where life is still worth living
there in the pub on our street
nobody asks you what you have or are
Already in 1976 Peter Alexander sang in his hit “Die kleine Kneipe” the little luck that restaurants are able to donate. The simple corner pub, the Kaschemme, where you can forget everyday worries for a few hours with beer and nice conversations. In Vienna these places are often called Tschocherl, they are places where there is nothing to eat, but where people only drink and smoke, where it is more muddy than chic.
The postcards there on the wall in the corner
the photo of the football club
the babble of voices the music from the jukebox
all of this is a little bit of home
For the illustrated book “Golden Days Before They End” the photographer Klaus Pichler and the journalist Clemens Marschall plunged into the Viennese nightlife for four years and portrayed 70 such pubs and bars.
You toss a mark into the coin-operated machine
watch others play cards
and stand at the counter with the beer in hand
and you are the same with everyone
The resulting illustrated book has strong nostalgic features. It’s a look back at a bygone era. Because the heyday of this type of pub seems to be irrevocably over. “A third of the Wiener Tschocherl that we have visited regularly since April 2012 for our book project no longer exist,” says Klaus Pichler of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
One talks hotly and speaks of the soul
what spoils the mood.
Some people find the solution with grain and beer
for all problems in the world
There are many reasons this type of eatery is on the decline. The world of work has changed, with the classic working class, the traditionally proletarian public in these pubs is dying out. In addition, over the decades alcohol consumption has shifted more from public places to private life. Many younger people avoid this type of eatery, preferring hip bars instead.
If you are hungry, you can order sausages with cabbage
because there are no other dishes
The bill is on the beer mat on it
but with the landlord here everyone has credit.
All of this contributes to the melancholy mood that wafts through “Golden Days Before They End”: It is looking back with sadness. The authors are probably right: the golden days – they will not come back.
The illustrated book “Golden Days Before They End” by Clemens Marschall and Klaus Pichler was published by Edition Patrick Frey, has 250 pages and costs 52 euros.
The quoted lines are taken from Peter Alexander’s song “Die kleine Kneipe”, which was published in Austria under the title “Das kleine Beisl”. The German version was written by Michael Kunze, the original song comes from Dutch: “In ‘t kleine café aan de haven” was sung and composed by Vader Abraham.
Peter Alexander sings “Die kleine Kneipe” / “Das kleine Beisl”