Left Two Three is a partial rewrite of Einheitsfrontlied, written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht in 1933, right after Hitler came to power. The title translates to United Front Song.
A song written in response to Hitler taking power struck me
as pretty apt for 2025 in the United States. For some reason.
When I introduce it live I point out that I had to change some of Brecht's lyrics, "because Donald Trump is NOT Adolf Hitler. I had to change two words."
I actually changed more than that but the sentiment is the same. Brecht was talking about
the various forces who opposed the Nazis, primarily the social democrats, the communists and the labor unions, who were always at each other's throats in various combinations.
Infighting on the left. Sound familiar?
Hitler quickly banned all three, and Brecht's song urged them all to quit bickering
and form a united front against their common enemy.
Brecht and composer Hanns Eisler made the song a march, the better for singalongs at rallies and such, and it was widely sung by republican forces — the good guys — in the Spanish Civil War. Here's a version in English.
Fun fact: I created the artwork for the Left Two Three track, using my shaky design skills and Canva, based on the label and record sleeve for the most famous version of the song, by Ernst Busch — the singer and actor who fled Germany in 1933. Not to be confused with the Ernst Busch who commanded the Nazi army in the Battle of France and the invasion of the
Soviet Union.
This fact turned out to be not so fun but here's the original artwork and mine. You might not be able to see it but on the label of the original record it says "Spanien 1936-39," a reference to the Spanish Civil War.
