Story Behind The Song

Set in East Berlin during the 1980s, A Knock At The Door is a passionate love story, interwoven with social and political satire, a touch of human tragedy and moments of pure farce. As the dramatic tension builds, fear mingles with laughter as we take a surrealist look at the illogicalities of life in a police state where walls, quite literally, have ears and even the moon could be a secret Stasi spy. Nothing here is ever quite what it seems. The action centres around a group of cadets and their leaders, whose well planned lives are changed dramatically by the arrival of a mysterious stranger in their midst. A story of idealism, hope and love in adversity, the dynamics of the plot reflect the growing tensions in the Eastern Bloc during the run up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the show closes with the mixed emotions of East Berliners as the seemingly unshakeable system which has been their ?reality? for so many years falls apart. Celebrations and rejoicing, yes. But just who will get the happy ending? The title refers to the metaphorical knock of history on the door of the future as well as to the literal knock on the door in the middle of the night that heralded a visit by the dreaded Secret Police under communism. The characters and story line are my own creation and I have attempted to cover themes which are chillingly relevant to today?s audiences. The questions raised by ever-increasing levels of state surveillance, anti-terrorist ?suspect? laws, detention without trial, trial without jury, freedom of (mis) information, the politics of spin, Big Brother, censorship and the morality of war are all issues that hold particular resonance for contemporary audiences. And then there's love... Yes, these are all "big" themes, but I have tackled them through the eyes of down-to -earth human characters with whom every local audience can empathise.

Song Description

Taken from "A Knock At The Door", and oringinal new musical by Nicol Walsh and Ville Hildén

Lyrics

They Served The Working Class - Rewriting History

An East German History Lesson

Um, you know I taught you last week
That Wagner was a sad geek
Who couldn't tell his Engels from his ass
And the same was true for Luther?
Well now that just won't do, for
We've recognized they served the working class

Now our text books aren't mistaken
Our learning stays unshaken
We're simply gluing in another page
For their rehabilitation
As Heroes of our Nation
A credit to our glorious heritage

Take the case of Count Otto Von Bismarck
That elitist and militant squirearch
Though anti-democratic
In matters diplomatic
We can see his actions worked out for the best

So just cross out "that vicious dictator"
Since we no longer call him a traitor
He ended fragmentation
Helped to unite our nation
And so we find he passes history's test

So! They were all on our side
Standing with the good guys
On East Germany's side

Remember our discussion
Rejecting all things Prussian?
We all agreed that Frederick wasn't "great"
Well we quite forgot to mention
The cultural dimension
As a poet he's a figure we can rate.

Spoken: - a friend of Voltaire!

So we'll fish out those statues we're storing
And find him and his horse a good mooring
On broader definition
We relish his ambition
And we're proud to pin his colours to the mast

So we'll blot out "vainglorious Arschloch"
And substitute "Enlightened Despot?
And we thank the party congress
For helping us to redress
This imbalance in the reading of our past

Here's to Luther and Clausewitz and Einstein
Thomas Müntzer! They all trod the right line
In matters quite eclectic
They served the dialectic
And they merit celebration for their zest

And we thank the industrious thinker
Who has rescued them hook line and sinker
From the dustbin of our history
Now isn't it a mystery
No German heroes stemming from the West.

Yes! They were all on our side
On the Socialist side
On East Germanys side

Good old Luther
He spoke the truth
Showed us all the way to Paradise