Böse menschen haben keine Lieder - wicked men have no songs ( translation glossary) Video game text,Idioms / Maxims / Sayings,Art/Literary

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German term or phrase:	Böse menschen haben keine Lieder
English translation:	wicked men have no songs
Entered by:	Courtney Sliwinski

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1:44pm Sep 7, 2007

German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / Video game text

German term or phrase: Böse menschen haben keine Lieder

Stimmt es, dass böse Männer keine Lieder haben?

Can anyone explain this saying to me? I can't seem to make any sense of it!! Thanks!

Courtney Sliwinski

KudoZ activity
Questions: 153 (all closed)
Answers: 105

Germany

Clarification request(s) and response

xxxFrancis Lee: 6:08pm Sep 9, 2007: More context would help! What kind of register/tone are we looking at here? Retro-medieval, post-punk (of the cyber variety), sycophantic sci-fi etc.?

wicked men have no songs

Explanation:
Since your text specifies Männer, you could use wicked men, but I like wicked folk.

As the German saying puts it:
"Wo man singt, da lass Dich nieder - böse Menschen haben keine Lieder."

Where people sing, settle down - wicked folk have no songs.

https://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=781787

"Wo man singt, laßt Euch ruhig nieder. Böse Menschen haben keine Lieder."
"Where there's singing, you can settle down. Bad people don't sing songs!"

http://dynamic.olm.net/liederkr/

Selected response from:

Kim Metzger
Mexico

Note from asker to answerer

I chose to adapt this a little bit. A literal translation was too obscure for my audience, so I changed it to something they would be more familiar with "A wicked man's heart has no joy". Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! You are (as ever) wise beyond your years!
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +13

wicked men have no songs

Kim Metzger

3 +3

S.u.

BrigitteHilgner

3 +2

bad guys can't sing

Ken Cox

There are/be no warblers amongst the wicked

xxxFrancis Lee

1 +1

Bad people don't have songs

IP-Chemist

Answers

10 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +13

wicked men have no songs

Explanation:
Since your text specifies Männer, you could use wicked men, but I like wicked folk.

As the German saying puts it:
"Wo man singt, da lass Dich nieder - böse Menschen haben keine Lieder."

Where people sing, settle down - wicked folk have no songs.

https://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=781787

"Wo man singt, laßt Euch ruhig nieder. Böse Menschen haben keine Lieder."
"Where there's singing, you can settle down. Bad people don't sing songs!"

http://dynamic.olm.net/liederkr/

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 105

Note from asker to answerer

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

vic voskuil: nice, especially with folk indeed!

7 mins

agree

Kcda: ...not so much the word "have" But my take = "Bad people don't sing songs" The mistake here if being literal it is apparently only wicked/evil men not women.

7 mins

agree

Rebecca Garber

19 mins

agree

Antonia East: yup, and I like a very slight alteration:"Wicked folk sing no songs"

44 mins

agree

Eckhard Boehle

45 mins

agree

earthreptile

1 hr

agree

Paul Cohen: wicked men sing no songs ... and dead men tell no tales

2 hrs

agree

Bernhard Sulzer: or maybe: mean people /bad guys have no songs

3 hrs

agree

Julia Lipeles

4 hrs

agree

Hilary Davies

4 hrs

agree

Danjela: Why not "have"? First of all you must have songs before you sing songs. And I think that is the point. There are böse Menschen who sing once you give them a song :)

15 hrs

agree

Z.E. Ball: Where I come from, song or music comes from the heart and bad/evil people don't have heart or soul. Ever heard the Devil sing? ;-))

1 day8 hrs

agree

xxxFrancis Lee: Does anybody understand Kcda's reservation re. "have"??/ And certainly strange coming from a "native-speaker" ...

2 days5 hrs

-> RR = 14%

8 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

S.u.

Explanation:
I am quoting from Georg Büchmanns "Geflügelte Worte":
Gedicht "Die Gesänge" [von Johann Gottfried Seume], dessen erste Stophe:
"Wo man singet, laß dich ruhig nieder,
Ohne Furcht, was man im Lande glaubt;
Wo man singet, wird kein Mensch beraubt;
Bösewichter haben keine Lieder"
vom Volksmund umgewandelt worden ist in:
"Wo man singt, da laß dich ruhig nieder,
Böse Menschen haben keine Lieder."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 39 mins (2007-09-07 14:24:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In English maybe something like:
Nasty people don't/won't sing/don't know how to sing

BrigitteHilgner
Austria
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 24

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Kcda: Yes. I was thinking this way too eg. evil men do not sing songs or create them. Since "haben" here is metaphoricall not 1:1 posses or have songs but rather are evil, not cheerfull, well intended etc. therefore they would not sing/produce/create songs!

6 mins

-> Thank you, Kcda. Yes, I agree that a literal translation is not the best option - maybe "They don't know how to sing"? Have a nice weekend!

agree

Ingeborg Gowans: yes, indeed, I immediately thought of this song and was transported back to my childhood; we sang so many songs. I think today's kids don't have a "Liederschatz"

7 mins

-> Thank you, Ingeborg. (It's been a bit hectic the last couple of days - but I'll get around to answering your e-mail!)

agree

Danjela: agree and with Ingeborg - here they are talking about the "Liederschatz"

15 hrs

-> Thank you, Danjela. Have a nice weekend.

46 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

Bad people don't have songs

Explanation:
2006 - Bad people don't have songs ...
As a German saying goes: Where there is singing, you can make your home - bad people don't have songs! Every three years the Volksmusikerbund NRW members ...

Reference: http://www.geschichte.nrw.de/artikel.php?artikel%5Bid%5D=777...

IP-Chemist

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

bad guys can't sing

Explanation:
if it fits your context

(in the spirit of white folks can't dance, whities can't sing the blues, etc.)

Ken Cox
Netherlands
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 57

2 days4 hrs confidence:

There are/be no warblers amongst the wicked

Explanation:
My very first thought upon seeing the question: "warbler" in the sense of "crooner" or "singer".
Just a thought - depends on the context! ;-)

Then again, it could just mean that they have nowt to sing about ...

xxxFrancis Lee
Germany
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 54

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German: Böse menschen haben keine Lieder

English translation: wicked men have no songs