Welcome to the Nostalgic Ramber





Hans Jeff Borger is heard on WRGE 97.9 FM in Ocala, FL featuring Christian programming.

"The Nostalgic Rambler" radio show can be heard on Youtube. Just search for Hans Jeff Borger Nostalgic Rambler.





Why a blog? I wrote a book "The Little Grownup: a nostalgic Michigan boyhood" which should appeal to most baby boomers. A mass market book? Well, not yet...but the potential is there! (Be sure to buy it at "finer on line bookstores" everywhere!)

The comments presented in "The Nostalgic Rambler" probably won't be of interest to the masses...anymore. If grandma and grandpa and their friends were still alive, then it would be a different story.

I live in the past. My time warp is a comfortable cocoon even if it sometimes drives my wife crazy. The music of the 1940s and 50s, the stars of those days were big stuff in their day, but are now almost forgotten. Oddly enough, I was born in '64 so those iconic years were for the most part over by that time.

Through "The Nostalgic Rambler" I maybe can help share my love and knowledge for those times and things...all at one time important pieces of Americana but now a bit faded in memory.

The woman who did the blog about cooking all of Julia Childs' French Cuisine Cookbook in a year got a sweet movie deal out of her blog experience. I wouldn't mind that but would be happy to know that you are reading this....and maybe enjoying my time warp, too.



Hans Jeff Borger



Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Remembering a song from Lolita: Seeman

There are only a handful of German songs that have ever made it big in the USA and one of them was the song "Seeman" (translated title "Sailor")  by Lolita. In 1959 in reached #5 on the hit list. German isn't known as a beautiful language of song. Perhaps it was the charming voice of Austrian singer Lolita or all of those German immigrants pining for their homeland.

Listen to the song with its English translation in the middle (not too accurate but what do you expect for an American release?). Click here.

Why was the song a big hit? Maybe it was just because the song is catchy and melancholic? It's about a sailor and how his home is the sea. My parents played this song and the whole album over and over when I was growing up (they are from Germany). My grandma loved this song and my step grandpa didn't understand German. He heard the song so many times he finally made up his own English version "Sea man, Sea man, go jump in a lake!"






 It's amazing to read the comments on Youtube about how this song affected people. Seems like lots of German immigrant kids recall their elders listening to Seeman. Nice.
Lolita released a few albums in the US but never had another big hit here. She was a big star in Europe and continued appearing on TV and making records until her death from cancer several years back.

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