No, I am not disparate for source material. And “Ja (yes)” this artwork’s subject matter is Polka music. Before you click on the link to Ten reasons you should lower your expectations,” or ” Fifteen ways to justify your personality flaws,” know that this was one of the few remembered songs that I played on the accordion when I was seven to maybe ten years old. “Ja das ist” the Liechtensteiner Polka.  I must point out, I  have to use a cheat sheet to spell “Lie_ch_ten_steiner.

This is the first rather empty image 1 of the Liechtensteiner Polka.  This artwork now consists of two small 4 x 6 inch canvases with an aluminum frame, about 36 inches in length.  The white and black colors come from the costumes worn in the videos.

In my accordion days I remember this music as an instrumental:

What I have now found is that the Liechtensteiner Polka by Will Glahé reached to number 19 on the Billboard Weekly Top Forty in late December of 1957.  Sam Cooke’s You Send Me was number one, while Jailhouse Rock, by Elvis was number two that same week.  I would have been nine years old at that time. I have no memory of listening to either Sam Cook, Elvis or the Lie_ch_ten_steiner Polka.

In fact I was a little shocked when first listening to Will Glahé singing the Liechtensteiner Polka in German. I know it makes sense that Polka music is sung in German, but actually hearing my favorite accordion song in German, reminded me of old war movies about the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. I know not to stereotype Germany. My heritage is 50 percent German Swiss. Still, having an English version would have been nice, except for the, “Ja” parts of the music.  I was all in on that language. In fact after listening to this catchy tune multiple times sung in Germain, I  found myself singing at random moments,  with no clear reasoning, “Ja, Ja, Ja.”

Here is that vocal version of Liechtensteiner Polka:

I do counter the Germanic voices in my head by watching and listening to other videos, including the legionary David Bowie singing live, wind sweep hair and all, “Bring Me the Disco King,” a favorite.

"ja, das ist gut"

Scott Von Holzen