# Folk tune ID - "I Was Not A Nazi Polka"

**URL:** <https://community.mp3tag.de/t/folk-tune-id-i-was-not-a-nazi-polka/50604>\
**Category:** Off-Topic\
**Created:** [October 27, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/folk-tune-id-i-was-not-a-nazi-polka/50604 "2020-10-27T16:52:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/zerow/32/11379_2.png) [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/folk-tune-id-i-was-not-a-nazi-polka/50604/1 "2020-10-27T16:52:30Z")

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There is this satirical song by The Mitchell Trio from 1965 entitled "I Was Not A Nazi Polka": [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3fP15F6szA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3fP15F6szA)

The lyrics start with

_As you travel through Die Schöne Deutschland_  
_A melody will greet your ears_  
_It's a melody that's been around in Deutschland_  
_For fifteen to twenty years_

I know that the words refer to the political-social situation of that time- but I am interested in knowing what is that melody that they use in the beginning? I thought it was an original composition, but then after years of listening to it I heard it also being sung / vocalized in some feature movie, which action took place in Denmark in 1875  
` `  
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So what is that `melody that's been around in Deutschland` and its north neighbor for supposedly at least 150 years? Does anybody know?

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**Author:** ![LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/c6cbf5/32.png) [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/folk-tune-id-i-was-not-a-nazi-polka/50604/2 "2020-10-27T18:46:30Z")

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According to

> **[The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945-1990](https://books.google.ch/books?id=-vPuoKrNRp8C&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=I%2BWas%2BNot%2BA%2BNazi%2BPolka%2Bbased%2Bon&source=bl&ots=Ko1jFoShAO&sig=ACfU3U3OSnlU7RkghECgzFbxI4nY1CBiRw&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiH67XdtdXsAhXFx4UKHX9NCQIQ6AEwDHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=I%20Was%20Not%20A%20Nazi%20Polka%20based%20on&f=false)**

"I was not a Nazi Polka" could be a parody of "[Twelve days of christmas](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas)".

I have no proof if this is true.

Or maybe you read [this thread](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=55750) with some other suggestions.

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**Author:** ![Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/zerow/32/11379_2.png) [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/folk-tune-id-i-was-not-a-nazi-polka/50604/3 "2020-12-08T00:41:36Z")

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That thread says that the lyrics [concerning the political satire] were supposedly written by Norman Martin. And the the song incorporates traditional German drinking song "Shnitzlebank" [and it does sound like it as far as I can tell from what is available on YouTube]

And there are some ideas about that original first tune, but unfortunately with false answers
