20

In Rixdorf ist Musike

Uff den Sonntag freu ick mir.
Ja, denn jeht et `raus zu ihr,
Feste mit verjnügtem Sinn,
Pferdebus nach Rixdorf hin!
Dort erwartet Rieke mir,
Ohne Rieke keen Pläsir!
In Rixdorf ist Musike,
Da tanz ick mit der Rieke,
In Rixdorf bei Berlin.

“I’am looking forward to Sunday, when I’ll head off to see her; quick, with a joyful heart, to Rixdorf in a horse-drawn bus! Rieke is already waiting, without Rieke there’s no fun! In Rixdorf plays the music, I’m dancing there with Rieke, in Rixdorf near Berlin!”

The song “In Rixdorf ist Musike“ in 1889 became the most popular song in Berlin due to the performance of the comedian Heinrich Littke-Carlsen who also danced the one-step while singing. To keep up morality the one-step was banned by the police in 1912. The change of the name Rixdorf to Neukölln in the same year also was part of an agenda to rid this part of the city of its damaging image as centre of cheap entertainment and criminal hotspot.