Oh, now, really...

[venta]

There's a few lines in a Rammstein song (Rein Raus) which have been bothering me for a while. Surely, I thought, I must be mishearing...

Today I finally bestirred myself to google for the lyrics.

"Tiefer tiefer
sag es sag es laut
tiefer tiefer
ich fühl mich wohl in deiner Haut
und tausend Elefanten brechen aus"

Which I'd translate as:

Deeper, deeper
Say it, say it loud.
Deeper, deeper.
I feel myself within your skin,
and one thousand elephants break out.

And the rather excellent translations available here suggest I'm not too far out.

Nope, I'm not mishearing.

Eh ? Elephants ?

Comments

[kneeshooter]

One of the reasons to learn german is so that I can comprehend half the music I listen to.

One of the reasons not to learn german is that I might comprehend half of the music I listen to.

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

Something to do with the "elephant in the eye of a needle" in the first verse?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Apart from making me wonder if some early German translation of the bible got hopelessly muddled with its foreign animals, I'm not convinced. I mean yes, they've mentioned elephants once, but.... still eh?

[wechsler.livejournal.com]

The translation is correct.

It's Rammstein. It's not *supposed* to make sense.

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

Makes perfect sense to me.

If you're going to use an implausible simile, why not go, ahem, all the way with it?

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the intent is to make an analogy between overwhelming sensation/emotion and a stampede, hence "one thousand elephants".

Then again maybe its just a very silly song.

Or both.

[condign.livejournal.com]

What, several dozen elephants don't arrive every time you're having sex? And here I thought it was typical.

Mind you, I live on the 8th floor. Bloody annoying getting them back down the stairs.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Bloody annoying getting them back down the stairs.

The answer to that is clearly to continue having sex, on the pavement outside, to entice them back out again.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Or in the basement, to get them all down there, then lock the door on your way out.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Angry elephants in the basement => subsidence.

Not a wise move.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Angry elephants in the basement

dot com

[condign.livejournal.com]

Not in this snow weather, it isn't!