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Ick hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin…

When Ralph Maria Siegel wrote a melody and Aldo von Pinelli created the lyrics about a koffer left in Berlin, they did not dream of the fame, the song gained when interpreted by Marlene Dietrich. She made it famous, the Koffer in Berlin full with memories. Ronald Reagan picked it up in his legendary speech “Tear down this Wall” in 1987 in West Berlin.

I still have a Suitcase in Berlin
Literal prose English translation by Hyde Flippo

1
It’s wonderful in Paris on the Rue Madeleine
It’s nice to walk through the city in Rome in May
Or a quiet summer night with wine in Vienna.
But I’m still attached, even if you laugh, to Berlin today:

Refrain:
I still have a suitcase in Berlin
That’s why I have to go there sometime soon.
The joys of days gone by
Are all still in my little suitcase.

I still have a suitcase in Berlin
It stays there, too, and that makes sense.
In this way it’s worth a trip,
Because whenever I’m homesick, then I go back.

2
Lunapark and the wave pool, a little bear at the Zoo,
Swimming at Wannsee (lake) with the water wheel, bright and happy days.
Werder, when the trees are in bloom, Sanssouci park.
Man, Berlin was really nice. I’ll never forget it:

Refrain: I have…

—————————————-

Tear down this Wall
Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate June 12, 1987

Thank you very much.

Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty-four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, speaking to the people of this city and the world at the City Hall. Well, since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn, to Berlin. And today I, myself, make my second visit to your city.

We come to Berlin, we American presidents, because it’s our duty to speak, in this place, of freedom. But I must confess, we’re drawn here by other things as well: by the feeling of history in this city, more than 500 years older than our own nation; by the beauty of the Grunewald and the Tiergarten; most of all, by your courage and determination. Perhaps the composer Paul Lincke understood something about American presidents. You see, like so many presidents before me, I come here today because wherever I go, whatever I do: Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin. [I still have a suitcase in Berlin.]

Read more at Reagan Foundation