Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass facts for kids
Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass (which means Three Chinese with a Double Bass) is a very popular and fun German children's song. It's known for being a bit silly and nonsensical. The coolest thing about it is a simple type of word play: the words stay almost the same, but in each new part of the song, all the vowels are changed to just one single vowel! This single vowel then changes in the next part.
The Music of the Song
The tune most people know today for "Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass" goes like this: <score sound="1"> <<
\chords { \set chordChanges = ##t
c1 | g | g | c | c | f | g | c | }
\relative c' { \clef treble \key c \major \time 4/4
c4. c8 c8 c b c | d4 d d2 | d8 d d d d d c d | e4 e8 e e4. c8 | g'8 g g g g4 e8 c | a'4 a4 a2 | g4. a8 g8 f e d | c4 c c2 |\bar "|." }
\addlyrics { Drei Chi -- ne -- sen mit dem | Kon -- tra -- bass | sa -- ßen auf der Stra --ße und er -- | zähl -- ten sich was. Da | kam die Po -- li -- zei, fragt: “Was | ist denn das?” | Drei Chi -- ne -- sen mit dem | Kon -- tra -- bass! | }
>> </score>
There's also another tune that used to be more common in Germany. You can still hear it often in western Austria and the German speaking part of Switzerland:
<score sound="1"> <<
\chords { \set chordChanges = ##t
c1 | g:7 | g:7 | c | c | g:7 | g:7 | c | }
\relative c { \clef treble \key c \major \time 4/4
c4. c8 c8 c b a | g4 g g2 | g8 g g g g g a b | c4 c8 c c4. g8 | c8 c c c c4 b8 a | g4 g g2 | g4. g8 g8 g a b | c4 c c2 \bar "|." }
\addlyrics { Drei Chi -- ne -- sen mit dem | Kon -- tra -- bass | sa -- ßen auf der Stra -- ße und er -- | zähl -- ten sich was. Da | kam die Po -- li -- zei, fragt: “Was | ist denn das?” | Drei Chi -- ne -- sen mit dem | Kon -- tra -- bass! | }
>> </score> The main difference between these two tunes is how high or low the notes go. The first tune uses a wider range of notes than the second one.
How to Play the Vowel Game
The first part of the song is sung in regular German. It tells a simple story:
|
|
After the first part, the fun begins! You sing at least eight more parts. In each new part, you change all the vowels in the song to just one specific vowel. The vowels are changed in a special order: A, E, I, O, U, Ä, Ö, Ü.
For example, the second part of the song, where all vowels become 'A', would sound like this:
Dra Chanasan mat dam Kantrabass
saßan af dar Straßa and arzahltan sach was.
Dra Chanasan mat dam Kantrabass.
Da kam da Palaza, a, was ast dann das?
Sometimes, people make the game even harder by changing groups of vowels, like 'ai' or 'au'. In another version, one person might shout "Nochmal!" (which means "Again!") to tell everyone to change to the next vowel. But of course, they would also say "nachmal" or "nechmel" depending on the vowel they are currently using!
See also
If you want to read about "Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass" in Spanish, you can find it here: Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass para niños
