Wenn ein Mädel einen Herrn hat, den sie liebt und den sie gern hat

Wenn ein Mädel einen Herrn hat, den sie liebt und den sie gern hat is a popular song whose words the novel recalls and partly recasts. Its movement from a 1920s entertainment hit to ironic reuse makes it an instance of the book’s engagement with the songs and performances circulating in contemporary popular culture.

Song and Performance

The song’s words were written by Hermann Frey, with music by Walter Kollo. It was sung by Marlene Dietrich in the 1927 farce Der Juxbaron, placing the title in the world of stage comedy and popular song. Its title centers a familiar romantic situation: a girl has a man she loves and likes.

Reuse and Irony

The novel’s later wording is identified as partly drawn from Wenn ein Mädel einen Herrn hat, den sie liebt und den sie gern hat and partly as an ironic misquotation of it. The distinction matters: the expression is not simply reproduced as a song lyric but enters a new verbal setting where its romantic formula is turned to ironic effect. The evidence identifies that reworking without specifying a single target for the irony.

Popular-Cultural Context

The expression belongs to a broad, mixed repertoire of entertainment remembered by the book, where songs and stage references coexist with other cultural fragments. Its documented path—from a song, through a 1927 farce, into ironic recollection—shows how a recognizable popular refrain can carry associations beyond its original performance, even as the novel alters its wording.