Going home to Bremerhaven

It’s been 90 years almost,

Since that cold rainy spring day

The little u-boat pulled away from the shore,

And I left my wife and baby by the side

Crying together in time

Saying don’t go nicht gehen daddy

Good-bye, good-bye

Auf weidersehen nicht gehen vati

And the boat pulled away

So sad a day

I am going home to Bremerhaven

Almost 90 years to the day

Home to the hause

Where they waited for days

For a life time

When daddy never came home again

Home to Bremerhaven

Now in the sunshine, a beautiful new day

Home to Bremerhaven

Home to see the graves of meine liebchen and meine  kinder

The little boat rolled out into the sea,

Three weeks it was supposed to be,

Passing Jutland first

Then into the darkened see

On patrol off the Orkney islands

Outside famous Scapa Flow

Home of the British Navy

Only 10 days had passed

When the three destroyers came

Billowing black smoke behind

Rocking so evilly

Searching for us so merrily

Throwing depth charges in the sea

Chasing us into the deep

We rolled and prayed

And cried and prayed

For 2 long days

They chased us north around the coast

Bombing us again and again

The little boat bobbed and swayed

And grown men cried and prayed

As we rolled and swayed

Deep in the North Sea

No home coming for me

And meine frau she knew

She could feel the pain

On that sad day too

When finally the little boat cracked

And started to die

The cold water rushing in

And men screaming and dying, all crying

The red lights dying one by one

The boys in the front compartment

Went first, the cracked hull there was worst

The boys in the conn

Screaming mutti mutti

Gott in himmel helfe mir bitte bitte

The first officer looked at me

With a sad wistful smile

And said

Ich liebe dich, mein freund

And we then died

As the cold water filled the iron coffin

And drifted to the bottom of the sea

For all eternity

My frau

She never smiled again

She new instantly

Of our sad painful freezing death

Lucky for her it wasn’t long to end

No food to eat

No life to lead

Only bitterness and sorrow

When the influenza came

And killed them both the same

And they laid them deep

In a grave by the sea

In Bremerhaven on the see

Somewhere in the cold North Sea

Daddy’s been resting comfortably

On the bottom of the sea

Playing pinochle with the unter offizers

And listening to the little 78

Waiting for the time

When all souls go home again

To see the loves they left

Standing in the rain

By the dockside grey

Or by some miracle

Find a empty soul to borrow

And go back home again

And bring this sadness to an end

And the wife and child are waiting

So very patiently

For vati to come home again

To come and see

The grave in which they lay

For so many lonely days

All alone by the see

Waiting so patiently

For me

I’m going home to Bremerhaven

Ill finally get to see

Just one more time

The frau I had there

And the little girl

So blonde and fair

Bows so fine in her hair

And smile so sweet

It made the sun shine

Home to Bremerhaven

To the back of the graveyard for the Kreigsmarine

By a small gravestone covered in ivy

And there ill get to see

My little girl just once again

One final time

For me...

See her smile again

And mutti standing by her side

Home to Bremerhaven

One final time

Home to Bremerhaven

One god sent time.

Home to Bremerhaven