Alexander Königs

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Songwriter and Composer

Music is magic...

Little Soldier


My story is an old one
but never had been told,
´cause in the heart of desert
I happened to grow old.
It´s more than hundred years ago,
- a long time, without meeting anyone.

I died, right where I lay here
just shot by anyone,
from anywhere behind me,
I didn’t see him come,
he was a child of life like me,
until today betrayed by destiny.

My dying wasn’t bloody,
the dry sand drank my life,
my best friend saved my body
to keep my history alive:
"Northern Desert" was his name
The times passed by to face eternity

Ref.: And if someone finds me as a soldier - anytime,
fallen in the desert’s heart - one day
it shall be someone like you.

My dry eyes can’t be blinded,
my leathern skin can’t burn,
my dead heart can’t be frozen,
for meal or water I don’t yearn,
nobody else is free like me,
and no one knows my place in history.

Once I had my small lass,
we loved to wander in this land
that always gave profoundness
and peace of mind to lend.
But I never had the chance
to leave a lasting footprint in this sand
.

Companions of the present
are sand and wind and stars.
They’re anytime more pleasant
than the "Pacific Wars".*
The calm I feel alone the more
there’s only one desire I long for:

Ref.: And if someone finds me as a soldier - anytime,
fallen in the desert’s heart - one day
it shall be someone like you.

Once came the day you found me,
no matter which day or year.
Tender hands and mind did touch me.
no hesitation and no fear.
Your open mind, it let me realise
that you can feel the same peace deep inside.

You feel this place just like me,
so we meet like oldest friends,
certainty you gave me,
that everything has it’s own sense.
Beneath this dry land with its sands
you keep my dignity right in your hands

Now, go along and leave me.
May be we meet again.
My modest house is open
- will always let you in.
Keep my existence in your mind
leave your own footprints now - instead of mine.

Ref.: And if someone finds me as a soldier - anytime,
fallen in the desert’s heart - one day
it shall be someone like you.
 

* Pacific War: span: guerro pacifico, Salpeterkrieg zwischen Chile, Peru und Bolivien 1879-83

 

Alexander Königs im Sommer 2001

Das Lied entstand nach der Geschichte einer chilenischen Freundin, Alexandra Munoz Husak. Jahre zuvor hatte sie in der chilenischen Atacama-Wüste den mumifizierten Leichnam eines Soldaten – vermutlich aus Zeiten des Salpeterkriegs – gefunden. Eine sehr eigenwillige, einsame und stille Begegnung. Die sehr einfühlsame Weise, auf die mir Alexandra von dieser Begegnung berichtete sowie meine eigene Liebe zu Chile und seiner Geschichte, inspirierten mich zu diesem Lied.

Irgendwann werde ich den “Kleinen Soldaten” auch einmal besuchen, um ihm sein Lied zu singen.

 

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