“Strenge Gesellen” is a cheeky musical tale in which Hannes Wader wanders from one social tribe to the next – a building site, a circle of academics, a bohemian artists’ loft, small-town neighbours and finally a club of refined gourmets. Every time he lets slip something tiny but “out of place” – a fancy word, a swear word, a starched shirt tail, a rebellious moustache or a bit of loud munching – the strict fellows instantly slap a label on him, confiscate his beer or his right to speak, and banish him to the corner like a naughty schoolboy.
Behind the fun wordplay and slapstick punishments lies a sharp satire on how quickly people judge anyone who does not fit their unwritten rules. Wader shows that whether you are called intellectual, proletarian, bourgeois, anarchist or epicure, the crowd’s verdict says more about their fear of difference than about you. In the punch-line twist, the singer finally turns the tables and orders society to stand in the corner while he keeps enjoying life. The song’s grin-inducing message: keep being yourself, and let the “strenge Gesellen” stew in their own narrow-mindedness!