Each episode intro of the sixth season of Better Call Saul is a puzzle to fans and is always masterfully directed. And Black and Blue, the fifth episode of Better Call Saul season 6, obviously does not break with tradition.
In the first scene you see someone – the image is blurry and we don’t know who he is – in a laboratory with blinding artificial light, totally white, which submerges a small scale rule in resin, while in the background we can hear a song in German.
The song is a version of a lied written by Johannes Brahms, which has become a traditional German song.
The version used in the intro is by Pink Martini and The Von Trapps, released in 2014:
The lyrics and the translation of the song
In stiller Nacht zur ersten Wacht
Ein Stimm beginnt zu klagen
Der nächt’ge Wind hat leis und lind
Zu mir den Klang getragen.
Von herbem Leid und Traurigkeit
Ist mir das Herz zerflossen.
Die Blümelein
Mit Tränen mein
Hab ich sie all begossen.
Der schöne Mond will untergeh’n
Dem Leid nicht mehr mag scheinen.
Die Sterne fein im GlitzerscheinMit mir sie wollen weinen.
Kein Vogelsang noch Freudenklang
Man höret in den Lüften.
Die wilden Tier’ trauern auch mit mir
In Steinen und in Klüften.
In silent night, at first watch,
A voice begins to lament.
The night wind has sweetly and gently
Carried the sound to me.
With bitter pain and sorrow
My heart is melted.
With simple tears and flowers
I have watered all of them.
The lovely moon will now set,
For sorrow it doesn’t want to shine,
The stars stop their gleaming,They want to weep with me.
No birdsong nor joyous sounds
Can be heard in the air.
Even the wild beasts grieve with me
In rocks and ravines.
The song in German anticipates something, something that is also suggested by the dedication on the object placed in a black box like a small coffin: “In Liebe … Deine Junge”. With love – your boys.
