Wenn die Nachtigall verstummt English translation
von Udo Lindenberg

I'm sitting at the bar with a drink and a cigar.
Then the grim reaper sneaks in, makes a fool of me from the side.
He's coming to get me. The angels sit on hot coals.
And the gods have said, now the panic will end.
Oh, I say, I still have to sing here, swing the mic like a lasso.
To stop now would be a bad joke, sorry, I really can't leave here just yet.

When the nightingale falls silent, all of Germany goes heavily hooded,
To mourn, to weep in black shawls and in linen
When the nightingale falls silent, the whole country goes hooded
And their very last song floats above the rooftops.

I can already see the flags hanging at half-mast everywhere.
The Chancellor kneels down and begins to cry.
In the Tagesschau in a hurry, they canonize him immediately.
And the record company gets rough delivery problems in such times.


When the nightingale falls silent, all of Germany goes heavily hooded,
To mourn, to weep in black shawls and in linen
When the nightingale falls silent, the whole country goes hooded
And their very last song floats above the rooftops.

She always looked like licked, like peeled from the egg.
She flew right out of the nest and the wide world.
And she chirped songs of love and murder.

People whistled after her in every wild place.
But at some point the time will come for them too.
Little nightingale fly.
Little nightingale fly.

When the nightingale falls silent, all of Germany goes heavily hooded,
To mourn, to weep in cloths and linens
When the nightingale falls silent, the whole country goes hooded
And their very last song floats above the rooftops.