“I usually say exactly what I mean so that everyone understands me,” Newman explains. “But the subject of ‘In Germany Before The War’ is too gruesome to lend itself to a comprehensive description. There may be too little concrete information in the text, but I’ve tried to overcome that through the ghostly orchestration. Although it is not said in so many words, the listener knows that the main character is a child murderer. At least, that was my intention and I have the feeling that I have succeeded in that.”

Germany Before the War
Randy Newman

In Germany Before The War
There was a man who owned a store
In nineteen hundred thirty-four
In Dusseldorf
And every night at fine-o-nine
He’d cross the park down to the Rhine
And he’d sit there by the shore

I’m looking at the river
But I’m thinking of the sea
Thinking of the sea
Thinking of the sea
I’m looking at the river
But I’m thinking of the sea

A little girl has lost her way
With hair of gold and eyes of gray
Reflected in his glasses
As he watches her
A little girl has lost her way
With hair of gold and eyes of gray

I’m looking at the river
But I’m thinking of the sea
Thinking of the sea
Thinking of the sea

We lie beneath the autumn sky
My little golden girl and I
And she lies very still

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