than this. 😉