Rotter, Fritz

Wikipedia:
Fritz Rotter (* March 3, 1900 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary; † April 11, 1984 in Ascona) was an Austrian author and composer.
Already at the age of 17, Fritz Rotter wrote lyrics and chansons for several cabarets, including the "Simplicissimus" (the Simpl) in Vienna. In the 1920s, like so many artists, he was drawn to Berlin. Here he worked with Robert Stolz and Ralph Benatzky and Rudolf Friml. He wrote Schlager lyrics and composed film music and film songs, which were sung by Richard Tauber, among others. Among the hit songs written by him are Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht; Veronika, der Lenz ist da; Ich küsse ihre Hand, Madame; Ich hab' mich so an dich gewöhnen; Immer wenn ich glücklich bin muß ich weinen; Ich hab mir für Grinzing einen Dienstmann engagiert; Du paßt so gut zu mir wie Zucker zum Kaffee. Rotter especially created many of the nonsense lyrics that became characteristic of the German Schlager of the twenties: Was macht der Maier am Himalaya?; Heut war ich bei der Frieda (das tu ich morgen wieder); Heut ist die Käthe etepetete oder Wieso ist der Walter so klug für sein Alter.

In 1933, Fritz Rotter had to leave the German capital because of his Jewish origins. First he went to his native Austria. But when fascism gained the upper hand there as well, he emigrated to England in 1936 and a year later to the USA. Here he wrote screenplays for numerous films. He also worked with Franz Werfel, Fritz Kortner and Fritz Lang.

After the war, he returned to Europe and continued to write screenplays and hit lyrics. In total, he wrote about 1200 texts for the "light muse" in his lifetime. His 1966 hit lyric Wir (We), which begins with the words "Who doesn't want to be mixed up with bums? Wir!" sparked discussions in Die Zeit and Der Spiegel and put a kink in Freddy Quinn's career.[1]

Rotter, after retiring to Switzerland years earlier, died in Ascona at the age of 84.

Note: Translated from a German version of Wikipedia into English.