"Springtime for Hitler" | |
---|---|
Song | |
from the album Music and Dialogue from Mel Brooks' "The Producers" | |
Released | 1967 |
Composer(s) | Mel Brooks |
Lyricist(s) | Mel Brooks |
"Springtime for Hitler" is a song written and composed by Mel Brooks for his 1968 film The Producers . [1] [2]
In the original film, the 2001 musical, and 2005 film adaptation, the song is part of the stage musical titled Springtime for Hitler , which the two protagonists produce on Broadway. [1] [3] [4] It was orchestrated by Philip J. Lang [5] and staged by Alan Johnson [6] for the former, with the latter productions orchestrated by Doug Besterman and staged by director Susan Stroman.
In the film, it has four sections. It begins with a 4/4 interlude sung by actors dressed as Bavarian villagers who have found "a new leader to restore Germany's former glory." The version in the stage musical and the later film have additional verses, some of which occur in the reprise after the song "Heil, Myself".
For the main melody, the curtain opens to reveal chorus girls dressed in Ziegfeld-esque costumes laden with German and Nazi iconography and a male Nazi soloist singing:
Intro section:
Germany was having trouble, what a sad, sad story
Needed a new leader to restore its former glory
Where, Oh where was he? Where could that man be?
We looked around and then we found
The man for you and me.
And now it's..
Main song:
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Deutschland is happy and gay
We're marching to a faster pace
Look out! Here comes the master race
[The following verse is only in the stage musical and film of same but not in the original 1968 film]
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Rhineland's a fine land once more
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Watch out, Europe, we're going on tour
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Winter for Poland and France
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Come on Germans, go into your dance. [1]
The next section is a tap-dance break with two solo lines in between;
"I was born in Düsseldorf and that is why they call me Rolf",
"Don't be stupid, be a smarty! Come and join the Nazi Party!" The latter line was dubbed by Mel Brooks in all versions of the song
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Goosestep's the new step today
bombs falling from the skies again
Deutschland is on the rise again
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Uboats are sailing once more
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Means that soon we'll be going
We've got to be going
You know we'll be going to WAR!
The final section has the entire company reprising the main melody in slow 3/4 march tempo.
Moreover, the verses are accompanied by a "happy chorus line". [1] [7]
In the 1968 film, 2001 stage musical, and 2005 film, the Bavarian interlude, Ziegfeld menagerie, and Busby Berkeley–styled swastika formation remain largely unchanged.
The first major difference between the 1968 film and the stage musical and 2005 film concerned the character who played the part of Adolf Hitler and the circumstances of Springtime for Hitler's surprise success. In the 1968 film, by the time the song was over, the audience was ready to leave the theatre in disgust and horror, with Max and Leo, ecstatic their plan worked, retreating to a bar. But as the scene changes to reveal hippie actor Lorenzo St. Dubois aka 'L.S.D.'s (played by Dick Shawn) as Adolf Hitler, his wild improvisations prove to be an instant hit, leaving them in hysterical fits of laughter.
In the musical and 2005 film, the character L.S.D. was omitted and the plot was changed to have the character Roger De Bris, the show's director, play Adolf Hitler after the original actor, the playwright Franz Liebkind, "broke (his) leg". The character Ulla is now part of the cast as Marlene Dietrich and a Black Eagle, and Roger appears immediately after the dance break. He then sings a new section called "Heil Myself", followed by a reprise of the Bavarian interlude done in the style of Judy Garland. Most productions would follow this with a monologue of Hitler's rise to power. In others, it is followed by a satirical "Challenge Tap" dance with the Allied Leaders. [8]
In the musical, "Springtime for Hitler" is directly presented to the musical audience, with the positive reception confirmed in the following scene in Max and Leo's office. In the 2005 film, the audience is shown preparing to leave in disgust (similar to the 1968 film), but returns to their seats laughing after Roger's flamboyant Hitler appears.
7" single High Anxiety by Mel Brooks — 1978, Asylum Records E-45458, United States and Canada
The song (in the original version from the 1968 film The Producers ) was ranked 80th on the list of the "100 greatest songs in American cinema" released by the American Film Institute (AFI) in 2004. [10]
Melvin James Brooks is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. A recipient of numerous accolades, he is one of 21 entertainers to win the EGOT, which includes an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2015, a National Medal of Arts in 2016, a BAFTA Fellowship in 2017, and the Honorary Academy Award in 2024.
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Springtime for Hitler.