LOS by RAMMSTEIN

GERMAN POP LYRICS: Neue Deutsche Härte Part 4

Rammstein are clearly the kings of NDH, so it seems right to end this short series with one of their songs. “Los”, which features the band at their bluesiest, comes from the album “Reise, Reise” (2004). Rammstein are due to release their first new studio album for almost a decade before the end of this year.

The lyrics of this song play with the fact that los can have more than one meaning in German.

The translation ise taken from this great site, though I have made a couple of tiny changes: http://herzeleid.com/en/lyrics/reise_reise/los

LOS Wir waren namenlos Und ohne Lieder Recht wortlos Waren wir nie wieder Etwas sanglos Sind wir immer noch Dafür nicht klanglos Man hört uns doch Nach einem Windstoß Ging ein Sturm los Einfach beispiellos Es wurde Zeitlos Sie waren sprachlos So sehr schockiert Und sehr ratlos Was war passiert Etwas fassungslos Und garantiert Verständnislos Das wird zensiert Sie sagten grundlos Schade um die Noten So schamlos Das gehört verboten Es ist geistlos Was sie da probieren So geschmacklos Wie sie musizieren Ist es hoffnungslos Sinnlos Hilflos Sie sind gott… los Wir waren namenlos Wir haben einen Namen Waren wortlos Die Worte kamen Etwas sanglos Sind wir immer noch Dafür nicht klanglos Das hört man doch Wir sind nicht fehlerlos Nur etwas haltlos Ihr werdet lautlos Uns nie los Wir waren los

LESS We were nameless And without songs Really wordless Were we never again Somewhat songless (unnoticed) (1) We remain Yet we're not tuneless (unnoticed) (1) You can hear us After a gust of wind A storm began Simply matchless It became timeless They were speechless So totally shocked And totally powerless What happened Somewhat composure-less And surely Understanding-less That will be censored They said groundless(ly) Too bad about the music So shameless That should be forbidden It's witless What they're trying there So tasteless How they're making music It is hopeless Senseless Helpless They are god… less (let’s go!) (2) We were nameless We have a name We were wordless The words came Somewhat songless (unnoticed) (1) We remain Yet we're not tuneless (unnoticed) (1) You can hear it We aren't flawless Just a bit unstable You will become soundless You'll never get rid of us We were –less (off/gone)

(1) Note that sanglos and klanglos are puns since they both also mean unnoticed. Apparently this is a reference to simple funerals without singing or bell ringing.
(2) This line creates ambiguity by adding a pause before the los. So los could complete an adjective or stand on its own: ‘They are godless’ or ‘They are god – let’s go!’

NEUE DEUTSCHE HÄRTE

GERMAN POP LYRICS: Neue Deutsche Härte Part 1

Neue Deutsche Härte (NDH) literally means ‘New German Hardness’. It is a kind of German heavy metal music which emerged in the mid-Nineties, and the best known band in the genre is Rammstein. The vocalists are almost exclusively men with deep voices who sing in German. Earlier German metal bands tended to sing in English, but NDH bands have developed a style of singing in their own language which is very effective in the context of the genre. The name references Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW), the German new wave scene where songs were generally sung auf Deutsch.

The other main aspect of NDH is that the heavy guitars are often combined with electronic elements, and the style is occasionally described as ‘Industrial Metal’ or ‘Tanz Metal’. When Rammstein had some success in the US some people tried to shoehorn them into the ‘Nu Metal’ scene, but I don’t think they really fitted in. In particular NDH tends not to incorporate rap elements.

Oomph! were NDH pioneers, and “Das weiße Licht” comes from their sixth album “Plastik” (1999).

ENGEL by RAMMSTEIN

GERMAN POP LYRICS

This is Rammstein at their most accessible. Alongside the expected heavy riffs you get some Morricone-esque whistling and guest female vocals (from “Bobo”). It comes from their best album, 1997’s “Sehnsucht”.

ENGEL Wer zu Lebzeit’ gut auf Erden wird nach dem Tod ein Engel werden den Blick gen Himmel fragst du dann warum man sie nicht sehen kann REFRAIN: Erst wenn die Wolken schlafengeh’n kann man uns am Himmel seh’n wir haben Angst und sind allein Gott weiß ich will kein Engel sein Sie leben hinterm Sonnenschein getrennt von uns unendlich weit sie müssen sich an Sterne krallen (ganz fest) damit sie nicht vom Himmel fallen REFRAIN

ANGEL Whoever is good during their life on Earth Will become an angel after death You look at the sky and ask yourself Why can't people can't see them CHORUS: Only once the clouds have gone to sleep Can you see us in the sky We are afraid and we are alone God knows I don't want to be an angel They live beyond the sunshine Separated from us, infinitely far They have to cling to the stars (really tight) So that they don't fall from heaven CHORUS

SING-A-LONG-A RAMMSTEIN SPECIAL

GERMAN POP LYRICS

Rammstein are one of the few German rock bands who can pack stadiums around the world. Thanks to them the German language has become cool to a generation of headbangers.
Going to a Rammstein concert? Don’t know any German? Don’t despair, with my bluffers guide you can shout along to the choruses of four of their key songs and be the envy of your friends.
Anyway, my German is too basic to attempt full translations, so the idea here is to look at how the songs can help German beginners, with the emphasis on pronunciation.

If you want translations of the full songs look here:

http://lyricstranslate.com/en/rammstein-lyrics.html

SONG 1: RAMM4 (2016)

Perhaps their easiest lyrics are in their new song Ramm4:

Ya! Nein! Rammstein!

Yes! No! Rammstein!

Pronunciation:

The letters ‘ei’ are pronounced ‘eye’ in German, so ‘nein’ sounds like the number 9.

The letter ‘s’ is usually pronounced /z/, but before p and t it becomes a ‘sh’ sound, so the band name sounds something like Ram-(sh)teye(n).

NB ‘Ein Stein’ means ‘a stone’. The name Einstein is also pronounced this way i.e. with a ‘sh’.

NB Though the /r/ in German sounds a bit stronger than in English, it is not usually rolled like a Spanish /r/. However, the group’s frontman often rolls it when singing their name.

SONG 2: SONNE (2001)

This song starts with the numbers 1 to 9, which is nice for language learners.

See my previous post on ‘Numbers’ by Kraftwerk if you want to revise these.

The numbers are then repeated before each line in the chorus:

Eins, hier Kommt die Sonne

Zwei, hier Kommt die Sonne (etc.)

One, here comes the sun

Two, here comes the sun (etc.)

Pronunciation:

The letters ‘ie’ are pronounced ‘ee’ in German, so ‘hier’ sounds like ‘here’, which is handy.

Also ‘die’ (for feminine nouns) sounds like ‘dee’ and has nothing to do with death.

As noted above, ‘s’ is usually pronounced /z/ at the beginning or the middle of a word, hence sun sounds something like ‘zonne’.

NB The ‘o’ here is short (as in a word like ‘on’). You can compare it with ‘der Sohn’ (the son) which has a long ‘oh’ (as in ‘oh no!’) and thus sounds like ‘zone’. The ‘h’ before the vowel is silent but shows that the vowel is long.

The letter ‘z’ itself becomes ‘ts’, so two sounds something like ‘tsveye’.

SONG 3: DU HAST (1997)

Pronunciation:

The letter ‘s’ does sound like /s/ at the end of a word i.e. when not followed by a vowel.

So ‘hast’ sounds like /hast/.

Du hast mich

You have me

If you need a /s/ sound in the middle of a word in German you can write ‘ss’, or alternatively ‘ß’ (yes, it does look like a fancy capital B). This can also be written at the end of a word.

Du hasst mich

You hate me

So ‘du hast’ and ‘du hasst’ are homophones i.e. they are pronounced the same despite being spelt differently. This ambiguity is clearly intentional in the song.

For the pronunciation of mich see the next song.

SONG 4: ICH WILL (2001)

“I want” (not I will!) The title gets repeated a lot in the song…

Pronunciation:

Will is easy, W becomes a /v/ sound in German, as everyone knows from comedy German accents.

Ich is more difficult as ‘ch’ is tricky in German.

You have the ‘back ch’ which is a bit like the ch in ‘loch’ with a Scottish accent. This comes after a,o,u and au.

The ‘front ch’, which comes after everything else and is thus needed for Ich, is kind of somewhere between a ‘sh’ sound and a drawn out ‘h’.

Not easy, but you can practice by singing along…