A song that aparently is from the 30 Years War but I've seen a lot older dates associated with this song. English lyrics:
the grim dead aims his arrow at your life
life dwindles away like smoke in the wind
no flesh can escape
your goods and chattels can't come with you
Nobody can foretell how long you will live
If dead knocks on your door, go have to unlock it
He takes with him the young and the old
even the king marches in his queue
Maybe today's your last day
virtue you shall ensue
and hope for many years to come
He who made made this song and sang it
often gazed at death
Now he lies in his deep grave
you're going to follow ... today or tomorrow
Instrumental version and German lyrics here
"T: angeblich vom lutherischen Stiftsprediger und Probst in Stuttgart, Dr. Balthasar Bidembach (1533–1578); erstmals gedruckt im Paderborner Gesangbuch (1617)
ReplyDeleteM: »Pavierton« (1525), ein Landsknechtslied über die Schlacht bei Pavia
Q: Walther Hensel, »Das aufrecht Fähnlein«, Kassel 1933(2), Bärenreiter"
According to the above text, the lyrics are supposed to be from a Lutheran priest before the TYW, and the music from 1525.