Stille Nacht [English translation]

Silent night, holy night

Christmas bonus will be brought

By Mr. Ruprecht1 the payroll troll2

The staff go to the loo in silence

Counting how many crumbs

Graciously fell from master’s table

Silent night, holy night

False comfort! Oh, how the

Director laughed mouth full to the brim!

Graciously singing to us at the divine hour:

Working peace on Earth!3

We fell for it again!

Cheap night, hurried night

Installment plan, made easy

By the angels' alleluia!

They're part of the advertising budget

For the heavenly father

Is the company president!

Silent night, holy night-

Christmas tree lit up

And a lovely little song is sung!

And a little eggnog drunk-

And the children were beaten

Until they were nicely reverent

Good night, embarrassing night –

Television play turned off

And a queasy feeling

Because love refuses to rise to the occasion!

Two more nights to sleep-

Then back to business!

Silent night, holy night-

Got through Christmas time!

Huge yawning in the wallet

Overtime still hurts!

False peace on earth

We celebrated with the management!4

Wild night, night on strike!

One of these days, not gently at all

We don't give a damn about the gentleman's generosity

Someday the people will take over the company

And the state’s leadership—

That would be a Christmas!

1. A play on Knecht Ruprecht, who is Santa's assistant in German culture, he has his own ability to reward and punish, see wikipedia.2. the German lyrics emphasize the existence of 'Hohn' inside the word Lohnbüro. Hohn is mockery or scorn, Lohnbüro is the payroll office. I couldn't think of an equivalent English joke, but if we made this line literal it would just be Mr. Ruprecht from the payroll office.3. English doesn't have a good equivalent for Arbeitsfriede. It's a compound word of 'work' and 'peace' but means peaceful labor relationships and importantly, no strikes.4. It may be relevant to say if it said 'Feierten wir mit dem Herrn' it would be 'we celebrated with the Lord', so it seems to be a play on expectations.

• Artist:Dieter Süverkrüp
• Album:Stille Nacht, Allerseits (1970) / Zusammengesammelte Werke (1972) / Süverkrüps Liederjahre (1963-1985 ff) (2002)