Buy Rammstein song “Rosenrot” on Amazon
| Sah ein Mädchen ein Röslein stehen | A girl saw a little rose |
| Blühte dort in lichten Höhen | It bloomed there in bright heights |
| Sprach sie ihren Liebsten an | She asked her sweetheart |
| ob er es ihr steigen kann | if he could fetch it for her |
| Sie will es und so ist es fein | She wants it and that’s fine |
| So war es und so wird es immer sein | So it was and so it will always be |
| Sie will es und so ist es Brauch | She wants it and that’s the custom |
| Was sie will bekommt sie auch | Whatever she wants she gets |
| Tiefe Brunnen muss man graben | Deep wells must be dug |
| wenn man klares Wasser will | if you want clear water |
| Rosenrot oh Rosenrot | Rose-red, oh Rose-red |
| Tiefe Wasser sind nicht still | Deep waters don’t run still |
| Der Jüngling steigt den Berg mit Qual | The boy climbs the mountain in torment |
| Die Aussicht ist ihm sehr egal | He doesn’t really care about the view |
| Hat das Röslein nur im Sinn | Only the little rose is on his mind |
| Bringt es seiner Liebsten hin | He brings it to his sweetheart |
| Sie will es und so ist es fein | She wants it and that’s fine |
| So war es und so wird es immer sein | So it was and so it will always be |
| Sie will es und so ist es Brauch | She wants it and that’s the custom |
| Was sie will bekommt sie auch | Whatever she wants she gets |
| Tiefe Brunnen muss man graben | Deep wells must be dug |
| wenn man klares Wasser will | if you want clear water |
| Rosenrot oh Rosenrot | Rose-red, oh Rose-red |
| Tiefe Wasser sind nicht still | Deep waters don’t run still |
| An seinen Stiefeln bricht ein Stein | At his boots, a stone breaks |
| Will nicht mehr am Felsen sein | Doesn’t want to be on the cliff anymore |
| Und ein Schrei tut jedem kund | And a scream lets everyone know |
| Beide fallen in den Grund | Both are falling to the ground |
| Sie will es und so ist es fein | She wants it and that’s fine |
| So war es und so wird es immer sein | So it was and so it will always be |
| Sie will es und so ist es Brauch | She wants it and that’s the custom |
| Was sie will bekommt sie auch | Whatever she wants she gets |
| Tiefe Brunnen muss man graben | Deep wells must be dug |
| wenn man klares Wasser will | if you want clear water |
| Rosenrot oh Rosenrot | Rose-red, oh Rose-red |
| Tiefe Wasser sind nicht still | Deep waters don’t run still |
The “Rosenrot” (Rose-red) track was highly anticipated by fans of Rammstein, as it was slated in February 2004 to be the first single from the band’s fourth studio album, “Reise Reise” (the song “Mein Teil” was released instead). In the end, “Rosenrot” did not make the tracklist of “Reise, Reise”, a move that the band’s management claimed “left them speechless.”
The lyrics are an amalgam adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem “Heidenröslein”, and the story “Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot” from the Brothers Grimm (Goethe’s poem “Der Erlkönig” similarly inspired the “Reise, Reise” track, “Dalai Lama“). The song talks about a girl who sees a rose on the top of a mountain, she asks her boyfriend (“loved one” in the song) to go up after it and to bring it to her. He climbs the mountain and sees the landscape below, but he is not interested in it due to his love to the girl. Eventually a rock breaks under his boot and he falls, and dies.
In the video, the band, dressed as clergy members, arrive at a Romanian village (actually called Zarnesti) in the Carpathian Mountains. Till Lindemann’s character becomes romantically involved with a younger girl there, and eventually murders her parents at her request. She then betrays him, and the villagers burn him at the stake. The girl is Cătălina Lavric, born in BotoÅŸani, Romania, age 14, a model for Etoiles Agency. The casting director for the video was Sorin Tarau, Standard Casting.
This song, for me at least, is one of the deepest songs I have ever heard, really, but mainly becuase of the things that are not really are a part of this song. And I think that is mostly because it’s a very ‘Rammstein-esque’ song. For me, growing up as a young person full of rage, listening to Rammstein was very confusing; they would always make you identify with evil, and would always make you feel guilty and proud about it.
Today was the first time I actually watched the video, and it brought everything together for me. I think I finally understood it!
I always heard the song as a song about mature love—how starting with two or three years of a relationship, you want to bring the rose from the highest mountain. But over the years, the resentment kicks in, and you find yourself over the mountaintop with a rose in your hand, without any will to stay alive and bring the rose to your sweetheart.
But today I realized something watching the video: it’s deeper than that. You might think that the girl wanted to use the monk and then burn him at the stake, but she also did that to her parents, so maybe her waters are also deeper than it seems.
So, today, I think it’s a story about true love testing you to see if you are willing to sacrifice everything for it, and if you do, you fail.
True love needs to be contained in boundaries. It’s like a child or a maiden that tests their parents and is disappointed when they give in to their whims. The monk should not have killed her parents for love; the boy in the song should not have climbed a mountain that cannot hold him (or that he cannot survive climbing), and the girl should not have asked for that rose.
We fail as young adults by giving in to love, by losing ourselves in it, by getting blinded by it. We must then pick ourselves up and get a better rose, one that might be on a lower mountain but can be obtained.
I lost my first teenage love of 5 years because of that, and today, I ask my children to pick a lower mountain rose, to keep all of us safe. It will not produce a good version for a ‘Rosenrot 2’ song, but sometimes when you dig too deep, you find that Tiefe Wasser sind nicht still.”
I feel like the “Deep waters don’t run still” could almost be a commentary on the idea that once you get beyond (or below) the surface of a person, you find there is a turbulent mess of issues that you have to understand, and possibly make amends with.
Nobody has “still waters” underneath. We all have our issues, and a successful relation is about confronting, accepting, and hopefully dealing with these issues as a partnership. Deep relationships have turbulence, but can navigate the stormy seas. Either way I like this metaphor so I don’t care if it’s right or wrong lol
This song sounds amazing. The meaning is pretty sad. But it’s true. The song sounds amazing and its another of my favorites. Reminds me of one of my friends named rose (Coincidence?).
I am surprised by the various interpretations of Rosenrot.
Isn’t the song quite obviously about the defloration of a young woman?
@ntnimara
I’m not sure if “Deep waters don’t run still” is a good translation of “Tiefe Wasser sind nicht still”. ‘Sind’ is the 3rd person form of the verb ‘sein’, which means ‘to be’. Literally translated, it would be ‘Deep waters are not still’
I interpret the metaphor of the chorus as a cautionary tale about obsession: ‘Deep wells must be dug if you want clear water’ meaning that you have to work hard to get something you really want, and ‘Deep waters don’t run still’ taking that previous representation of water-as-achievement and adding an aspect of concealed danger to it – that the deep waters, which may appear still actually aren’t, and, by extension, that their unanticipated current could be hazardous. The boy is obsessed with pleasing his sweetheart, and is so narrow in his focus that he fails to pay attention to the view – as well as his footing. Single-mindedness destroys him. There’s also possibly a second layer of metaphor at work here with ‘deep waters don’t run still’ referencing the proverb ‘still waters run deep’. Some have taken this to imply that Rose Red was plotting the boy’s possible death – I don’t see it that way. I interpret the proverb referenced in this context as ‘a placid exterior hides a passionate nature’. I read the boy as being the more placid one in the story – he’s silent save his scream, he obeys without challenge, and even though the girl is likely always wanting for inconsequential things (and may possibly view him as placid), he’s the one motivated by a more substantial, turbulent desire.
The Well digging could be a reference to the fact that, when a well digger is digging, they must stay at the same plot and dig very precisely; translating to Rosenrot, this could mean that “in order to have a real, deep relationship, you must spend time and get past the trivial, material things”
Is there something up with the site. It’s loading up pretty slowly for me. Someone else experiencing this?
This song sounded so deep the first time i heard it and i had to find out what i meant. when i found out i was amazed. the young man would do anything for his girl and it kills him. and on the other hand his girl is fine with the risk involved in sending her man on a suicide mission to get this rose. then it hit me… this is me and my wife. i try to get her anything she wants no matter what she does to me. after i told her this she thought about it for a few minutes then told me i was like a loyal dog with a master that beat him from time to time. funny how these songs seem to find you and open your eyes.
still my favorite song by rammstein. even contemplating having the chorus tattooed someplace. any suggestions?
Left asscheek sounds like a nice place for “Deep wells must be dug if you want clear water” lmao
My favorite song off the album. Poor guy, losing his life trying to please his spoiled girlfriend.
Apparently this song is a blend of two stories. The poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called ‘Heidenröslein’ and the fairy tale ‘Snow White and Red Rose’.
A similar comparison can be made with the R+ song ‘Sonne’ and ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. But in the case of Sonne, six miners.
The Dutch have a saying: ‘stille wateren kennen diepe gronden’, which is similar to the English ‘still waters run deep’. Funny how Rammstein reversed the whole idea.