Zeugnistag English translation
von Reinhard Mey

Of course, among the good memories there is one

Which, even with increasing distance

And the further back it recedes into the past

But doesn't really want to be romanticized and gilded

And it remains a pitch-black memory

And it is the thought of the 14 years

In which I sat at the various school desks in this city

I think, even from the number 14

You can see that I did it with particular emphasis

And with particular care, and

Well, I was ashamed of it for quite a while

Until I realized that I shared this fate

With people like Albert Einstein, Wernher von Braun, Nietzsche

And I think Thomas Mann too, and a whole bunch more

So anyway, I think

I think that we repeaters are in very good company

So, really, no reason to be complex anymore

When I think back, all that remains is

Memories of a single beautiful day


In those 14 years, and that was, yes, and
That only became clear later
That was paradoxical, to top it all off
A report card day

I think I must have been about twelve years old
And once again it was report card day
Only this time, I thought, the school building and roof trusses would collapse
When mine lay white and ugly in front of me

But my hopes were by no means high
I was a lazy dog ​​and on top of that
Extremely stubborn, but even so I would never have believed
I would be such a total failure

"So, now it's happened," I thought to myself: "Now it's all over"
Not even a four in religion
Oh man, you'd better not come home with that report card
Instead, at best, you'll join the Foreign Legion


I didn't show it to my parents and signed it for them
Nice and colorful, didn't look bad, without bragging
I was maybe a dud in German and biology
But I was always pretty good at it painting
I was always good at painting
The magic came out the next morning, of course
The forgery wasn't that clever after all
The headmaster came and took me out of the classroom, snorting
There I stood, alone, silent and dejected
Then he called my parents over and leaned back
Full of self-righteousness, he was already enjoying
The slaps on the face for the fraudster, the bad piece
This document forger, their son
This document forger, their son
My father took the certificate in his hand and looked at me
And said calmly: "As far as I'm concerned
There isn't the slightest trace of doubt about it
That is actually my signature"
My mother also said, yes, that was her signature
Scribbled, it is, but you have to understand
That she was carrying two large, heavy shopping bags beforehand
Then she said: "Come on, boy, let's go"
"Come on, boy, let's go"
I still have a lot of long Year lost on school benches
And learned without protest
Names, tables, theories backwards and forwards
That I didn't go completely stupid in the process

Only one lesson has emerged over the years
The one from the pile of ballast
How good it is to know that someone will give you refuge
No matter what you've done
No matter what you've done
I don't know if it was right for my parents to
Get me out of there, and where is the moral? The smart ones discuss, the know-it-alls argue
I don't know, and I don't care
I only know one thing, I wish all children in the world
And not least of all you, my child
When things get tricky, when things go wrong, when the world falls apart
Parents who are made of this stuff
Parents who are made of this stuff
I think that back then, after the experience
It wouldn't have bothered me much
If I had been expelled from school at some point
Because my interests have actually always been in
Completely different areas, and that would have comforted me