I was introduced to "Bolle reiste jüngst" by Stephan Lafery, a member of the
The Vegesack Whalermen, and this amusing song has now become part of our repertoire. Its six verses are of a Berliner, Bolle, who always finds something amusing no matter what awful things happen to him - and I do mean awful! Fighting with knives and losing a right eye, the left being of a marble-coloured for example. Only in the final verse does Bolle lose his sense of humour. He wishes to depart life for the higher regions by means of laying himself on the tracks of a light railway. Unfortunately for Bolle, the train is more than 14 days late and he dies of starvation becoming "Dürrgemüse"!