Henkersbraut English translation
von Subway to Sally

No myrtle wreath in her black hair
No veil and no wedding altar
No priest for the ritual
The groom shunned and bald
He softly calls her his little wife
And eyes her gaunt body
The crowd of guests in rags
Press around her, laughing and shouting:


Lift up the door, make the gate wide
Here comes the bride in all her glory
She has whored, she has stolen
Strew flowers for the hangman’s bride!

Once she was guiltless as a doe
And her skin like young snow
But in the wheat field by the house
They drove her innocence out of her

In a dark night she
Killed her little child
The one unborn who slept within her
Who made no resistance and no cry


Lift up the door, make the gate wide
Here comes the bride in all her glory
She has whored, she has stolen
Strew flowers for the hangman’s bride!