Claus Kucher in Vienna has tendencies like most of us when he writes:
his mind moves faster than his typing fingers!  I am a relative novice
at the German language, so I enlisted aid from a German friend to explain
further what is happening in his letter (digest 950901).

Claus is a member of the "School of Viennese Songs" [I think that's the
name of a club] which meets regularly at the restaurant, "Zum Werkelmann",
operated by Wolfgang Geissler.  "Werkelmann" means  "workman", so the
restaurent is "At the Workman's".  I think in Austrian it also connotes
the man who turns the crank of the barrel-organ, so "Werkelmaenner"
means the "Hurdy-Gurdy Men".

"Drehorgel" is the proper German term for the small hand-cranked
barrel organ, and  "Leierkasten" is the old-time generic word for any
small hurdy-gurdy;  the term comes from an ancient mechanical violin,
not unlike a Mills Violana or an "Arthur Godfrey ukelele" with push-buttons!

Wolfgang Geissler has organized the 13th annual convention at the "Bohemian
Park" in Vienna, which is a BIG amusement park much like Tivoli, with
[they say] the largest Ferris Wheel in the world.  "Stachelwalze" means
"spiked cylinder", another name for barrel-organ or -piano or music box.

Some of the owners of electronically-controlled organs asked Claus if he
could make arrangements of Austrian folk songs, and I have offered to
help decipher the EPROM memory format for him.  The little organs do not
accept Midi wireline signals.

Claus transmitted a cute Midi song file to me, and I've asked him if it will be
okay to share it with everyone.  The German title is "Einmal im Monat damit
pfeife ich auf dem Jazz", which I thought meant, "Once a month I whistle
about jazz."  Well, my German friend pointed out that I had encounted
yet another quaint German or Bavarian expression: the correct translation
is (in polite English), "Once a month I don't give a damn about jazz!"

Ah, so.  The lyrics accompaning the song file seem to tell about a young man
whose father tells him to get a date and go to the Wine-Garden district to
"unwind".   But the text got clobbered in transmission due to incompatible
German vs. American computer keyboards -- every vowel became some
unprintable  character -- so I've asked Claus for a re-transmission, with a
rough English translation.  It's got to be a good, funny song!

-- Robbie Rhodes