Rammstein Donaukinder lyrics with English translation

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Donauquell dein Aderlass Donau Spring your bloodletting/bleeding
Wo Trost und Leid zerfließen Where comfort and sorrow dissolve
Nichts Gutes liegt verborgen nass Nothing good lies hidden, wet
In deinen feuchten Wiesen in your damp meadows
 
Keiner weiss was hier geschah No one knows what happened here
Die Fluten rostigrot The floods (are) rusty red
Die Fische waren atemlos The fishes were breathless
Und alle Schwämme tot And all sponges dead
An den Ufern in den Wiesen At the banks in the meadows
Die Tiere wurden krank The animals became sick
Aus den Augen in den Fluss Out of the eyes into the river
Triebabscheulicher Gestank (the) stench (of) vile urge
 
Wo sind die Kinder Where are the children?
Niemand weisst was hier geschehen No one knows what happened here
Keiner hat etwas gesehen Nobody saw anything
Wo sind die Kinder Where are the children?
Niemand hat etwas gesehen No one saw anything.
 
Mütter standen bald am Strom Soon mothers stand at the stream
Und weinen eine Flut And cry a flood
Auf die Felder durch die Leiche On the fields through the dead body
Stieg das Leid in alle Teiche The sorrow climbed into all ponds
Schwarze Fahnen auf der Stadt Black flags on the city
Alle Ratten fett und satt All rats fat and satisfied
Die Brummen giftig allerort The poisonous humming everywhere
Und die Menschen soviel fort And the people so far away
 
Wo sind die Kinder Where are the children?
Niemand weisst was hier geschehen No one knows what happened here
Keiner hat etwas gesehen Nobody saw anything
Wo sind die Kinder Where are the children?
Niemand hat etwas gesehen No one saw anything.
 
Donauquell dein Aderlass Donau Spring your bloodletting/bleeding
Wo Trost und Leid zerfließen Where comfort and sorrow dissolve
Nichts Gutes liegt verborgen nass Nothing good lies hidden, wet
In deinen feuchten Wiesen in your damp meadows
 
Wo sind die Kinder Where are the children?
Niemand weisst was hier geschehen No one knows what happened here
Keiner hat etwas gesehen Nobody saw anything
Wo sind die Kinder Where are the children?
Niemand hat etwas gesehen No one saw anything.
 
Lyric © Rammstein Translation © Affenknecht.com

Submitted by Dill

 

The song deals with an accident near Baia Mare, in Romania, which occurred on 30th Januar 2000.

Extremely heavy rainfall on 30 January caused a dam to breach, causing 100.000 m³ of water to flood a goldmine and carry with it app. 100 ton of heavy metals and sodium cyanide into the nearby river Donau (German name for the Danube). The poison was carried along the river, causing havoc in several countries; drinking water became poisoned, and people fled the rivers’ surroundings to escape the deadly poison, which quickly destroyed all life in and around the river itself.

Lots of children were obviously affected by this disaster, but the name ‘Donaukinder’ (‘Danube Children’) more probably refers metaphorically to the fish in the river, seen as the ‘children’ of the Danube/Donau; the fish obviously suffered most directly the full force of this disaster and the absence of fish in the river is the most obvious consequence of the disaster. Hence, the song rhetorically asks: ‘Wo sind die Kinder?’ (‘Where are the children?’). Furthermore, the German name for Baia Mare, where the breach occured, is ‘Frauenbach’, meaning ‘Woman-River’, which sustains the metaphor of comparing River/Fish to Mother/Children.

81 COMMENTS

  1. “Und alle Schwämme tot”
    should be
    “und alle Shwäne tot” translates to “and all the swans are dead”

    “Die Brummen giftig allerort”
    should be
    “Die Brunnen giftig aller Ort” translates to “the wells are poisonous of all towns”

    “Und die Menschen soviel fort”
    should be
    “Und die Menschen zogen fort” translates to “and the people have moved away”

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