Tomorrow Belongs to Me
| A lunatic Chaplin imitator and his greatest fans Nazism |
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| First as tragedy |
| Then as farce |
"Tomorrow Belongs to Me" (known in German as Der Morgige Tag ist Mein) is a "chilling anthem",[1] written for the 1966 musical Cabaret.
The song has subsequently gone through various adaptations.[2]
Origins[edit]
The song was written by two Jews, John Kander and Fred Ebb.[3] [note 1] John Kander was also gay,[5] and Fred Ebb was also allegedly gay;[6] this hasn't stopped antisemitic rock bands such as Skrewdriver, Saga, and Prussian Blue[note 2] from performing it at their rallies, as it is often confused for a genuine Nazi anthem.[8] Expert on all things Nazi, Stormfront, claims: "The German folk song 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me' that predates the Nazi era was adapted and slightly altered for [Cabaret]",[9] and "a rabbinical person" wrote to one of the songwriters "saying he had absolute proof it was a Nazi song"[10] (proof of a Zionist conspiracy engulfing Stormfront bit-by-bit). However, no evidence seems to have emerged for those claims.
Modern usage[edit]
It has been used for political purposes in Britain, in the form of reductio ad Hitlerum by political opponents or satirists: Satirical puppet show Spitting Image satirised the re-election of Margaret Thatcher with this song[11] (which apparently even some Conservatives found funny),[12] and Nigel Nelson mocked the Reich Chancellor George Osborne's budget proposals, by saying: "For one horrifying moment I thought the Chancellor might whip off his suit to reveal lederhosen and a German boy scout uniform and break into a chorus of 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me.'"[13]
It has also found the bizarre usage as an unofficial student anthem of the Computer Science of Copenhagen University in an adapted version including much student humor and computer-slang.
It is also sung by a young German Nazi scout in the first episode of the third season of The Man in the High Castle, a dystopic TV show produced by Amazon Video that narrates a parallel reality where the Nazi and the Japanese empires win World War II.
The song has often been mistakenly linked to the Quebec's sovereigntist movement. There is a Demain nous appartient ("Tomorrow belong to us") song often heard at sovereigntist rallies, but it has nothing to do with the Cabaret song as its author explained.[14]
In film[edit]
From the 1972 film adaptation of Cabaret:
See also[edit]
- Blazing Saddles, which quotes from another song from Cabaret
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Interestingly, these two Jewish men are one of a select few Jews (including Jesus Christ) who are not marked by a Judenstern on the neo-Nazi spinoff of Wikipedia known as Metapedia (at least not on the German version)[4] for the Metapedia page on Tomorrow Belongs to Me (NSFW, unless your boss is a literal Nazi).
- ↑ Fraternal twins Lynx & Lamb Gaede, who comprised Prussian Blue, have since renounced their former affiliation with the White Supremacist cause.[7]
References[edit]
- ↑ On Stage: Goodbye Berlin, Washington Life Magazine, 26 May 2015
- ↑ Hailton, Andrew. Tomorrow Belongs to Me, counter-currents.com.
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Kander and Ebb.
- ↑ Tomorrow belongs to me Metapedia (archived from July 20, 2013).
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on John Kander.
- ↑ Kander and Ebb (June 1, 2017) Gay Influence.
- ↑ Change of heart: Former Nazi teeny boppers are singing a new tune (Posted: Jul 19, 2011 8:59 AM; Updated: Jul 20, 2011 8:32 AM) KYTX (CBS19).
- ↑ Cabaret trivia IMDb.
- ↑ Tomorrow Belongs To Me Stormfront (archived from June 22, 2015). Same warning goes as for previous Metapedia link: NSFW.
- ↑ Tomorrow Belongs to Me (13 October 2008) Rosie Bell (Typepad)
- ↑ Tomorrow Belongs To Me Spitting Image Wiki.
- ↑ Laughing matters by Nicholas Wroe (11 April 2009 00.01 BST) The Grauniad.
- ↑ Budget sketch: George Osborne had a budget box full of kitchen gags but little else by Nigel Nelson (18 March 2015) The Mirror.
- ↑ Quebec’s Jews by Stéphane Venne (January 1978) Commentary Magazzine. Third letter.