The Happy Wanderer

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For the episode of The Sopranos, see The Happy Wanderer (The Sopranos episode).
The original hit recording by the Obernkirchen Children's Choir
The original hit recording by the Obernkirchen Children's Choir

The song The Happy Wanderer ("Der fröhliche Wanderer" or "Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann") is often mistaken for a German folk song, but it is actually an original song by Friedrich-Wilhelm Möller, written shortly after World War II. His sister Edith Möller conducted a small amateur children's and youth choir in Schaumburg County, Northern Germany, international named Obernkirchen Children's Choir, in Germany named Schaumburger Märchensänger.

In 1953, BBC Radio aired the choir's winning performance at Llangollen International Eisteddfod, an annual arts festival in North Wales. The broadcast turned the cheerful encore into an instant hit. On January 22, 1954, the song took the #2 spot of the UK single charts, where it remained for 23 weeks in a row, then spent 3 more weeks on #8. With BBC Radio's strong international influence, "The Happy Wanderer" suddenly turned up everywhere, e.g. as the winning song of the 1955 calypso road march season of the Trinidad Carnival (prompting protest that from now on, only calypsoes should be chosen over foreign music).

The amateur choir, many of whose original members were war orphans, turned into an unlikely international phenomenon in the following years. The group performed on countless international tours under the name Obernkirchen Children's Choir, with performances on TV shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show (November 29, 1964, and December 11, 1966). The choir was also featured in a 1955 German musical movie named after the song.

The song's original German lyrics have been translated to several languages, and it has since become a choir classic. The English lyrics were written by Antonia Ridge. Milton DeLugg wrote a famous arrangement, and is sometimes falsely credited as the composer of the song.

When the Montreal Expos baseball team played in Olympic Stadium, "The Happy Wanderer" was played to celebrate offensive explosions, with the fans joining in on the chorus.

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