The spirit of the
Heinrich Heine poem
Lorelei was captured marvelously by
the Pogues on their 1989 album
Peace and Love. I had no idea what this song was about until I went on a
Pogues binge (which I do about once a year) and just had to perform some
exegesis on some of their songs.
Lorelei has great long strumming electric guitar riffs that add a kind of wonderful romantic melody to it.
Although the lyrics are far from a literal translation of the Heinrich Heine poem, it adheres thematically. There’s no specific mention the siren (girl) with a comb in her hand, although another Pogues song, Turkish Song of the Damned from their 1988 album If I Should Fall From Grace With God does reference the lady with the comb at the scene of a shipwreck.
Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned
You remember when the ship went down
You left me on the deck
The captain's corpse jumped up
And threw his arms around my neck
For all these years I've had him on my back
This debt cannot be paid with all your jack
The Power of Christ compels you to drop what you're doing and listen to it as soon as possible.
Here's the lyrics:
You told me tales of love and glory
Same old sad songs, same old story
The sirens sing no lullaby
And no-one knows but Lorelei
By castles out of fairytales
Timbers shivered where once there sailed
The lovesick men who caught her eye
And no-one knew but Lorelei
River, river have mercy
Take me down to the sea
For if I perish on these rocks
My love no more I'll see
I've thought of you in far-off places
I've puzzled over lipstick traces
So help me God, I will not cry
And then I think of Lorelei
I travel far and wander wide
No photograph of you beside me
Ol' man River's not so shy
And he remembers Lorelei
River, river have mercy
Take me down to the sea
For if I perish on these rocks
My love no more I'll see
If I should float upon this stream
And see you in my madman's dream
I'd sink into your troubled eyes
And none would know 'cept Lorelei
River, river have mercy
Take me down to the sea
For if I perish on these rocks
My love no more I'll see
But if my ship, which sails tomorrow
Should crash against these rocks,
My sorrows I will drown before I die
It's you I'll see, not Lorelei