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Bilingual Bedtime/German songs
BewegungsliedAction song

Backe, backe Kuchen.

The melody of Backe, backe Kuchen on a staff, as engraved in the book
Download the tune

The melody as written on the staff, so you can learn the tune before you sing.

Verse 1

  1. Backe, backe Kuchen,bah-kuh, bah-kuh koo-khuhn,Bake, bake a cake,
  2. der Bäcker hat gerufen!dair beh-ker haht guh-roo-fuhn!the baker has called out!
  3. Wer will guten Kuchen backen,vair vil goo-tuhn koo-khuhn bah-kuhn,Whoever wants to bake a good cake,
  4. der muss haben sieben Sachen:dair moos hah-buhn zee-buhn zah-khuhn:must have seven things:

Verse 2

  1. Eier und Schmalz,ai-er oont shmahlts,Eggs and lard,
  2. Butter und Salz,boot-ter oont zahlts,Butter and salt,
  3. Milch und Mehl,milkh oont mayl,Milk and flour,
  4. Safran macht die Kuchen gehl.zah-frahn mahkht dee koo-khuhn gayl.Saffron makes the cake yellow.
  5. Schieb, schieb, in Ofen 'nein.sheep, sheep, in oh-fuhn nain.Push, push, into the oven.

About this song

A hand clapping rhyme from Saxony and Thuringia, printed by Böhme in 1897 among the Patschhändchen songs. Hold the baby's hands and clap them together on the beat, then push the cake into the oven on the last line, which Böhme marks half spoken. Gehl is the old rhyming form of gelb, yellow.

Where it comes from

The words: Franz Magnus Böhme, Deutsches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1897), S. 46.

The tune: Böhme prints the tune himself beside the text: Franz Magnus Böhme, Deutsches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel (1897), Nr. 174 'Kuchenbacken', S. 46, four engraved systems in F major, 2/4, the last marked '(Halb gesprochen.)'. Every note is read off that engraving. Cross-checked against the score block in the 'Text und Melodie' section of the de.wikipedia article 'Backe, backe Kuchen' (D major, 2/2, soprano line): brought to the same tonic the two agree degree for degree except that Wikipedia falls to the tonic where Böhme stays on the mediant on 'der' and on 'backen', and the half spoken last line, which Wikipedia sets 8-5-4-3-2-1 against Böhme's 8-5-3-2-1-1. Böhme's reading is the one printed

From the book

Bilingual Bedtime

Thirty-Seven German Songs for Children

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All 37 songsHoppe, hoppe, Reiter
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