Zeugnistag [English translation]

I think I must have bin about twelve years old

And once again it was school report day

Only that this time I thought the school building would break in with its roof

When my report lay before me white and ugly

Although I certainly didn't expect a lot

As I was a lazy bud and what's more

Quite strange, I'd never had believed

In being such a complete loser

Well, now it's happend, no it's all over

Not even a D in Religious Education

Oh no, with this report you'd better not get home

But rather to the foreigners' legion

I didn't show it to my parents and signed it for them

Quite colourful it looked pretty good, without overestimating

I might have been a flaw in German and Biology

However, I was pretty good a drawing

Of course, the miracle was already detected the next day

The copy was probably not that clever in the end

The headmaster came and angrily took me out of my class

There I stood, alone, dumb and broken

So let my parents come and leaned back

Hypocritically he already enjoyed

The clip for the copier, the mislead guy

This document forger, their son

My father took the report in his hands and looked at me

And calmly said: "Talking about my person

There's no trace of a doubt

That this is really my signature"

Also my mum said, yes, that was her writing her name

Pretty badly, but on had to consider

That before she had just carried two big shopping bags

Then she said: "Come on, boy, let's go"

I've still passed quite a few years on school benches

And continued to learn without resistance

Names, tables, theories hence and forth

Good is, I didn't get completely stupid

Only one unit came to the top in all those years

Just this single one from the masses of load:

How good it is to know that someone will protect you

No matter what you've done

I don't know if it was just that my parents

Got me out of there, what about morals?

Clever people are arguing, smart alecks are fighting

I don't know and I don't mind either

All I know is that I wish that every child in the world

And of course, that also you, my child

In burning, wrong-going situations when the world falls apart

That you had parents made of this materia

That they had parents cut out of this materia

• Artist:Reinhard Mey
• Album:Keine ruhige Minute (1979)