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The Sandman Will Keep You Awake - The Loop
„Ich sehe was, was du nicht siehst.“ | |
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Spieluhr (Music Box) is the seventh track of the album Mutter.
The lyrics recall a German children's song with the lyric Hoppe, hoppe Reiter (slang for up and down, as riding a horse). The song entails a young child who pretended to be dead, because it wanted to be alone. So a group (presumably the townspeople) buried the child with a music box in its hands in a graveyard (referred to as Gottes acker, or God's field) without ceremony. The child awakes, winds the music box, and sings with it from the ground, telling only that its heart beats no longer. While celebrating the holiday of Totensonntag (Sunday of the dead, a holiday taking place on the last Sunday before Advent in November. It's the day when Protestant Christians remember their dead), the townspeople hear the child's song, and come to its rescue, unearthing it and "saving the small heart."
The chorus features a duet between Till Lindemann and Khira Li Lindemann, the daughter of Richard Kruspe. Special features of the track are the pinging of a music box, and the faint thump of a heart, which begins when Till sings "...saved the small heart."
The song features a Xylophone which can be heard during the intro and outro of the song.
Lyrics & Translation[]
Ein kleiner Mensch stirbt nur zum Schein Der erste Schnee das Grab bedeckt Als der Frost ins Kind geflogen Hoppe hoppe Reiter Der kalte Mond in voller Pracht Zwischen harten Eichendielen Hoppe hoppe Reiter Hoppe hoppe Reiter Am Totensonntag hörten sie Hoppe hoppe Reiter | A small human only pretends to die The first snow covers the grave As the frost flew into the child Up and down, rider [2] The cold moon, in full magnificence Between hard oak boards Up and down, rider Up and down, rider On Totensonntag they heard [3] Up and down, rider |
Translation notes[]
- The verb "verscharren" means to bury, specifically without ceremony.
- "Hoppe hoppe Reiter" is a line from a German children's song. "Hoppe hoppe" is slang for up and down, as in the movement when you are riding a horse.
- "Totensonntag" translates to "Sunday of the dead". This is a holiday celebrated on the last Sunday before Advent in November. It is the day when Protestant Christians remember their dead.
- "Gottesacker" means "god's field" but refers to a graveyard.
- Several parts of this translation lack the poetry of the German original (a necessary sacrifice in most translations, but pertinent here because Lindemann is actually a published poet). Two quick examples would be the oft-repeated bit "und aus der Erde singt das Kind" which is translated as "and the child sings from the ground." In fact, the German original reads "and from the Earth sings the child." To the English ear it not only sounds more archaic (it is), but the emphasis is clearly meant to be on the Earth, not the child. It's the sensibility of hearing a faint melody emanate from beneath the soil. The other one would be the phonetic play of "wird es mit der Spieluhr spielen" ("it will with the music-box play" is a more accurate translation, rather than the given "it will play with the music box"). Apart from the phonetic play which is impossible to reproduce in translation, what's lost is--again--the order of emphasis.
Mein Herz brennt (My heart burns) · Links 2, 3, 4 (Left 2, 3, 4) · Sonne (Sun) · Ich will (I want) · Feuer frei (Fire freely) · Mutter (Mother) · Spieluhr (Music box) · Zwitter (Hermaphrodite) · Rein, raus (In, out) · Adios (Good-bye) · Nebel (Mist) |