There is one verse missing after "...stiffens the sails":
"Now you are standing by the lantern /
With tears in your face /
Daylight is slanting /
autumn winds sweep the streets clear".
The verse
"Komm in mein Boot
der beste Seemann
war doch ich"
is not easy to translate.
"Doch" is a word of enforcement:
If you say "yes" & the other person then says "no", but you keep insisting, then you'd say "Doch!" (instead of English "And I still say Yes!").
So you might translate it as either of these:
"Come into my boat. I was the best helmsmen, after all." (That's probably the one I'd go for.)
"Come into my boat. Haven't I been the best helmsmen?"
"Since I was the best helmsmen, why don't you come into my boat?"
I don't know what to make of this song about the lonely helmsman. duff might be on to something, with all these mentions of autumn...
There is one verse missing after "...stiffens the sails":
"Now you are standing by the lantern / With tears in your face / Daylight is slanting / autumn winds sweep the streets clear".
The verse "Komm in mein Boot der beste Seemann war doch ich" is not easy to translate.
"Doch" is a word of enforcement: If you say "yes" & the other person then says "no", but you keep insisting, then you'd say "Doch!" (instead of English "And I still say Yes!").
So you might translate it as either of these: "Come into my boat. I was the best helmsmen, after all." (That's probably the one I'd go for.) "Come into my boat. Haven't I been the best helmsmen?" "Since I was the best helmsmen, why don't you come into my boat?"
I don't know what to make of this song about the lonely helmsman. duff might be on to something, with all these mentions of autumn...