Rammstein's Most Bizarre Lyrics (When Put Through Google ...

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July 4, 2019Words:Paul Travers

Okay, we all know that Rammstein are pretty strange guys with a twisted world view. They took their name from a huge air show disaster, they’ve flirted with nationalistic imagery, and have written songs inspired by Josef Fritzl. They also sing about sex. A lot. Often of the, shall we say, ‘non-conventional’ variety.

Rammstein are known to have a flair for wordplay and double meanings, but that’s something you can only really appreciate if you happen to be fluent in German, as the majority of the band's lyrics are written in their native tongue.

So what happens if you simply throw all this dark, meticulously-constructed poetry through Google Translate? Well, it turns out that most of it still makes dark, twisted sense but sometimes… well, you can see for yourself…

Mutter

Mutter (‘Mother’) reflects Till Lindemann and Richard Kruspe’s unhappy childhood relationships with their own mothers. It uses a Frankenstein-style parable of a child born not from a womb, but via an experiment, who is seeking revenge on ‘the mother who never bore me’. The theme is strange enough on its own, but run it through the translation and things get seriously twisted.

‘I was not allowed to lick nipplesand no fold to hidenobody gave me a namebegotten in haste and without seed’

Or how about…

‘An eel lives in her lungson my forehead a birthmarkremove it with Messer's kisseven if I have to die from it’

Ohne Dich

This mournful little dirge translates as ‘Without You’, and is perhaps the closest thing Rammstein have to a ballad. It resonates with themes of loss and possibly environmentalism… we think. Although going off the following translation, we’re not sure of anything anymore.

‘I will go into the firsWhere I last saw herBut the evening throws a cloth into the countrysideAnd on the paths behind the edge of the forestAnd the forest he stands so black and emptyPain me oh painAnd the birds sing no more’

Don’t you just hate it when the evening throws a cloth into the countryside?

Pussy

Pussy, which is delivered in a combination of English and German, doesn’t hold back in either its lyrics or the NSFW version of the accompanying pornographic video. On this song, to be fair, the translation probably achieves precisely the effect they were going for. We’re including it purely on the madly inventive double entendre contained in this verse:

‘Too big, too smallThe turnpike should be abovePretty lady, do you want moreBlitzkrieg with the meat gunLiquor in the head, you lovely bridePut bratwurst in your sauerkraut’

Sex

If Pussy was Rammstein’s porno then Sex is their love story – with a hefty dose of obsession and carnality thrown in, of course.

The automatic translation renders the first verse:

‘I'll look at you and I'll be sickEverywhere the buxom meatI look deep into the sexAnd the knees become softThousand needles, the desireWill catch smell with hands’

The helpful people at Rammstein fansite affenknecht.com translate that last line into the far more poetic, ‘Want to catch the scent with my hands,’ but we’ll stick with the Captain Caveman version, thanks.

Feuer Frei!

The title translates literally to ‘Fire Free’ and figuratively to the expression ‘Fire at will’. It’s a suitably explosive song, perfectly suited to the band’s flamethrower-flinging pyro display. Running it through Google Translate seems to blow up the English language, however.

‘Whoever knows pain is blamedfrom the fire that burns the skinI throw a lightin my faceA hot screamFire-free!’

Links 2-3-4

This song is generally seen as a response to allegations of fascism that were thrown at the band, especially in their earlier days. The ‘Left 2-3-4’ refrains suggest they hang to the left of the political spectrum, putting forward a rather compelling argument in the translation.

‘They want my heart in the right placebut then I look downthere it beats in the left breastthe envious person has known badly.’

Take that, envious person.

Waidmanns Heil

Waidmanns Heil translates as ‘Huntsman’s Salute’, and the lyrics contain numerous German hunting terms that don’t translate well to English at the best of times.

Hence baffling stanzas like:

‘I've been in heat for daysHow to hunt a bald deerAnd until the morning I'm sitting onSo that I can give leaf shot’

Or, even better…

‘A narrow animal on the runs comesHas been sooned in the high RiedMakes good track deep in the tannThe mirror shines, I tackleThe frond shrugs like finger eelThe shotgun jumps off the feed’

Eifersucht

Eifersucht (‘Jealousy’) is a sinister enough song to begin with, but mangle the language somewhat using a free translation app and the result is perhaps even more disturbing.

‘I have such smooth skintake it off in stripesI have the clear eyestake the lightI have the pure soulkill her in flamesDo I have your wife thenkill me and eat me up completelythen eat me up completelybut lick the plate off’

Buck Dich

Till and keyboardist Christian ‘Flake’ Lorenz were arrested after performing Buck Dich (‘Bend Down/Bend Over’) in Worcester, Massachusetts on the Family Values Tour back in the late-’90s. It wasn’t for dodgy lyrics, but the simulated anal sex that the singer performed on a leashed Flake, culminating with an ejaculating dildo squirting all over his back. We always thought the lyrics were BDSM-themed, but after reading the following translation, we’re not sure…

‘The biped has crookedin a good lightI show him what you can doand I start to cryThe biped stammered a prayerout of fear because I feel worsehe tries deeply to boastTears run high back’

Mein Teil

Mein Teil is one of Rammstein’s most notorious songs, taking inspiration from Armin Meiwes, a fellow German who attained notoriety after he killed and ate a voluntary victim he found on the internet. The title has one of those Rammstein-y double meanings, translating not only to ‘My Part’ or ‘My Portion’ but it's also used as slang for ‘My Penis’; Meiwes cut said appendage from his still-living victim and both attempted to eat it.

Most of the translation makes perfect (if incredibly disturbing) sense. The chorus runs:

‘Because you are what you eatand you know what it isIt's my part – No’

But then you get this verse, which is all the more disturbing for being slightly off:

‘A scream will go to heavenCuts through angel flocksFrom the cloud cover falls spring meatOn my childhood with screeching’

We'll take a big bag of nope to go…

Rammstein's new untitled album is out now.

Read this next:

• Theatricality in rock is having a resurgence
• Album review: Rammstein – ‘Untitled’
• Rammstein’s 10 most X-rated moments

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