Rammstein Haifisch lyrics with English translation

I think it’s a wrong translation. There does exist an German idiom, but it goes “sich [b]für etwas (an etwas)[/b] schadlos halten”, which means “get compensation for something (from someone)”

Simply “sich schadlos halten” does mean “to behave harmless”, no double meaning…

http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=on&search=schadlos%2Bhalten&relink=on

Oh, and yes for the nitpickers: “We never sit still” is of course better english than the author’s original “We never keep still”, but that’s nitpicking and does not matter to understand the meaning!

Bad or not bad does not matter in this case – these texts are to UNDERSTAND the meaning.

I still have not gotten an answer to my question from a native german speaker. Can SCHADLOS not mean HARMLESS too? I think the translation has missed another fun play with words of double meaning (we think we are harmless / we get compensation). Quoting my previous post:

//
I was wondering if “schadlos halten” does not also have a double meaning here:

Man kann von uns halten You can think of us
was immer man da will Whatever you want
wir halten uns schadlos We think we are harmless
wir halten niemals still. We never keep still.
//

Hey sockpants, I feel the same way with much of these translations.

However if translators were allowed to change it that much then over enough time it would become a wreck like the Bible.

The bible’s translation from language to language has caused it to be a mess. None of us would want that to happen to Rammstein’s lyrics now would we? =]

There is some bad english in this translation… for example:

And the shark, that has tears –> it has tears
And they run from the face –> it’s face? (not literal, but better english)
But the shark lives in water
So no one can see the tears –> So the tears aren’t seen (by anybody) (passive)

In the deep it is lonely
And so many a tear is shed
And it so happens that the water –> so it happens (otherwise it’s wrong), or ‘that is why’
In the oceans is salty

@ Angus.

I think it refers to the six members of the band.

I wonder if by “six hearts that burn”, they could possibly be referring to the six albums they have?
Also, I don’t get the video.

The video goes: Till dies, funeral, characters fro
other videos show up, 2 girls get into a fight, “deleted scenes” from the Du Hast
video, remaining band members get into a big fight, one of them falls on Till’s coffin and breaks it…. It’s empty. Till ran off with this one girl… He sends a postcard. 😛 who knows? Could happen…

To Taryn
I just wanted to say great interpretation and breakdown of Haifisch, i think your view is very acurate, This song is so deep and poetic, i love it

Kind of similar to Rammlied – “bist du einsam und allein, wir sind hier, schalte ein!” Or something like that, my memory for German lyrics isn’t great since I don’t speak German that well :-/

forgot to add the most important thing: it’s about how they perceive and handle fame… They hate being “celebrities”, but they do it for the fans… just remember the song “Ein Lied”:

“Wir sind für die Musik geboren
Wir sind die Diener eurer Ohren
Immer wenn ihr traurig seid
spielen wir für euch”

(We were born for music
We are the servants of your ears
Whenever you’re sad
We play for you)

@MOUZ: very good translation!
“And the shark cries these tears,
that run down from his face.
But as the shark lives in water,
these tears won’t be seen.

At those depths ‘t can be lon’ly,
and so many tears are cried.
And that’ll be the reason,
of the salt in (all) the seas.

Cheers,
Mouz”

I like the song even more because it was inspired by “Die Moritat von Mackie Messer”

and I agree, sounds a bit like DM 🙂

The Shark symbolizes Rammstein as a collective – they seem strong and dangerous, but they have a soft core and feel lonely sometimes… Till Lindemann seems like a withdrawn guy, always avoiding reporters and stuff, I can totally recognize him in the lyrics… In an interview he said:

Playboy: Is fire your passion?
Lindemann: No, not at all, but I hate it to be observed on stage. When a guitar solo was played in former times I stood liked glued to the microphone. I always thought: I have to do something against it or I will die of loneliness and boredom. Fortunately a friend of mine was a pyrotechnist.
[…]
Playboy: Why did those relationships never work?
Lindemann: Because the feeling was missing, I never dared to be bound. Therefore I always was the one who was left and I always was totally shocked. But every time I realized: she’s right! The only good thing about this was that every time I was left the pain was a big push for my creativity.

Personally i think it refers to operation haifisch the planned invasion of southern england… and i`ve spotted plenty more similar one`s too!

Wir halten das Tempo = We keep our rhythm (or tempo)

I was wondering if “schadlos halten” does not also have a double meaning here:

Man kann von uns halten You can think of us
was immer man da will Whatever you want
wir halten uns schadlos We think we are harmless
wir halten niemals still. We never keep still.

Is this alternative interpretation possible? German is not my mother tongue, so I can’t tell. However, it is a very logical interpretation that falls in perfectly with the surrounding lines (better than the direct meaning “We get compensation”)

Hi Mark

That’s right! As Christian suggested earlier, the refrain:

Und der Haifisch, der hat Tränen
Und die laufen vom Gesicht,
doch der Haifisch lebt im Wasser –
so die Tränen sieht man nicht.

Is based on the refrain from the song “Die Moritat von Mackie Messer” (“The Ballad of Mack the Knife”) from (“Die Dreigroschenoper” (The Threepenny Opera) from Bertold Brecht / Kurt Weill (1928!)

The original is:

Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne,
Und die trägt er im Gesicht.
Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer,
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.