I Think As I Please: Peace Song for 10/19/2011

“Die Gedanken Sind Frei”, “I Think As I Please”, is the Peace Song for Wednesday, October 19, 2011. Duchess Susanna would like to dedicate this song about freedom of expression to author Naomi Wolf, and everyone else who has been arrested for their activism during the occupations.

You can find English words to “Die Gedanken Sind Frei” by Arthur Kevess at Rise Up Singing (available for purchase: here). I stumbled upon the song in a library book, “Songs That Changed The World” by Wanda Willson Whitman. The words at the bottom of this post are based on a Pete Seeger version of the song.


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Die Gedanken Sind Frei
A German peasant song
English lyrics by Peter Seeger

DIE GEDANKEN SIND FREI

Die gedanken sind frei
My thoughts freely flower
Die gedanken sind frei
My thoughts give me power
No scholar can map them
No hunter can trap them
No man can deny
Die gedanken sind frei
I think as I please
And this gives me pleasure
My conscience decrees
This right I must treasure
My thoughts will not cater
To duke or dictator
No man can deny
Die gedanken sind frei
Tyrants can take me
And throw me in prison
My thoughts will burst forth
Like blossoms in season
Foundations may crumble
And structures may tumble
But free men shall cry
Die gedanken sind frei

 

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