WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS

WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS 
A We Didn't Start the Fire Filk
starring the Ringstetten first generation in Sweden -- Swedish Phase of the 30 Years War

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Swedish royals in Küstrin,
governor's children are in,
Ensign Gerhard, treat the flag
like your fiancée...

Liselotte, Klang, befriending,
Magdeburg's uncertain ending,
Catholic League, Protestants,
so we're on our way!

Counts Tilly and Pappenheim,
debts they owe to Wallenstein,
Magdeburg soon burned down,
then they move to Leipzig town...

Breitenfeld, war council scene,
Sweden's got a drama queen,
open battle, liberation,
Habsburg Empire goodbye...

WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
they were always earning
medals for their yearning...
WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
no we didn't slight them,
but we tried to fight them...

Catholic Priest Street, cross the Rhine,
winter solstice, sipped mulled wine,
save her mum Anna-Maria,
Alois in love...
Pappenheimers in the snow,
springtime falls and we must go,
Rain am Lech falls,
show them what we're of!

Cross the Lech 'neath a smokescreen,
Sweden's got a winning team!
Dies Irae, Requiem,
now Tilly's dead, what of them?
Entering Bavaria,
maypoles and barbarians!
Austria next? Kaiser's vexed!
Trouble brews ahead oh yeah...

WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
they were always earning
medals for their yearning...
WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
no we didn't slight them,
but we tried to fight them...

Albrecht von Wallenstein!
Life and death are on the line!
Alte Veste, Kurtius dies,
restrain the urge to cry!
Burn the fort, north retreat,
Swedish army's first defeat!
Stark weather, autumn lea...
Doomsday-bound for Saxony...

Royal couple reunite,
her dreams are not so bright...
Winter quarters at Lützen,
is Wallenstein a nogo?
Liselotte just confessed...
Winter wedding to be blessed?
Bleak November fog and cold...
There's a confrontation told!!

WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
they were always earning
medals for their yearning...
WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
no we didn't slight them,
but we tried to fight them...

Pappenheim got summoned,
fighting in a strange land;
Lützen bei Leipzig
imperialist invasion,
Wallenstein in his sedan,
getting the lay of the land...
King of Sweden lost his track
then got shot in the back...
More gunshots, Gustavus dead!
Everyone is filled with dread!
Pappenheim, too, blown away;
what else do we have to say?

WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
they were always earning
medals for their yearning...
WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
no we didn't slight them,
but we tried to fight them...

Breitenfeld winter to spend,
Wallenstein is back again,
Christmas Marketplace,
Othello, selling lace...
Friedland, freed land, springtime bride,
terror and defeat in stride;
Alois is in Friedland,
violence spirals out of hand...

Queen Christina's on the throne,
Wallenstein's no power to own...
What could help his astral art
'gainst a stab to the heart?
Setting sail from Stralsund's shore, 
wishing for this life no more...
twenty-something years of war,
I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!

WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
they were always earning
medals for their yearning...
WE DIDN'T STOP THE RINGSTETTENS,
BUT WHEN THEY ARE GONE,
THIS WILL STILL GO ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON...