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The Essay

Dietrich in Five Songs

Falling in Love Again

Duration: 14 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3Latest broadcast: on BBC Radio 3

Available for over a year

Marybeth Hamilton charts the creation and metamorphosis of a song Dietrich initially loathed yet never stopped singing. Falling in Love Again began life very differently as “Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss” – “I am from head to foot”. A knowing Weimar cabaret number written for the film that would make Dietrich a star in Europe and Hollywood as the destructive Lola Lola in The Blue Angel. It was an ode to the singer’s body and the pleasures that her body affords her, a body whose impact she cannot control. It would soon become something rather different, from carnality to coyness. Yet despite her early misgivings, it's slender and changing lyrics were enough to hang a legend upon.

Producer: Mark Burman Show less

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